----- Original Message ----- From: "John Jackson" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 11:22 AM Subject: [TNSUMNER] D-Day 6 Jun 1944 > Hi ALL: > > Some dates and events are meant to be remembered for a long-long > time today is one of those dates were events made the day > unforgettable............ > > Today is 6 June 2005, 61 years ago the armed forces of The United > States, Great > Britian, France, Canada, and a Polish Batalion Landed on the coast of > Normandy, > France. As a part of that invasion The 2nd Ranger Battalion, U. S. > Army, 225 young > Army Volunters, was assigned the mission of assaulting Point du Hoc. > Point du Hoc rose some 100 feet up a rocky cliff overlooking the > entire invasion > beach. Of the 225 Army Rangers who started the assault on Point du Hoc > only 99 > survived the Battle of Normandy. > On June 6th 1984, President Ronald Reagan, gave a speech, marking > the 40th > Anniversary of D-Day. The speech was delivered on top of the promontory > > "Point du Hoc" - Present were some three dozen surviving members of the > 2nd Ranger > Bn, their wives, children and some grandchildren, among some 5000 > guests. The > President spoke directly to and at the Rangers - below is what he said > -read it - and > apreciate what those brave men accomplished some 61 years ago as they > assaulted > Point du Hoc................... > > > Uncle John in Falco > > > Pointe-Du-Hoc > President's Remarks on the 40th Anniversary of > the D-Day Invasion at Normandy > > Pointe-Du-Hoc, Normandy, France, June 6, 1984 > > > We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied peoples joined in > > battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, muchof > > Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews > cried > out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was > enslaved, > and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. > Here > the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking > unparalleled in human history. > > We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. > The > air is soft, but forty years ago at this moment, the air was dense with > smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of > rifle > fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June > 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the > bottom > of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring > of > the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the > enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these > > guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the > Allied > advance. > > The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers -- at the edge of the > cliffs shooting down at them with machine-guns and throwing grenades. > And > the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the > face of > these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, > another > would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another > and > begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. > Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in > seizing > the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the > continent of Europe.Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two > days of > fighting only ninety could still bear arms. > > Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were > thrust > into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them > there. > > These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the > cliffs. > These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the > heroes > who helped end a war. > > Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's > poem. > You are men who in your 'lives fought for life...and left the vivid air > signed with your honor'... > > Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You > were > young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than > boys, > with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything > here. > Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to putaside the instinct for > self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What > inspired > all the men of the armies that met here?We look at you, and somehow we > know > the answer. It was faith, and belief; it was loyalty and love. > > The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, > faiththat > they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them > mercy > on this beach head or on the next. It was the deep knowledge --and pray > God > we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between > the > use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were > here > to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt > your > cause. And you were right not to doubt. > > You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is > worth > dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most > deeply > honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved > liberty. > All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of > your > countries were behind you. > > >