THE BOND/ LAST LOOK By Brian Kelly Wait a minute. Just how exactly did I, of all people, wind up here? “Here” was Pointe du Hoc, the cratered battleground that rose to a 100-foot-high cliff on the west end of Omaha Beach. Here I was, just a few weeks after my twentieth birthday, surrounded by more than 60 fellow soldiers of another era; some of the greatest heroes of the Greatest Generation. It was the 40th anniversary of D-Day, and I was standing amid a group where some had no doubt asked that same question the morning of June 6, 1944. How they first got here, this stout collection of silver warriors, to this windswept, rocky point on the Normandy coast overlooking the English Channel, would soon be recounted by President Ronald Reagan in one of his greatest speeches ever. Like the others, though, the Army’s 1st Infantry Division was also the reason I was now standing amid the bunkers and shell craters, reminders of the greatest amphibious invasion in history. I was the division photographer for the 1st Infantry, and the Big Red One had sent me to chronicle Reagan’s visit as part of the 40th anniversary commemoration. To my left, Walter Cronkite sat on one of the reinforced concrete bunkers, waiting for the president’s arrival. Behind me, a crowd of locals and Americans who came over for the anniversary had began to form. Reagan’s visit to Pointe du Hoc was just one event in a three-nation tour, and the 1st
Infantry had emptied its public affairs office in Germany to send everyone to France for Reagan’s visit. But as the sole photographer in a contingent of journalists, interpreters and other public affairs types on the trip, and still the relatively new guy in the unit, I got the assignment that was largely viewed as a photo op dud in the president’s itinerary: Point du Hoc. Everyone else elbowed their way toward the ceremonies at Omaha Beach, where Reagan would be one of
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Brian Kelly in the Army. seven heads of state; a group of kings, queens and prime ministers that included Queen Elizabeth II, King Olav V of Norway, and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. My colleagues were wrong. Standing in front of a memorial to the Rangers that sits at the top of the Pointe du Hoc, his wife Nancy sitting a few feet to his left on a small stage lined with seats filled with the soldiers of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, Reagan told how they landed on the
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My view of President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan at the 40th D-Day anniversary. I asked, only to be answered by curse words and bitter recounts of seeing an ant-sized commander in chief on the horizon. “Well, I think I might have gotten some good stuff,” I said
as I started to pull my cameras out of my bag. “Shut up,” one quickly said. “We saw you on French television standing in front of everybody.”
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them turn moist. Recalling how some countries liberated during World War II were no longer free, Reagan explained in a clear, concise way like no other had before that made me realize why I, and thousands of other soldiers like me, were stationed in Europe. “Soviet troops that came to the center of this continent did not leave when peace came. They’re still there, uninvited, unwanted, unyielding, almost 40 years after the war. Because of this, allied forces still stand on this continent. Today, as 40 years ago, our armies are here for only one purpose — to protect and defend democracy. The only territories we hold are memorials like this one and graveyards where our heroes rest. “We in America have learned bitter lessons from two World Wars. It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost,” he said. Not so long after, one political pundit said Reagan had won his second term that day in Normandy. After Marine One took off, and Reagan left for Omaha Beach, I made my way back to the Army’s command post in Normandy. I was greeted with the disgruntled and disgusted glares of my fellow Army journalists, who had since returned from the Omaha Beach ceremony. “How close did you get?”
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beach and saw the mission before them that most thought impossible. “The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers — the edge of the cliffs shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb,” Reagan said. “They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. “Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only 90 could still bear arms. “Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there. “These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war.” I watched in awe as Reagan continued, his words making the eyes of the veterans before him and those in the crowd of a few hundred behind
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