Remembering D-Day-- Part 3: Pointe du Hoc

From the June 2019 AARP Bulletin."A Ranger Captain Recalls D-Day Carnage" by Alex Kershaw.

Retired Major General John C. Raaen  Jr. can still hear the sound of bullets cracking over his head, the wall of noise that greeted him as he landed in France on June 6, 1944.

At 97, he is one of the few alive who experienced the full horrors of Bloody Omaha, where more than 1,200 Americans died.  A 1943 West Point graduate in 1943, Raaen was a 22-year-old captain in the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion.

His unit's target was a battery of guns at Pointe du Hoc, at the top of 100-foot sheer cliffs and heavily defended.

As his battalion closed on the beach, it suddenly changed direction as a result of a call by the battalion's commander.

--GreGen