Dave Manney offers a stirring salute to Reagan’s celebrated “Boys of Point Du Hoc,” for a seriously difficult job well done.

The U.S. Army Rangers climbed into legend at Pointe du Hoc on D-Day because the mission didn’t end when the plan broke. Lt. Col. James Rudder, commander of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, led Companies D, E, and F toward 100-foot cliffs on June 6, 1944.

Their job was brutally simple: scale the cliff, seize the German position, and destroy the six guns that were zeroed on Omaha and Utah Beaches. Rudder was wounded during the fight, but he stayed in command while his men fought upward under machine-gun fire, rifle, grenade, and artillery fire.

Allied planners expected six German 155 mm guns at the top. The Rangers reached the positions and found gun pits, but the guns were moved, with telephone poles replacing them. The Germans had moved the guns south from their prepared sites before the landing.

A lesser force might have stopped there, reported the surprise, and waited for new orders.

Rudder’s Rangers kept moving.

And damned if those courageous, intrepid warriors didn’t do just that. Read every word of it, and just sit back and marvel at the kind of tough, dauntless, determined man this country once turned out en masse. If the story of how the now well-known Rangers motto came to be doesn’t make your heat beat a little faster, then you ain’t anything I’d recognize as a true American, boyo.

Manney closes his tribute thusly:

“Rangers lead the way” wasn’t a slogan in the morning; it was a record of what they had already done. Thank God for such men.

Indeed, sir. Seconded, with all my heart and soul.

Update! Instaglenn links another rousing account of D-Day derring-do, this one with young Brigadier General and Medal of Honor recoipient Theodore Roosevelt Jr in the starring role. I knew about this one already; it’s more well-known than the Rangers one, I believe, but nonetheless remarkable. Another Must Read for sure, on this of all days.

Updated update! Okay, okay, dammit, I just gotta put an excerpt in.

I want to tell you one story from June 6, 1944. A story of a man who was already broken by war a quarter century earlier. He had wealth, fame, and luxury. He had no need or requirement to serve in World War II after having courageously and effectively led American soldiers in combat in World War I. He was wounded and gassed in that war, leaving him with lifelong health problems. Not one person would have thought poorly of him if he did not serve in World War II.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the son of President Teddy Roosevelt, signed up to serve anyway when World War II started. He led a regiment of the 1st Infantry Division in the campaigns in North Africa in 1943. By D-Day, he was a brigadier general and the assistant division commander of the 4th Infantry Division. Although he had severe arthritis and was partly disabled by his wounds from World War I, he insisted on going ashore in the first landing wave on the morning of June 6. He was the oldest man on the beach, the only general in the first wave, and very likely the only soldier using a cane that morning.

His initial wave landed in the wrong position — more than a mile from the beach they were supposed to hit. When he realized they were off target, General Roosevelt personally scouted the area, came back to his men, and famously declared, “We’ll start the war from right here!” At 56 years of age, with a heart condition that he had hidden from Army doctors, the general stormed that beach with a wooden cane in one hand and an M1911A1 pistol in the other.

During the entire day, Roosevelt never took cover. As the beach was being shelled and swept with machine-gun fire, he walked up and down the beach rallying his soldiers, telling jokes, and using his cane to point out where he wanted them to go. He personally led multiple assaults on strongpoints and directed traffic off the beach. Because of his calm under fire, bravery, and leadership, Utah Beach became the most successful landing on D-Day. His units suffered fewer than 300 casualties and achieved most of their objectives for Day 1.

Thirty-six days later, on July 12, 1944, Roosevelt suffered a heart attack and died while still leading men in combat.

He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. He rests in the section with the soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division; alongside the men he led.

Well earned, richly deserved, probably long since past due, that MoH. Bless him; there walked a Real Man. I’m sure his dad was proud enough of his amazing son to almost burst from it, and smiled down from Heaven at his exploits, his bold and inspiring leadership qualities in direct command of men in combat.

The word “hero” is much overused at this point, thrown about far too lightly to suit me. But if anybody ought to be called one, it’s gotta be GEN Teddy Roosevelt Jr.