Training as a regular army soldier . Mr. Lomell i have to go to a ranger school, to begin with, that specialized in many things regular troops do not have to submit to. It is altogether different, a specialized field, a specialized mission, and you have to cope and train for that mission or whatever it may be. When did you actually Enter Service . Mr. Lomell that was in june of 1942. Right after pearl harbor. Your first combat action, was that in normandy . Mr. Lomell my first combat action, yes. Why dont you tell me about, from your training in the states, tell me about your trip over to england and the preparation you made for the normandy invasion. Mr. Lomell i have to tell you that from my point of view, because i dont think the troops of which i was a part of had any knowledge, advanced knowledge, that dday would be our first combat. We were ready for combat then, but they were going to give us specialized training, so the training i got after i entered the rangers was generalized ranger tactics and ranger training. If you are referring to any particular place we may have trained, why were we there, i will explain it to you. What were you going to inquire about . Tell me where the rangers trained and what sort of training rangers have. Mr. Lomell dont go too fast. One, we were at camp forrest tennessee. We came from all sorts of army bases and different parts of the United States army, those that volunteered. And we gathered in tennessee there and organized. I was invited to become the First Sergeant and received a call from i forget his name at this stage, asking me if i would be interested in becoming a First Sergeant of a ranger company. I said yes i would. I became a First Sergeant in the d company on the very first day of the rangers activation there in tennessee. I think that was 1943. The spring of 1943. I dont remember the exact date. Explain to me the concept of ranger tactics. Mr. Lomell well, we had to be trained and know how to participate in all kinds of warfare. We were given Jump Training for parachuting. We were given all kinds of that any troop or any soldier is committed to get when you sign up and become part of the United States army. That covers many thousands of different concepts and training, so i dont know which one you would be interested in discussing. Any and all would be very interesting. As far as preparation for dday, when did you learn what your mission was going to be . And what sort of training did you receive for that . Mr. Lomell i will answer that by telling you when i found out about it. It was my mothers birthday, april 27, 1944. Now, prior thereto, because we had climbed so many cliffs and so many mountains and did so many other things that appeared to be evidentiary, shall i say, on what we might be confronted with, but it would be pure speculation. They did not set us down and say, you are going to be in dday and climb Pointe Du Hoc. They did not say that at all. But when you climbed as many cliffs as we have, 400, 500 feet in height dday was only 100 feet you start to think, i dont know what they are training is for, but it seems like the cliffs will be part of it. I did not begin to know where those cliffs were until april of 1944. And how did you find out . Mr. Lomell we were in england. We had been training with the commandos in england, and one day notice went out to troops of the second ranger battalion that there would be a conference, and we didnt know what it was going to be about. It was going to be about dday. Even then because of security, they didnt give us the complete details of our mission on june 6, 1944. We met and they didnt give us the date. They just said, fellas, we imagine theres going to be a cliff in your future because you have climbed so many of them. You will be finding out about it as dday approaches. They were generalized statements because we were sworn to secrecy, and you had to be careful what you tell the troops and have to be careful none of it leaks out. What i would say in fairness, in answer to your original question, what did they tell us, the Bare Necessities were what they told us, nothing more. Yes, you are going to be used in a big invasion that is going to take place. They did not tell us where, what day at that particular conference. So we left that meeting sworn to secrecy and were then kept in training areas that were under guard so that no one could leak the information, what little we had. Barely enough to keep us interested, excited about it, and determined to do it at the best of our ability. Ok, lets move on to the embarkation. Mr. Lomell embarkation in new york . Im sorry, the debarkation, going from england to normandy. Tell me about the last preparations that you made on base, until you loaded into the vessels and went across the English Channel. Mr. Lomell me personally, what did i do . Yes. Mr. Lomell at that point, i was still the First Sergeant of d company. I had many duties. I was a busy fella. When you say what did i do, i did what all First Sergeants do. My concern was the men and everything, how do you do it, that they have all their needs met. We traveled across the English Channel on channel steamers, english small channel boats that took tourists back and forth prior to dday. What else did you want to know about that . Loading into the vessels, what did you mr. Lomell we loaded them when the time came. I dont remember precisely the time. We were aboard the channel steamers the day before. Or maybe more than a day or two before. Waiting for what inevitably would become dday. Suddenly the day before dday, the fifth of june, we started out that night, and in the course of the night we crossed the English Channel ready to assault in the morning of june 6, which was officially dday, and we landed at the west side of Pointe Du Hoc, the west side of omaha beach where Pointe Du Hoc was. What was Pointe Du Hoc . It was a tremendous cliff. Several miles in width, but only about one third of that is beaches where the troops landed with their landing craft. Going down the water at various depths presumably and hopefully so they could run through it to dryland. But the rangers went further west of that beach, where there are several miles of cliffs, up to 100some feet, i dont remember how high, but hours were around 100 feet high. It is a very narrow beach, but it is not sand, it is rocks. Maybe 50 feet wide, which doesnt give you much room when you land your lcas. We were on British Channel steamers and unloaded in the middle of the night, about 2 00 or 3 00 in the morning, onto our lcas, which were british, not american. We were being transported in the dday operation by the british navy. Unfortunately, they made a mistake and went to the wrong cliffs, which delayed us about 40 minutes i think, landing time, which is important when you have game plans such as we had that required accuracy in our planning and so forth. So we landed at about 7 00, 7 10 a. M. Dday morning, june 6, 1944, on that little ledge below the 100 foot cliffs of Pointe Du Hoc. It was our mission to climb those cliffs and destroy six, they thought, 155 millimeter coastal guns at Pointe Du Hoc, which was the heaviest firepower on the atlantic wall that hitler had to rely on. This mission was said to be the most Dangerous Mission assigned for dday, and that has been repeated by general omar bradley, the Commanding Officer of the operation. He claimed it was. General eisenhower and all the upper level of our leaders were tremendously concerned because the guns of Pointe Du Hoc were very important and most necessary to get out of action as soon as possible. Now, i can only repeat to you what historians say in the books. As our landing crafts were approaching the coast for the initial invasion can i take a break here . Absolutely. Mr. Lomell because i am forgetful. What was i talking about . As you approached the coast. Mr. Lomell oh, yes. You see, we loaded upon the lcas to transport the steamers at 4 00 in the morning. These lcas manned by the british navy. It took a few hours to get from that point to the beaches, wherever you are going to land. In our case, as i mentioned earlier, we were about 40 minutes late because our british coxswain, having lost which cliff he was to land at, but that was corrected and we did land. And we did climb the cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc and get up there. We did that in the following manner. As our lcas landed and the ramps went down, we pushed buttons on our switchboard. That set off these rockets that had launchers along the gunnels of the lcas. Those rockets would sail up there 150 feet. These are over 100 foot cliffs, and fall behind the lines, grab into the earth, and we would pull on them down on the beach and that would secure them so we could hand over hand climb 100 feet straight up. The germans, had everything got right, the germans would have been dead when we did this, it was so early. But because we were so late, they didnt know the invasion was coming at this place. It gave them enough time to get out there to welcome us, such as it was, as they cut our ropes as we were climbing, as they dropped grenades on top of us or shot us off the ropes. It became almost impossible to climb those ropes to get up there and find the guns. We got up there and fought our way through the germans to the gun positions. D company, my company, was assigned gun positions 4, 5, and 6 on the west flank. We were the only ones assigned to missions on the west flank of Pointe Du Hoc. The rest of the battalions the rest of the companies of the second battalion landed on the others. In any event, when we got to the physicians wherever three guns the positions where our three guns were supposed to be, these big coastal howitzers, they were not there. There were telephone poles sticking out of these immense placements. Of course, we trained for this mission only from aerial photographs. Information had been given to us, so we only knew what we saw at that point. We did not know, as we later found out, that those guns had been removed before dday to an alternate position. We went to the gun position, they were not there. We checked quickly and could not find any guns on Pointe Du Hoc at that point. But on dday morning by 8 30 a. M. , Sergeant Kuhn, my acting platoon sergeant, second platoon of d company, and i, after we had been through landing and climbing the cliffs and fighting the germans and going into position and finding the guns, we had this section of our platoon set up a roadblock on the shore road from Pointe Du Hoc to ground com. We manned that roadblock to keep the germans from getting up the road or down the road to help each other or send us off or whatever they would do. Numeral when they did that, the sergeant and i went looking for the guns. We just happened upon this little road that ran from the coast road along the English Channel. It ran inland and looked like wagon marks or something on the dirt road between these mammoth hedgerows, nine feet tall. The hedgerows in normandy are not like america, where they are three or four, maybe five feet tall. These were giant. Tanks could not get through them. 50 foot trees on the top of them. My platoon sergeant and i leapfrogged. I would run up 50 feet and look over the hedgerows and see if i could find evidence of any guns. He would run and catch up and take over the position while i ran the other 50 feet. We kept doing this, protecting each other, never knowing if we would run into a machine gun nest or something. As luck would have it, within the first couple hundred feet, we came to this hedgerow and it was my turn to peer over it and examine what lay on the other site, and there were the guns. By 8 30 in the morning, we had destroyed those guns so they could not be used. And got back to our roadblock men, and we fought there for two days until we were relieved. We had heavy casualties. I think out of 65 men, i had 15 men left. But those of us that did survive were just plain lucky. We knew what we were doing and we accomplished the mission by 8 30 in the morning of dday, which, as i said, was so important because it was the heaviest firepower along the atlantic wall that could have killed tens of thousands of service our whole invasion fleet of thousands of ships, 5000 or 6000 ships all in this channel and off the coast from where we were going to attack from. They were all visible targets for these guns. But historians say that our leaders tried to use the battleships that were off the coast, and the american air force, the various air force units, and all the guns and all the planes and ships that had the same target, get those guns, depend on getting those guns out so this invasion is going to be successful. They missed their targets by three miles. So said the historians. All i know is there was no evidence on the ground when jack and i came out to find those guns. There was not a shell hole near them, so no one had discovered them. From our side, anyway. But anyway, we were fortunate, we were lucky. We were at the right place at the right time, and we watched over each other. Jack got up on top of the hedgerow while i went into position and destroyed the gun sites. There were only five of them, others were destroyed in an earlier bombing mission. And we saw that there were about 100 men. This is at like 8 00 in the morning, and they are completely surprised. They never knew there was going to be an invasion to begin with, and certainly they never believed anybody would be fool enough to climb hand over hand up a 100 foot rope on like a 12 story skyscraper and get in there and destroy those guns. So we took them by surprise and they still didnt know that Sergeant Kuhn and i were so deeply in back of them. We were two defense lines in back of the germans, and they couldnt dream there was any american soldier anywhere near them. So that helped us a great deal. But anyway, we kept an eye on them. We believe they were the gun crews of these guns. We had done our job, found the guns, destroyed them. They couldnt be used. And we made our way back to the roadblock on the shore road and fought there for two days until we were relieved. Because we were down to, like i say, 15 men. The rest were casualties. Where did the bulk of the casualties occur . Mr. Lomell well, i would say for me and my boat, or our boat, d company, it started at the shore road. We didnt have any casualties to my recollection. Of course, i was the first one wounded when we landed. The ramp went down and i caught a machine gun bullet through my right side over my right hip, through the fleshy part, what little fat i had in those days. But it did not hit the joint or any important organs, it just burned and was sore. I was the first one wounded, but it did not disable me that i could not do my duty. I did go on and do my duty. In doing what we did, being in the right place at the right time and a lot of good luck, we put those guns out of position, thus saving thousands of lives. I have heard all kinds of estimates of how many thousands. It is in the tens of thousands of soldiers lives, sailors lives, american lives, civilian lives. Those guns could have really torn that part of the world apart. Thats why they were so important to get rid of, so the invasion could be a success. How did you destroy the gun sites . What method . Mr. Lomell because we had to climb the cliffs, we had to be as light as possible, so we didnt carry a lot of armaments or bullets or hand grenades, that sort of thing. We each carried one, which was a thermite grenade. That was about the size of a beer can. When you opened it and aerated its contents chemically, it turned like to solder and you could just pour it out of the can. That would go over the gears of the traversing mechanism or the elevation mechanism to raise the gun barrel, or tube, as they call them. As that flowed out like solder over the years, whether flat, traversing, or elevation, or on the hinges where the projectiles go in, it seeped down, and when it cooled, it was all welded together and you couldnt move these things. You could fire them, but it would all be in one spot. And if i could get the bridge block firmed up, you couldnt do that either. I dont really remember. I never thought about it until this moment. How many of my using the thermite grenade, fused the bridge block opening where they load the shells. I dont remember. All i know is those guns became inoperable by 8 30 a. M. The morning of june 6, 1944. Were there germans resisting while you were in there . Mr. Lomell yes, about 180 of them. I read a figure, 170. I only had 22 men to begin with. At the end, i only had about 10 that could still fight on. But we lucked out, my guys were in the right place at the right time. And finally we were relieved two days after dday, d plus two, with the other american troops coming from the beaches of omaha up onto the high that, inland, relieving us. On dday, we were the first to penetrate that far into germanhelp territory. Does that answer your question . Yeah. After the guns were destroyed and you say you fought for another two days until relief, tell me about some of those actions after your initial mission had been accomplished. Mr. Lomell after the destruction had been accomplished . Well, it made the germans very angry, at least we jump to that conclusion, because that night, dday night so far as we could see or tell, we had been successful during the day. We had destroyed the guns, chased off some of the germans, the guys who were on top of the cliffs. We either killed them or they ran off. But that night, they came back with three attacks upon us, trying to drive us off the cliff. But they didnt. They were unsuccessful, and we successfully held out against them. So ever after, we didnt have too much attacks upon us. I was surprised that they didnt attack us more the next day. But there was only the occasional firefight here or there, because i can only assume that we had reduced the 170 or 180 men, germans, that we believed were there, were later learned were there. We left a lot of them dead, so we depleted their numbers from 170, 180 downward, so i dont know that they had many left by d plus three when the troops came up from omaha beach. The 29th division at the 30th division of ours coming up. So their ranks were greatly depleted by d plus three or four, and we were very fortunate we had accomplished our mission. We chased them out of their positions. We had a lot of prisoners. And then they relieved us because we still have not had any advanced medical attention for a lot of the guys who were badly wounded, so we had a high number killed. We will move on from normandy. Mr. Lomell what . Moving on from normandy. Mr. Lomell oh, yes. The battle mr. Lomell the battle of normandy lasted for two and a half months, you know. It was not something that lasted two days or weeks. It lasted for two and a half months as the invasion area enlarged, as our troops were being landed. Our forces enlarged and moved inland. Then general patton, as you recall, broke out and led the way across france to where he broke down in metz. I should not use the words broke down. He ran out of gas because he got ahead of his gas lines and had no more gas for his armored equipment, so he was bogged down. We played an Important Role in getting gas to him so we could get over the valley come across the rye to get to berlin. After you went back to england, tell me about the period between after you went home to england and the next time you saw action. Mr. Lomell i misunderstood you. Tell me about the time period between going back to england until the next time that you saw action. Mr. Lomell well, if i understood you correctly, on the fourth day after dday, i was evacuated to england. You that was my first visit back to england after dday, because i was in a hospital. I had some operations i had to take care of for wounds. Then i was sent back to normandy and became a Sergeant Major of the entire battalion. The whole battalion. Top enlisted man. Then i remained in that position, and in the movement, or of course, france, until we got up around belgium, and then i think it was in april while in belgium, i received a Battlefield Commission to second lieutenant. And i led the first platoon of d company the rest of the way, until i was wounded finally and sent home. Did i cover everything you asked in that answer . Yeah, other than telling me specifically where you and your Company Fought after Pointe Du Hoc. Mr. Lomell they fought all the way across france, belgium, all the way into germany and czechoslovakia, all the way into the end of the war. They were on the elbe river in czechoslovakia. When a lot of people think rangers, they think Pointe Du Hoc and dont think very far past it. Can you tell me a bit more about what the rangers did after Pointe Du Hoc until the end of the war . Mr. Lomell we were in a heck of a lot of combat after landing on dday. We had a lot of land to be cleared. We were busy, busy, busy for a whole year of combat. I cant begin to remember all the names of villages. In other words, every not everyone, but we were constantly being called by other divisions for special details if they were having trouble, those divisions, being held up. We need someone to raid this outfit. Then they sent for the rangers. We would take those assignments from the rest of the allied forces, wherever they could use rangers behind the lines or on special missions, they did so. We were very active, working all the time, in combat all the time. Give me an example of a situation in which the army had to call on rangers specifically to accomplish a mission. Mr. Lomell my god. I know there is so many to choose from. Mr. Lomell the point is how about hill 400 . Mr. Lomell that is up in germany and belgium. Thats in december. We are talking dday, june, july, august, right on every month we are in combat all the way to hill 400. The reason that becomes important, because four days later was it four days or whatever . We had a tremendous battle there at hill 400. You remember patton ran out of gas in metz. That is to say, his armies, which we were part of, coming across the coast of france all the way to metz, where he had no more gasoline. The army had to make sure that the lines for the gasoline got to where patton needed it. The army needed the rangers to go forward out there and clear up the roer valley. Or ruhr, two spellings. The roer valley, it seemed every intersection was on the target boards at the top of hill 400. Dday, we only had 100 feet to climb. We were there on december 7, 1944. We have 400 feet straight up, frozen weather, ice and snow, covered solidly with evergreen trees, which became known, infamously, as the battle of the hurtgen forest. Our duty was to help clear the roer valley, to open it up, so patton, when he got his gasoline and was ready to roll, could come through the roer valley, the roer river, and cross the river on the way to berlin. We did that job. There were thousands of men from other outfits who tried to do that and failed. Just two days before we did it, 5000 guys from the fourth division, eighth division, and a couple other units tried to open up the roer valley so patton could get through, but failed. They lost a lot of people wounded and killed and equipment all over the area in front of hill 400 in germany, which was in a hilly section that was blocking it. We were called in on short notice by the eighth division on december 6. We rode in open trucks from where we were in a camp in hurtgen to klein house, a Little German village where we detrucked about 2 00 in the morning on december 7. We then marched a couple miles to the area we were going to attack from and two patrols were chosen one of them was my patrol to reconnoiter hill 400, which was 400 feet high and had this tremendous control tower. You it was camouflaged and you couldnt see it, but it controlled every intersection. They pressed a number and came and got it if anybody was in it. Weve reported in at 3 00, 4 00 in the morning what we saw, and then we made our battle plan to jump off at 7 30 a. M. The morning of december 7 from the sunken road in front of the church in the village that was at the base of hill 400. We did. We were successful. We took hill 400. We took the tower. We captured the gunners. We put them all out of business. That was december 7, 8, and 9, i guess, about those days. We were successful. Guess what . We knew nothing. I dont believe anybody else in the American Force knew it. On december 16, i think it was, the germans came out of the ardennes in the battle of the bulge, the worst battle of all, and then started another fight. We were in with whoever was around to help stop the movement of the germans coming out of the ardennes at the start of the battle of the bulge. Well, in their rush, they took hill 400 back that we had just captured a few days or several days before, captured for us. Now, remember, theres 68 men in a ranger company. I think we had about 130 men that took hill 400 in germany on december 7 and a few days thereafter. A week or so after the battle of the bulge started in the ardennes, the German Forces were turned around and forced back. They were forced right back from where they came. And our American Forces had to recapture from the germans the roer valley, hill 400, and bergstein, where we were at. It took paratroopers i think there was 15,000 of them, and only 500 of us. 15,000 infantry and paratroopers. Took them three days to recapture hill 400 in bergstein, germany, that we had done just a couple of weeks earlier with 130 men. To give you some idea of the figures here. And of course, the rest of the story is the war was over by the following may, may 8, i think, 1945. This is something you probably dont get asked much in interviews. Tell me about when you went home, what your life was like, how things had changed, how the war changed you and the country. Just the general feeling when you came back to the states. Mr. Lomell if you are asking me, was there any change in may when i came home, i dont believe there was. I dont think i changed much, if at all. I came back to my wife. We were not married then, but we had been going together prior to the war, and we got married on june 6, 1946. We have been married ever since and are still married, 60 some him and years later. Change . I didnt see any change in myself or my family and friends. We went right back to work, doing what we had, getting our education. The greatest thing that happened to me was the g. I. Bill, because my family had no money to send me to college with, but the g. I. Bill did. So i dont think there was much of a change. Everybody is happy when war is over. So we came back with the same enthusiasm we had in the outfit, and we all took advantage of the g. I. Bill one way or another and advanced our education, get on with life, and put all that behind us, the war. When was it that you a lot of veterans, it was 20 or 30 years before they went back to reconnect with a lot of their old buddies and shared some of these stories. When did you come back and start mr. Lomell the next day. My rangers remained a family of brothers from day one in the outfit, from day one after discharge, to this present day. My own children, our children, my wife and i, they were teenagers before they came to realize that uncle joe and uncle steve and uncle harry and all these uncles were not there real uncles. We have a close family relationship among the rangers, even to this day. We are very active, very active together. I am a past National President of all rangers. Presently, even this day and age, i am the president of the northeast chapter of the rangers, of our organization. What about the young guys today . Mr. Lomell what about the young guys today . Tell me about how they affiliate with the world war ii rangers. Mr. Lomell wonderfully well. We socialize with them. We go to parties with them. We talk at our gettogethers. We have a great relationship with them. We have the respect that they are due, because they are very fine. We believe they are the finest. There are all kinds of letters and things from generals and highranking people that say the rangers are the best of the best. That sounds like i am boastful, and there are plenty of people who have heard me say that and would be annoyed because i have said that. But i am only repeating what i have heard in answer to your questions. We have a Good Relationship with the present day rangers. Thats the point of your question. I dont know of any other outfit that has any better relationship with their successors. Do they still, after the war i know it has been 60odd years have you had the opportunity to share what you have learned from fighting that war with the way that we fight now, today . Mr. Lomell well, i am 86 years old today, for one thing. I dont run around as much as i used to. But yes, i have been flown to the west coast and talked to the rangers at the second ranger battalion out there. I go to wherever they are when i am invited and give inspirational talks. I just think the rangers are just as good as they ever were, maybe better. If there is new techniques that i dont know about. We measured up in our time, they are measuring up in their time to being the best of the best. That is the objective in the first place, to be the best of the best. What kinds of questions do Young Rangers ask you . Mr. Lomell when rangers get together talking ranger talk, we are talking about, what is the best way to do this, how did you do this . We exchange ideas. To give an example, the powers that be on the top level did not give adequate consideration to the hedgerows of normandy. When they found out that their tanks and heavy equipment couldnt get through them, they were horrified. You know who solved that question . Some farmboy found if you put blades on the front of the tank, when that tank hit that hedgerow with those blades, it tore up and could get through. Why do i use that as an example . I used that as an example, solutions do not always come from the top. When you least expect it and you cant think of a solution at the top, somebody from below is going to come up with a solution. And thats the way it is with the rangers. They are thinking soldiers. If theyve got a problem, they dont like to given without first solving it. Sooner or later, it gets solved. That got solved in world war ii. We did all right. Perfect answer, i think, to that question. I think that sums up what the rangers are all about. Mr. Lomell they are special. They are to the American Forces what the British Commando is to their forces. Special troops. Simply stated. We have still got a couple minutes. Tell me about your relationship during the war with the British Commandos. Mr. Lomell excellent. They are wonderful guys. They are brave, they are intelligent, they are serious, but there are lots of fun. They have got a great sense of humor. They were awfully kind to us. We were foreigners in their country and we lived with them, with families, not in barracks. We paid rent to the english people, and sometimes they would be commandos parents. We just had a wonderful, brotherly relationship with the commandos. We regard them and respect them for what they stand for. They stand for the best of the best in the british forces. We stand for the best of the best of the American Forces. We know that it angers people to hear us talk like that. But lets take a look of the record and go out in the field to see who is the best. And i challenge them all. I think that just about wraps it, doesnt it . Very good. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] you are watching American History tv over weekend the on cspan three. Join us the first and third weekend of a month as we take book tv and American History tv on the road, to watch videos from any of the cities go to www. Cspan. Org and follow us on twitter. Cities to her the american story. We continue our look at the Missoula Smokejumper base of operations