My mother’s father, Leroy Rogers, was a teenager in 1944 when he and the rest of his squad of U.S. Army Rangers climbed up the cliffs of Point du Hoc on D-Day. I was close to 30 when I stood on those same cliffs almost 60 years later with my wife; unable to comprehend the guts it must’ve taken for my grandfather to scale these cliffs on that fateful day. He was a heckuva guy.
Everyone always says: “See Saving Private Ryan to see what it was like at D-Day” but I’m not thrilled about that version ever since I heard that Spielberg changed the original script from the Point du Hoc to a beach landing because he didn’t think crawling up a cliff while Nazis were shooting at you and tossing grenades on your head “wasn’t dramatic enough.”
Loser; and your remake of War of the Worlds is gonna suck.
If you want to know more about D-Day and the Rangers at Point du Hoc, see R. Lee Ermey’s D-Day Special today on Mail Call on The History Channel or buy the DVD. The Gunny does a great job in that episode of Mail Call and I’ve met the man and know he sincerely loves the U.S. and our Armed Forces.
Unlike Steven Spielberg…
YESSS FIRST!!!
GO D-DAY!!
Yeah, Spielberg kinda FUBARed a lot of stuff. However, Charlie co. of the 2nd Rangers did land on the beach and not on the cliffs, so that much is accurate. One of the funny mistakes Spielberg made was puting some of the ramp log obstacles backwards.
As far as special effects and “the feel of the war” go, I’d say that SPR is a good repro. Band of Brothers (done essentially by the same crew) was a helluva lot better though.
Band of Brothers was a much better flick, only because it was like 8 hours of nazi killing. Also, it was nice to see the real soldiers of Easy speaking about the battles, and being an x-airborne infantry soldier it reminded me of my old company minus shooting nazis and having a high casualty rate.
Thanks for the heads-up about Mail Call. And extra-super-happy thanks to your grandfather who certainly had more guts than I can ever imagine!
Phat Tony, what unit were you with?
Also, a big “Rangers lead the way!” to Scott’s Grandpa.
Eco 51st Inf LRS 165 MI Btn Airborne. The unit was once a Ranger company back when rangers weren’t shock troops but recon and survielance.
Cool beans. Thanks for your service!
Wasn’t much going on when I was in. Just camped out in kosovo for a while, didn’t even get to kill some one. (sigh) What a waste of a steely eyed killer.
Scott, thanks for the D-Day post. Too many folks here in the US are oblivious of the significance of June 6th.
BTW- Rightwingnews has a posting of Ronald Reagan’s 1984 speech at Point du Hoc, it moved me to tears (literally). Your Granddad is one brave man.
Thanks, Good Ol’ Boy. It’s too bad my grandfather wasn’t in attendance at Reagan’s speech about “The Boys at Point du Hoc.” My grandfather liked Reagan but wasn’t able to make it to the event in 1984.
I disagree about Saving Private Ryan. There were beach landings on Juno, Sword, Gold, Utah, and of course, Omaha beach (featured in the film). I agree entirely about Spielberg’s politics. Like many liberals, he pays tribute to the “Good war” (as long as it doesn’t involve approval for our nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki), but doesn’t extend that courtesy to any recent war. And anybody who gets weak-kneeded when meeting Fidel can’t like America too much.
If we wanna get technical about Spielberg’s mucking with history here’s some tidbits:
– The film didn’t show the crucial role battleships played in the beach landings, especially in breaking out of Omaha beach.
– There was no James Ryan, though his character was inspired by one Fritz Niland. Like Ryan, his three brothers were killed, but unlike Ryan, he was pulled off the lines by a chaplain, not a combat patrol. That diversion of valuable resources is pretty ridiculous.
– It was “Flash” then “Thunder”, not the other way around. Think about it, which comes first, thunder or lightning? And the response was supposed to be “Welcome,” not “come on in.” This is because of the way a native German speaker would slur the “W.” In the Pacific theater, they’d use responses like “Flower.”
Someone versed in military jargon could probably fill us in on the rest.
My problem is that Speilberg was given a script that had the Army Rangers climbing up Point du Hoc (historical fact) but Speilberg wanted to have the Army Rangers come ashore on the beach (fiction).
Alucard
It could be flash-thunder, or thunder- flash. I don’t know either way.
A “thunder flash” is the nickname given to a pyrotechnical device used to simulate a grenade (etc.) exploding during military training exercises.
At least it was in my time.
With respect, Biased Observer, you’re probably right about the “Thunder Flash” definition. But this is probably just a coincidence. It could not possibly have been “either way” because if the correct password wasn’t given, you were justified in shooting your unknown visitor. Every history book I’ve read, including the two Stephen Ambrose classics, “D-Day” and “Band of Brothers” has corroborated this. I should point out that the Band of Brothers miniseries got this correct, although they didn’t mention “welcome.”
AAHH!! No, dammit! A few companies from 2nd Btn. Rangers and most from 5th Btn. climbed Point du Hoc. A couple of companies (including C co. as depicted in the film) landed with the 29th somewhere around Dog Green or Charlie sector (they were right next to each other and many disagree as to where they landed exactly because of the screwups in the landings in the choppy seas). YES, THEY LANDED ON THE BEACH!
And yes, he screwed up the “thunder/flash”. Also, don’t forget: How the hell did the Rangers know the challenge and response system for the airborne?
One of Niland’s brothers was an MIA pilot in Burma, and was later recovered, so not all of three died.
Again, SPEILBERG WAS GIVEN A SCRIPT THAT HAD THE RANGERS CLIMBING UP POINT DU HOC AND SPEILBERG SAID IT “WASN’T DRAMATIC ENOUGH”
I personally don’t give a crap if there is some hair-splitting justification for having Tom Hanks on the beach at D-Day…
My father was in the Omaha beach landing, so today was an especially reflective day for me. His military service has always made me proud.
I recently went to this Canadian blog that is virulently against the American military, and it pissed me off really bad. If there is anyone out there who is proud of our fighting men in Iraq, and who is sick of self-righeous Canadians, please visit this blog and give it’s writer Cathie hell in her comments section. And be sure to tell them Kev sent you!
God bless America!!!!!!!
The blog addy is http://cathiefromcanada.blogspot.com/
I’m not disagreeing with the fact that Spielberg was given a Point du Hoc setting originally. Fine. Cool. I’m just saying it’s blatantly inaccurate to say that that’s the only place Rangers landed on D-Day.
Also, Spielberg makes it look like the Rangers cleared the D-1 exit, which is bull. The 29th did it. Spielberg should try to do a remake of “The Longest Day” to redeem himself, but he’d probably ass that up too. Still, it would be cool.
It’s pretty amazing that at one point (circa WWII) the Canadians were willing to shoulder their share of the responsibility for the world’s affairs. And indeed they did, taking Juno beach, the second bloodiest behind Omaha. Reading and hearing some of what they say these days pisses me off. “Blame Canada” indeed 🙂
now now boys. let’s not fight over whether Spielberg used poetic license or not…the fact is that no matter how Hollywood twists or doesn’t twist reality, our soldiers are the bravest, most heroic men of our nation and Hollywood can’t take that away from them…or us. at least give Spielberg credit for Band of Brothers…one of the best i’ve ever seen…and Saving Private Ryan still rocked…remember they are “based on a true story”. unless you’re Michael Moore where they are “presented as a true story although the “facts” presented are lies, deceptions, and taken out of context quotes.
God bless men like your grandfather. Our nation and preserved was built upon their sacrifices
Also, in defense of Speilberg, His account of what happened at Omaha was very factual. The rangers landed one battalion at Point Du Hoc and another landed on Omaha and ended up leading the breakout off of the beach when the 1st Infantry Guys who were with them got pinned down (as the movie depicts)