georgecrook

GEORGE CROOK

Recently I was contacted through the website by a gentleman from the Northeast US who was searching the internet for information about the 2nd Ranger Battalion, specifically about E company. It turns out he has a friend who served with E Company in WW2, and was one of the first men to scale the cliff at Pointe Du Hoc. His name is George Crook and his name appears in Robert Blacks book, Rangers in WW2.
George is currently in the hospital, recovering from surgery, but his friend has been relaying some of Georges fascinating stories to me. I hope to have some more details about his experiences as his health improves and I will be publishing them here.

In the meantime I am dedicating this website to Private George Crook E Company, Second Ranger Battalion 1st US Army .

As a Child, my friends had heroes like Superman and Batman. I never did. My superheroes were the ordinary men who swallowed their fears and did what no comic book character ever could. They didnt have X-ray vision or wear capes. They had steel helmets and M1 rifles and they saved the world.
I only hope we are worthy of the sacrifices these men made for the future generations.

Hi Tom -
sorry for not responding sooner- yes ! received the box and you have cheered one E co ranger - just gave it to him today !
His second surgery was on thursday afternoon - so yesterday he was out of it and today was the chance to give him the box. In any case he was very thankful - as am I and his family for it. he has said that as he is recovering and walking around the hospital he will wear the hat for sure - and he loves the lapel pin - most cool. The shirt - what can i say - that is great - he saw the back and he said - ' yeah that was the duce on our helmets'..
Very very much thanks.
He read your name several times on the box to commit it to memory -
that being said, he is really really weak, has lost a ton of weight. all totalled he has been hospitalized for about a month straight.
it seems to be a good time to get some questions into him from you if he wants to talk...
he was describing how potatoe mashers worked the other day vs their grenades in fact - but it is hard to get him to think too long about that stuff in his current condition.
any way many thanks. when i go next time and if he is up for it i will bring my camera for you and zip you a picture of him in his hat -
hope to talk soon,
your friend,
Jeff

Hi Tom -
I can ask about the guys in his landing craft - check for Putznick (sp) his friend. maybe that will narrow it down
He has told me that Block was not in the assault wave but landed with HHC. He ran across Block when HHC relocated to the top of the cliffs - behind the emplacements and off centered toward Utah. said that Block was peditriacian before the war and was running around very nervously at the time. It was from that direction - ie utah side - he says the Germans came when they overran them. there is a map in blacks book that shows the field - when i gave him the book he made all kids of supplementary notes on the page, changing woodlines and positions. he circled where he was captured on the sea side very end of the e company line. he had picked up a BAR and that was the end of the defensve line. if i get that back i will scan it for you. it is in his house. he has lined thru passages from black and put 'bull shit' in the margins...
i will ask him your questions.about Plank - and e co cmdr - he also has a great story about a wayward 101 trooper and prisoner - the 101 guy had an 8 x 10 glossly of his girlfriend under his jacket and a mae west life vest too. ..
talk soon,
Jeff

hi tom -
I am wondering - if , as author Black says, the 888 landing craft was the first in - and George and Putnick were, as George says, the first climbers from the first boat - that would be amazing indeed.
All that he came back with was CIB and a campaign ribbon.
It would be something to hook him up with something appropriate...
Jeff

Hi Tom
no, putzek was an infantry man, George crook landed as an infantry man in E co but had been busted by Block before the invasion from HHC medics. he was E5 NCOIC of medics - Block said tht he was training the medics too hard in infantry stuff - ha - so they butted heads and george was an e1 with an M-1. he told me that he was a ranger first..Putzek was his best friend. George treated him at the top of the cliff after clearning the germans outside the bunker. the rest of the Bn pushed past him as Putzek was hit pretty good and george knew how to save him. i have seen a letter after the war from Putzek in pencil thanking George for saving him that day. pretty cooll suff. Rudders boat wold not surprise me as george told me that he and Putzek were the best climbers in the company if not Bn and they knew that they would be the first at the top. they were to hold down the germans while the others came up behind...
i will see him tomorrow evenning and ask your questions - i will ask if rudder was in his boat.. also he says that everyone says that the boats were detoured parallel to the beach going in - which is BS - he says that they went straight in...and he does not recall getting his feet wet either as the beach was really small. -

His best friend was a guy named Putznick or such -they were the first two up the ropes from their craft. he on one, his friend on the other. only two ropes with hooks grabbed from his boat. lots of sand he said. he said that the hooks landed several feet above the edge of the cliff.- like 20 '... he said that where they climbed it was 90% overhang and he only touched the clff once - otherwise just hands,no feet all the way up. said it was all shell holes at the top and there were only 3 germans at the top who were out of the bunkers - otherwise he learned later that they were empty. his friiend was hit thru the sholder immeditely and george returned fire on 2 of them from 30 ft or so - very close range.for an M-1 he said. he speaks of those men as ' the real soldier and the one who ran '. at 90 he still recalls what effect that the shots had on one of them...pointing silently to his forehead

My friends name is George Crook.
He was initially with HHC as a medic and was busted before the invasion from E-5 to E-1 (for getting an argument with the Bn Doc -Cpt Block - who he said was an ass hole ( this from a 90 yrs old) with the choice of companys to go to. he picked e co as the best. he was explaining the battle to me last night and drew a map of the point complete with the 88 mm cannon locations ,pill boxes and the german mg positions he recalled. as mentioned he was capured when they were overrun. he recalls his landing craft went on the right side of the cliff toward utah, he said that the british ship with his craft was called the Mckay - or Mackree - he eventually ending up 4 different POW camps. he escaped in transit to the first one when his convoy of POWs was straffed by 2 P-38's. P-38s chewed up alot of prisoners but in confusion of attack he got away and connected with resistance who gave him a map and place to stay for a while. he has some preinvasion pictures of the company and his friends also.he says that Rudder was a great guy and lots of annocodes -

All best,
Jeff

One of these guys from 101 was caputred at the same time when e company was overrun and was on the run with george after escaping from the same convoy straffing.
the the two of them ended up in a hollow hay stack with a wounded guy. next morning horse drawn artillery set up int he same farmyard they were hiding at. they made a break for a hedge, 101 guy going over first to catch the wounded guy with george pushing him over. by the time the wounded guy was over the germans (*dutch) had their pistols out and pressed it against the back of his head.
he said that the 101 guy was a terrific whister. doing la-macelle when they were paraded together thru a town call St Jean,
the french in the house had given him an escape map which he kept in the folds of his field jacket hood. we have looked for it - he still has it somewhere -
Jeff

Ranger Crook died peacefully yesterday afternoon (June 14, 2009) surrounded by family and friends.
I had visited with him on 6 Jun 09 and took him for a quiet walk in the garden at his nursing home while he reflected on the day. We looked at the flowers and watched the birds. He was doing quiet well.
Your kindness in recognizing him for the man he was made him most pleased as you can see from the attached photo taken of he and I while reading your web site.
I will see to it that he is buried with the Ranger lapel pin that you had given to him. He liked it very much.
I do not know the particulars of his service yet but will let you know. I would anticipate it at the end of the week.
With Best Regards,
Jeff