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President Reagan’s “Boys of Pointe du Hoc,” eloquently spoken in 1984 from the same cliffs where US Army Rangers achieved the impossible 40 years earlier. Their mission: silence the German guns aimed at the Allied landings below. Pointe du Hoc was a strategic stronghold, perched between Utah and Omaha Beach, fortified with artillery and machine guns that could’ve shredded the invasion before it even started. So before the main force hit the beach, 225 Army Rangers set out. They were led by a Texan and Aggie—Lieutenant Colonel James Earl Rudder. Under heavy fire, they fired rocket-propelled grappling hooks and scaled the 100-foot cliff. When they reached the top, they found the guns had been moved. But the mission didn’t stop there. The Rangers searched, found the artillery, destroyed it, and held the line against fierce German counterattacks. For two straight days, they fought outnumbered and isolated. When the battle was over, only 90 Rangers remained. Rudder had been wounded twice and refused to leave. For his actions, he received the Distinguished Service Cross—the second-highest award for combat valor. In 2022, the surviving Rangers were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. They didn’t climb that cliff for medals. They did it because it had to be done. They showed what courage, sacrifice, and American grit look like. -- Courtesy @Reagan_Library @RonaldReagan