Although the Korean War officially ended in 1953, more than twenty years later, the Korean Peninsula appeared ready to once again erupt in conflict.
One of the most dramatic international incidents of the Ford presidency was when the Cambodian Khmer Rouge attacked then seized the American container ship the SS Mayaguez on May 12, 1975.
In November 1988, Governor Clements placed a plaque at Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, France to commemorate the 1944 seizure by Texan Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder and the U.S. Army’s 2nd Ranger Battalion of German artillery on the cliff.
Clements’ service under Presidents Nixon and Ford produced a great deal of valuable documents relating to defense, intelligence, national security, diplomacy, and statecraft.
Pointe du Hoc World War II Memorial
In November 1988, Governor Clements placed a plaque at Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, France to commemorate the 1944 seizure by Texan Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder and the U.S. Army’s 2nd Ranger Battalion of German artillery on the cliff.
The plaque reads:
“On June 6, 1944, Lt. Col. James Early Rudder (1910-1970), a native Texan, led companies D,E, and F of the United States Army’s 2nd Ranger Battalion in the capture and neutralization of the German coastal battery at Pointe du Hoc. Accomplishment of the mission, which included scaling the point’s rocky cliff, was seen as crucial to the success o the Allied Forces’ invasion of Normandy and eventual liberation of France. The original 225 Rudder’s Rangers fought two and one half days before relief. 90 men survived the mission.”
-Presented by Governor William P. Clements Jr.for the people of Texas November 29, 1988
The picture of the plaque was taken on Sunday, June 14, 2015 during the Clements Center’s first Maymester in London program excursion to Normandy.
