Wilford Kale/freelance Pointe du Hoc, a jagged piece of terrain, sticks out from the shoreline between Omaha and Utah beaches in the American sector of the Normandy landing.

Battleship Texas participated in D-Day from the Atlantic Ocean, notably firing 255 14-inch shells over 34 minutes early in the morning to support soldiers landing at Pointe du Hoc.

Of the 225 Rangers who stormed Pointe du Hoc that day, only about 100 survived. Kerchner was later wounded near Saint-Lô but survived the war and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for ...

Kerchner, a lieutenant in the 2nd Ranger Battalion, played a crucial role in the D-Day assault on Pointe du Hoc, scaling cliffs under heavy fire and disabling German artillery.

Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment tour Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, France, last June, during commemorations of the 80th anniversary of D-Day. (Luke Sharrett/For The Washington ...

D-Day at Pointe-Du-Hoc D-Day at Pointe-Du-Hoc tells the remarkable story of the U.S. Army’s 2nd Ranger battalion.

President Joe Biden delivers a speech on the legacy of Pointe du Hoc, and democracy around the world, June 7 as he stands next to the Pointe du Hoc monument in Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) ...

Then on Friday, he went to Pointe du Hoc, a spot on the coast where Army Rangers scaled cliffs to overcome Nazi defenses on D-Day that was also the site in 1984 of one of President Ronald Reagan ...

Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian who wrote a book about Pointe du Hoc and Reagan’s speech, said Biden “had big shoes to step into” by choosing the same location.

At Pointe du Hoc, Biden said the Army Rangers “fought to vanquish a hateful ideology in the ‘30s and ‘40s.