General Omar Bradley called it the most dangerous mission of D-Day. He was not wrong.
At 6:30am on June 6, 1944, 225 Army Rangers approached a 100-foot sheer cliff face on the Normandy coast called Pointe du Hoc.
Their mission: climb it.
The cliff was vertical. The Germans were at the top with full visibility of everyone below. As the Rangers fired grappling hooks upward, the Germans cut the ropes. Shot the men hanging on them. Dropped grenades over the edge onto the climbers beneath.
The Rangers kept climbing.
It took roughly 40 minutes. Men fell. Men were shot off the ropes. The ones behind them grabbed the ropes and kept going.
They reached the top.
Then came the gut punch: the massive 155mm artillery guns they had been sent to destroy were gone. The Germans had moved them inland before the invasion. The entire mission had been sent to destroy guns that weren't there.
Most commanders would have regrouped and called it done.
The Rangers fanned out. Two miles inland, they found the guns, hidden in an orchard, already aimed at Utah Beach and loaded to fire. They destroyed every one with thermite grenades.
Then they dug in. Cut off, with almost no ammunition, no reinforcements, and no resupply, 225 men held Pointe du Hoc against relentless German counterattacks for two full days.
When relief finally arrived, only 90 Rangers could still stand and fight.
Their names are carved on a memorial in Normandy. Most Americans today cannot name a single one.
Just walked through the Decatur MARTA station, where both entrances are still wide open, and there’s no visible police or staff presence.
What’s exceptional about MARTA — and it’s been like this for years — is that the stations often have no uniformed presence at all. Passengers are the only people there.
In other systems, such as WMATA, there’s at least a transit employee in a booth by the fare gates.
Where are the MARTA employees? In offices? I rarely see anyone at all.
EXCLUSIVE! The water is refilling slowly at the Lincoln Reflecting Pool while the "dream team" crew finishes final repairs. They are racing to meet the June 10 deadline. WATCH:
“Glory, Glory” could be heard during batting practice at Truist Park after Georgia baseball won game 1 of the Super Regional today! #GeorgiaBulldogs#GeorgiaBaseball
There is a lot going on right now on the @Space_Station, but fortunately we are all safe and witnessed a spectacular southern aurora show yesterday thanks to a recent solar event.
“People like Lynn, Gambale and Baldwin are part of a growing social movement “cemetery citizens.“ a term coined by Adam Rosenblatt, anthropologist and author of a book about cemetery citizens — people working to restore and honor systemically neglected cemeteries.
Our Blake Street paupers' cemetery restoration project was on NPR Weekend Edition with @nprscottsimon on Saturday. Memorial Day weekend is the perfect occasion to think about how cemeteries, even neglected ones (or ESPECIALLY neglected ones) underlie the meaning(s) of citizenship
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The FIFA Fan Festival happens in Centennial Olympic Park on Thursday June 11 (the same day as an A$AP Rocky concert at nearby State Farm Arena). In less than a week we'll get to find out what these crowds actually look like and how well Atlanta handles them.
Working to get details on a shooting at MARTA Midtown station. Suspect is on the run. Witness said the suspect fired multiple shots. Victim was just taken away by ambulance.