‘The boys of Pointe du Hoc:’ Reagan’s tribute to D-Day heroes

(NewsNation) — Then-President Ronald Reagan delivered one of his most famous speeches on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, marking half the span of the current 80th anniversary commemorated by President Joe Biden on Thursday in Normandy.

On June 6, 1984, Reagan commended the lost and living heroes who fought the largest amphibious assault in history at the site of the U.S. Ranger Monument at Pointe du Hoc in France.

This Saturday, NewsNation will air the 90-minute documentary film “Reagan: Portrait of a Presidency” about the life and legacy of President Ronald Reagan, narrated by actor Dean Cain. The documentary film will air from 9-10:30 p.m. ET (8-9:30 p.m. CT), followed by “Reagan: The Post Show,” with NewsNation senior political contributor George Will and chief Washington anchor Leland Vittert from 10:30-11 p.m. ET (9:30-10 p.m. CT). To find NewsNation on your screen, go to JoinNNN.com. 

Reagan’s words timelessly celebrated freedom and honored sacrifice and remain poignant and memorable even after four decades.

What did Reagan say?

The June 6, 1944, invasion of Nazi-occupied France was unprecedented in scale and audacity, using the largest-ever armada of ships, troops, planes and vehicles to punch a hole in Adolf Hitler’s defenses in Western Europe and change the course of World War II.

Of the 4,414 Allied troops killed on D-Day, 2,501 were Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded.

Reagan’s speech described those involved as men who “had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have not lost it — that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest.”

His remarks came amid the Cold War, which he addressed at the end of his speech, asserting that the U.S. was eager for a reconciliation with the former Soviet Union but wouldn’t waver in its resolve.

“Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for,” Reagan said.

How has America responded to Reagan’s speech?

“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” is the most notable line of Reagan’s speech.

A few days before delivering the speech, speechwriter Peggy Noonan made a last-minute change, striking out the line, “We have here today some of the survivors of the battle of Point du Hoc, some of the Rangers who took these cliffs.” In its place, she handwrote the line, “These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc,” the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission reported.

“For sheer oratorical elegance, it would become “one of the most inspirational presidential speeches ever delivered,” historian Douglas Brinkley told The Washington Post.

Reagan told U.S. allies, “We were with you then, and we are with you now,” and called upon the West to “renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it.”

Mary Kate Cary, a senior fellow of the Miller Center, told the History Channel those words kept the coalition in place that later defeated the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War.

“The ‘boys of Pointe du Hoc’ saved the world, and, in many ways, they did so more than once,” Miller said.