Rangers Way

Many of the men from 2^nd and 5^th Battalion of the United States Rangers were housed in the Greenhill area including the Weymouth Hospital on Melcombe Avenue. They used to march down this footpath and along the Esplanade towards Weymouth harbour.

They also marched along Brunswick Terrace which is just before the Pier Bandstand building opposite the Prince Regent Hotel. Troops were also housed in the Brunswick Terrace houses. Internal doors were put in at that time leading from one house to another so that if there was an invasion from the sea the troops could escape along the inside of the terraced buildings. The doors have long been blocked off but evidence of the access doors can still be seen in some of the houses.

The Rangers marched down the footpath and along the Esplanade a number of times in June 1944 on their way to Weymouth Quay.

Their last journey down the steps at Rangers Way would have been on D-Day — 6th June 1944 to the Quay where they boarded boats bound for France. Many never returned to Weymouth or their own home towns across the Atlantic Ocean.

The footpath was named Rangers Way in 2023 as a tribute to these American Rangers who stayed in Weymouth and left this town to fight at France’s Pointe du Hoc and Omaha Beach.