The Boys of Pont du Hoc

I believe it was after the church that we went to Pointe du Hoc, although now looking at a map, it makes more sense that we went from Pointe du Hoc to the church, so that's likely the right order. Well, the story of the day is more important than the order (shows how much we've done between Thursday and Sunday that I can't remember all the details!).

Pointe du Hoc is an amazing part of American history.  To sum, 225 Rangers scaled the cliffs under intense enemy fire, including machine guns and hand grenades.  From Wikipedia:

The Germans had built, as part of the Atlantic Wall, six casemates to house a battery of captured French Canon de 155mm GPF guns. These guns threatened Allied landings on both Omaha and Utah beaches, risking heavy casualties in the landing forces. Although there were several bombardments from the air and by naval guns, intelligence reports assumed that the fortifications were too strong, and would also require attack by ground forces. The U.S. 2nd Ranger Battalion was therefore given the task of destroying the strongpoint early on D-Day.

Prior to the attack, the guns were moved approximately 1 mile away, where they were sighted to fire on "Utah" beach. However, the concrete fortifications were intact, and would still present a major threat to the landings if they were occupied by artillery forward observers. The Ranger Battalion commanders and executive officers knew the guns had moved, but the rest of the Rangers were not informed prior to the attack.

We walked around the fortifications, through deep bomb craters, and into the forward observation post. 

Pointe du Hoc is also famous as the site of the speech by Ronald Reagan on June 6, 1984, on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day.  That speech can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEIqdcHbc8I and is well worth watching.