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aiiTHJsi lituuu.But fiction could never capture the life and death realism of that day.George Miller, of AcidDelinters of Pecos, is one ofthose rare .former U.S.Army Rangers who remembers it as a fact of life.Rare, because not that many Rangers came back to tell the story of D-Day.Miller, who resides at 1926 Hackberry, has lived • in Pecos since 1952 with his wife Betty, son Chuck and daughter Mona.Mrs. Miller and Monateach at Pecos High School, and Chuck a graduate of Texas Tech, resides in Houston.LIFE FOR Mr. GeorgeMiller of Pecos is pretty normal and quiet.But for Captain George Miller, commander of D. Company, 5th Ranger Ba-tallion, that June day of 1944 was pure hell and confusion, and it looked like he would never see another day, much less home and family.Said Miller: “The beach was a solid wall of artillery fire and machine gun fire, and we lost most of our men just getting out of LCAs and across the 100 yards of beach.”The objective of the Rangers was to take the gun placements on Point DuHoc, a rocky point 110 foot high and straight up.The 2nd Battallion was to use special mountain climbing gear and grappling hooks to head straight upthe point.If thev were successfulwthe 5th Battallion and company D were to follow and assist in cleaning up.If unsuccessful, the 5thBattallion was to forego Point du Hoc and join the 29th Infantry Division sixmiles down the beach for a backside assault on the placements.THE 2ND Ranger Battallion was successful in scaling the point in the face of unbelieveable casualties, but with communications fouled, the 5th Batallion received no word and joined in the backside assault near the tiny village of Verille. It was to have been a half-day operation.But at the end of the day the force heading off the beach toward the backsideof Point du Hoc had advanced only half a mile and had been reduced by 40 per cent.It was probably one of the bloodiest battles of the war.You were scared to death constantly,” said Miller, “constantly aware that death was everywhere, and expecting it was just around the corner for you.“But the fighting was so fierce that we had little time to think about anything else but fighting. We were there and we were doing our damnedest to get out of there alive. I thought more about staying alive than dying.”By nightfall Company D was just outside the small village of Verille, several miles inland, and would have to take this heavily fortified position before they could move on up the back of Point du Hoc and take the big guns.MILLER AND his company dug in that night, popped a few cans of Actions and were serenaded throughout the night by shattering artillery fire, machine gun bursts and the solitary cracking of rifle fire.It would be eight days before they would have a hot meal or a chance to sleep — only two or three hours sleep would have tosuffice.More fierce fire fights,• *
Newspaper Details
Pecos Enterprise
Pecos, Texas, US
Thu, Jun 06, 1974
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
ME, USA 08 Jan 2019
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