James Earl Rudder led the Rangers up the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc on D-Day and afterwards ran Texas A&M University through the decade of change that turned it from a military college into a large public institution. The complex of tower, theatre and auditorium raised in his memory in the 1970s is the university's principal performance building, and the auditorium is where College Station hears touring artists and the university's own presenting series. Opera has come through it: Rigoletto and Aida have both been staged there.