POINTE DU HOC, France — Even filled with grass and wildflowers, the craters remain so deep and wide that you can still sense the blasts of bombs that carved them 79 years ago.
Peering over the 100-foot-cliff to the ocean below, you see clearly how exposed the young American men were as they climbed up grappling ropes early that morning of June 6, 1944.
Of all the D-Day sites, none quite conveys the horror and heroism of that pivotal moment during World War II as the Pointe du Hoc.
The Nazi defense and lookout point between two landing beaches in Normandy, which American Rangers conquered, suffered another three landslides this spring.
Inspections revealed that waves had chewed a cavity more than two and half yards deep into their base.
Organizations:
POINTE DU, Nazi, American Rangers
Locations:
France, Pointe, Hoc, Normandy