By JOHN LeBAS
Eagle Staff Writer

On June 6, 1944, Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder and his elite Rangers fought their way up a sheer coastal cliff at Pointe du Hoc, France, with one goal: Destroy a battery of enemy artillery that threatened to wreak havoc on the Allies D-Day invasion.

Navigational difficulties and poor weather made them nearly 40 minutes late for their scheduled mission. Still, Rudder and his 225 men among the best-trained troops the United States ever produced were determined to knock out those guns to save others, even if it meant dying.

Some people might have just turned and said, The heck with it, Rudders wife, Margaret, reflected recently from her Bryan home. But they realized how important it was.

Rudder was later remembered as the backbone of the assault on Point du Hoc, and the story of his bravery and leadership have taken root in American history. Almost 60 years later, supporters led by Texas Gov. Rick Perry are spearheading an effort to award Rudder the Medal of Honor for bravery.

Sundays Eagle looked at that effort and described the opening minutes of the assault at Pointe du Hoc. Despite enemy fire and earth pockmarked by shelling, Rudders Rangers cleared their first major obstacle the cliff.

But the challenge had just begun. They still had to fight through scores of German soldiers and a landscape scarred by heavy bombing to reach their objective, the deadly howitzers. Then, the soldiers had to endure two more days of fighting before reinforcements arrived.

Now, on the 57th anniversary of the D-Day invasion at Normandy, we return to the crucial and bloody battle at Pointe du Hoc.

After making it up the cliff, small groups of Rangers began fanning out toward enemy gun positions and other support objectives. They soon discovered that the Germans had moved the 155 mm howitzers.

Rudder, meanwhile, set up his command post in a bombed-out bunker near the cliffs edge. At one point, an errant shell from a British ship struck the side of the bunker, killing a captain nearby. Rudder caught shrapnel in his arm and shoulder.

The blast from the marker round stained Rudders skin yellow. As Lt. Elmer Dutch Vermeer recalled in Stephen Ambroses book The Victors, the angry colonel shook off his pain and went hunting for German snipers. But a snipers bullet through the left leg forced him back into the command post, where, despite his injuries, he continued to call the mission.

Photo courtesy of Margaret Rudder President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who oversaw the D-Day Invasion as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, reads a monument at Pointe du Hoc that describes Rangers accomplishments.

It still makes me cringe to recall the pain he must have endured trying to operate with a wound through the leg and the concussive force he must have felt from the close hit by that yellow-colored shell, Vermeer told Ambrose.

But a crucial victory was close at hand.
Fighting inward, Rudders troops eventually stumbled on the guns, which were hidden in a camouflaged area. The guns had been left practically undefended. The Rangers put the artillery out of service with thermite grenades, which spewed molten metal in the breeches, and by bashing the sights.

The time was 9 a.m. June 6, and Rudders Rangers had become the first Allied troops to complete their D-Day objective.

Will you tell me how we did this? Anybody would be a fool to try this. It was crazy then, and its crazy now.

James Earl Rudder, during a visit to Pointe du Hoc 10 years after D-Day


Margaret Rudder clearly remembers the night of the invasion, when she was in Austin, a half a world away from her husband.

She and a friend the wife of an officer in Rudders unit were staying overnight in the capital city. A commotion arose in the hotel at about 3 a.m.

Mrs. Rudder rushed downstairs and wandered along Congress Avenue until she found a radio to listen to initial accounts.

We didnt know what was going on, but we realized they were in the middle of it whatever it was, she said.

Mrs. Rudder learned a few days later in a newspaper report that her husband had been wounded. More agonizing time would pass before she learned in a letter that he was recovering.

Soon, all America knew of the heroic exploits of Rudder and his men.

Rudder, who died in 1970, rarely spoke of the invasion with his wife. She believes thats because he lost so many men. She picked up on stories here and there, when old friends would come to the family home and revisit those victorious and horrific times.

Things went wrong and hell broke loose around their heads, but they stuck in there and they did their job.

Associated Press report, June 8, 1944


Snipers were a source of inconsistent but dangerous harassment for Rudders men at Pointe du Hoc, and several fell victim to their deadly aim. Two German counterattacks that afternoon further decimated and scattered his force.

Many more Rangers died or were wounded in attempts to knock out an enemy anti-aircraft position, which was decided to be the center of German resistance.

Photo courtesy of Sanders Corps of Cadets Center Rudder and his troops accept the surrender of German troops at Pointe du Hoc.

By nightfall June 6, more than a third of Rudders men had been killed or hurt. He and many of the other less seriously wounded soldiers stayed to fight.

The men had little food and ammunition remaining when they settled in for night defense. Attempts by Rudder to communicate with offshore forces were largely unsuccessful, until communications officer James Ike Eikner rigged an old lamp for signaling.

Rudder sent word that he needed reinforcements and ammunition. The message came back: No reinforcements available.

Fear took hold as night fell. An Allied ship came in to take away the wounded, but enemy fire impeded rescue efforts. Several seriously wounded Rangers were left overnight in a cave at the base of the cliff.

A British commando leader, Lt. Col. Travis Trevor, remarked that he was sure the men would all be dead or prisoners of war by morning.

This scared me to death, and it scared a lot of other Rangers, radio operator Lou Lisko recalled more than three decades later. Then, Lisko studied Rudder tired and wounded, but still clearly in charge of the mission.

Because of his presence and because he led his men so gallantly, being wounded twice, we at least I forgot about being scared, Lisko said. It gave me confidence because he was standing there, still leading.

The German is a good fighter, but hes no match for the Rangers. They are a crew to be proud of.

James Earl Rudder in a letter home shortly after the D-Day invasion


Individuals within the Rangers ranks rose to the challenges throughout the mission. They werent trying to be heroes, but are remembered as such just the same.

Sgt. William Petty mowed down at least 30 Germans with a Browning automatic rifle, saving an untold number of American lives.

Staff Sgt. Jack Kuhn and Sgt. Leonard Lomell stumbled on the hidden howitzers. They acted quickly to disable the guns, dropping in thermite grenades and smashing sights, despite the presence of German troops nearby.

Others did their best to survive the first night on the point, which was marked by three confused firefights with the Germans.

Scattered fighting continued June 7, with some Rangers becoming separated from the main force. Those who could, sought cover by hiding from the Germans in hedgerows.

That night brought some relief with the arrival of food, ammunition and a platoon of fresh troops. By the time a full relief column arrived the next morning two days after the invasions start only about 90 of Rudders 225 men remained in fighting condition.

Though wounded twice, the colonel stayed the course, fighting off five counterattacks until relief arrived at noon on D-Day plus two. Colonel Rudders assault force, originally 225, had suffered 70 percent casualties, but the survivors, patched up and bloody as was the colonel were still standing tall and ready for business.

James Ike Eikner, Rudders communications officer at Pointe du Hoc

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