# A Texan on D-Day



## bill (May 21, 2004)

Texas State Historical Association
3 hrs Â· 
As we commemorate the D-day invasion of Normandy, France, and the heroics of many Americans, we turn to a Texan. Today in 1944, D-day, James Earl Rudder commanded the Second Ranger Battalion as it achieved one of the great feats of arms of the Normandy invasion. Rudder, a native of Eden, Texas, became commander and trainer of the elite Second Ranger Battalion in 1943. On D-day Rudder's Rangers stormed the beach at Pointe du Hoc and, under constant enemy fire, scaled 100-foot cliffs to reach and destroy German gun batteries. The battalion suffered higher than 50 percent casualties, and Rudder himself was wounded twice. In spite of this, he and his men helped establish a beachhead for the Allied forces. More: http://ht.ly/pYKL30cmWRo
Photo of James Earl Rudder at Pointe du Hoc, June 7, 1944. "Don't lose this," he wrote to his wife. "It was taken by Maj. Jack Street and holds much history for me. I have enough equipment to weigh down a horse." Photo courtesy of Margaret Rudder, reprinted courtesy of Texas A&M University Press, via Humanities Texas.


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

Lotsa Heroes on this day 74 years ago... some made it back...a lot didn't

We all owe our very existence to them...:flag:


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## bill (May 21, 2004)

All were Hero's in my mind.


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## fy0834 (Jan 18, 2011)

James Earl Rudder was a modest soldier From Texas given an assignment like many others that day.
Not until his story was published in a national magazine (maybe Colliers) did he begin to get national recognition. The mayor of uvalde texas, commissioner of the general land office, and ultimately the president of Texas A&M university. He remained a ranger with strict values all his short life.
He died in his 50â€™s. His son lives in College Station and a daughter in Oklahoma.
We were fortunate enough to tour Omaha beach and Point DuHoc with them and hear the stories last October.


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