Heidi Alexander: “my late friend, the late Alex Haley, the author of ``Roots,'' lived his life by these six words: Find the Good and…”

“my late friend, the late Alex Haley, the author of ``Roots,'' lived his life by these six words: Find the Good and Praise it. I am here today to praise a remarkable hero who served in one of the most difficult battles in our Nation's history and who today at 90 years old lives a quiet life in Memphis with his family. Wilbur K. Hoffman, or ``Bill'' to his fellow Rangers, was a member of the Dog Company of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, which in 1944 was among the select few companies that stormed the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc on D- day and turned the war around for the Allies. Forty years after Bill Hoffman and his fellow 2nd Battalion Rangers clambered up the rocky cliffs on the shoreline of France, President Reagan returned to the windswept spot to pay tribute. President Reagan called them ``the boys of Pointe du Hoc.'' The President said: These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war. This is Bill Hoffman, a hero who helped free a continent and end a war. Bill volunteered to join the Army in 1942. A year later he volunteered to join the Rangers, a select group that were charged with special missions. Bill says that because of all of their special training, they would simply ``get the mission done.'' Bill got out of the Army in 1945, after the war, but took a look at the job market and said, ``I think I'll go back in.'' Bill served in the Army for 24 years.…”