This presentation of In Their Own Words is dedicated to the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces.

When the Allies invaded France in June of 1944, there were many soldiers from many nations

riding across the rough English Channel that stormy dawn. But perhaps none were so well

prepared for the awful battle ahead as those of the American Army's rangers. They were America's

first Special Forces Group, the best of the best.

Many would be the first to hurl themselves in harm's way. Leonard Lamelle was chosen from

thousands of applicants for the elite job of training the first ranger group.

Well, I was in the 76th Infantry Division, that was called the Liberty Division,

in the Head Corps' Company 417th Infantry Regiment, and I was chosen.

Another young man who was a professional boxer and I, were chosen to attend the first

Ranger school set up in America in World War II to train young men who they thought would

make excellent Ranger instructors because of their athletic background or whatever.

And off to that school we went, and there was about 200 of us from that division, which is 15,000 men.

Hopefully the graduates would be instructors throughout the division to teach Ranger tactics

and all the Rangers have to know their expertise.

We did not know each other by name or rank.

We wore coveralls and we had to participate in the roughest and toughest kind of training and

combat hand-to-hand combat and jiu-jitsu as it was called and karate as it's called now

and other things of that a hundred or a couple hundred less than half graduated and I was one of the half that graduated and was offered a job as first sergeant of D Company

of the second range of battalion.

And quite frankly, I was also being considered at the time for first sergeant of the headquarters

company because at that point

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