Watch: Gerald McRaney Tells Story of WWII Vets, D-Day Ranger Leonard Lomell

During Sunday night’s PBS telecast of the annual National Memorial Day concert from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, television star Gerald McRaney told the story of World War II veterans, highlighting one in particular – the heroic actions of former United States Army Ranger Leonard G. “Bud” Lomell.

Lomell, a 24-year-old staff sergeant and platoon leader with the Army’s 2nd Ranger Battalion, trained to scale the 100-foot-high cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on the coast of Normandy in northern France during the D-Day invasion and disable the German Army’s five 155-millimeter guns, which would save countless lives.