This episode appears to have been at least partially inspired by the experience of Private John M. Steele of the 82nd Airborne Division whose parachute was entangled in the steeple of the church at St Mere Eglise, Normandy during the D-Day landings on the night of June 5-6, 1944 and avoided capture by playing dead while hanging in his harness just below the roof of the church. Steele was portrayed by Red Buttons in The Longest Day (1962) in which this experience was depicted.