Scaling the Wall

A twenty-foot tall bronze relief mounted on the wall below the Overload Arch embodies a broad tribute to the Allied forces’ surmounting of Adolph Hitler’s “impregnable” Fortress Europe. Although viewers may associate it especially with the members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion who ascended the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, its purpose reaches beyond that single action. On behalf of all the participants in D-Day on June 6, 1944, the four figures portrayed there personify the qualities of valor, fidelity, and sacrifice that characterize the D-Day story.

Bedford, Virginia · United States