We have driven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. And company with the brave allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the german war machine. The elimination of nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of europe and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is welltrained, wellequipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely. This is the year, 1944. Much has happened since the triumphs of 1940 and 41. The United Nations has inflicted upon the germans in open battle. Mantoman. Our air offensive has seriously reduced strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Has homefront has given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and ammunitions of war. And plaisted our disposal, great reserved fighting men. The freeman of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck and let us all beseech the blessing of almighty god upon this great and noble undertaking. This morning on washington journal and American History tv, we are the National Dday memorial. In bedford, virginia, joined by alex kershaw, the author of nine books including his latest, the first wave, the d day warriors that lead the way to victory in world war ii. Alex kershaw, thank you for joining us this morning. What is the significance of you being there in bedford and the memorial . This is the one place in america that gave more to me as a european im 53 years old. And i have spent 53 years in europe at peace and have enjoyed enormous prosperity and unity. And this one community here, bedford, virginia, there are more lives sacrificed more than anywhere else in america on june dday, june 6, 1944. This community had 3000. And nine died at omaha beach. Per capita, that is more than any other allied community on d day. That is why the National Dday memorial is here and i am very happy to be sitting in front of it. It is interesting. I always heard that bedford gave more than any other american town. But you said more than any other allied community. Yes. That is what the National Dday memorial proclaims. And that is true. Actually, on dday, company a it was a National Guard unit. Guys joined the National Guard in the 1930s. They were weekend warriors. They never envisioned in 1937 or 1938 that by 1944, they would be in the very first wave of the most critical assault in u. S. History. So out of company a, there were 180 guys that landed on omaha beach. And 102 of them were killed in about a halfhour. Of the 102, 19 were killed from bedford, virginia. But there were 34 guys still in company a on dday from this community here that fought on june the sixth, 1944. Your book is on the individual personal stories of the first wave of soldiers, airmen and marines. And you write early on in the book that it was 12 15 a. M. June 6th, 1944. The most important day of the 20th century. The First Americans had arrived in france. Why do you think dday was the most important day of the 20th century . Because it led to the europe that you see today. It led to the restoration of civilization, human rights, democracy, peace and western europe. The relationship between the u. S. And europe which has been the most important relationship in modern world history. And it led to the freedom of millions and millions of europeans and western europe. 19 million civilians died in europe in world war ii when americans and british and canadians landed on dday june the sixth, 1944. It gave countless millions hope that barbarism and the rule of nazi is him and that terrible genocide would finally end. Our guest, alex kershaw. We welcome your calls and comments. The 75th anniversary of dday. For eastern and central time zone. Those of you with world war ii veterans and your family, the line is 2027488000. We will get to your calls shortly. I want to start with a photograph that most all of us have seen at some point or another in our lives. The famous jaws of death photo. What is the significance of this photo that you have included and the similar version on the front of your book . It is probably the best photo you can find of what it was like for approaching the deadliest beach of five beaches on dday. That is omaha beach. Approaching the red sector. The second deadliest sector. Guys on the boat will be killed. It is a very atmospheric shot of what it was like to approach a bloody omaha. Over 900 americans killed on that beach. Far more than any other allied soldiers or any other beach on dday. It is a moment anticipating immense violence and death. Alex kershaw, we have guests. Lets hear first from ralph. Good morning. How is it going . My dad served in world war ii but he was part of the occupation force after combat. But i was just wondering, how many men did we actually lose on omaha beach that day . We know it is over 900. It is impossible to say right down to the exact. But over 900 on omaha beach. Compare that with the other American Beach which was utah. Utah you had less than 200 casualties that were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Omaha, 900 killed and 2. 5000 casualties. Omaha was a bloodied disaster. Lets go to plano, texas. How are you doing . Fine. Go ahead with your comment. I was calling to say it was inappropriate to talk about the president this memorial day. First of all, the sacrifices of the greatest generation has little to do about it. You have to remember that the president did his and somebody had to take his place. We have kind of moved on from that topic. We are talking about dday with alex kershaw and this is hillsdale, new jersey. Robert, welcome. Good morning. Thank you for writing the book. The question i asked about was the bedford boys and the memorial there. I have been privileged to be there. They brought the schoolchildren and lined up the veterans next to the Landing Craft you are seated to the left of. The children went buy and their must have been 100 veterans there for various campaigns. It was fantastic to see the children thank the veterans and person. And it is the great thing. It is a shame that it took so long to get that memorial built there. What do you think the difficulty was . I think it is a difficulty with many memorials. The National World war ii memorial in dc was built far too late as far as most are concerned. I think it took a long time for people to realize that we needed to memorialize the second world war. It is a shame but we have to remember that it is here. I am sitting here right now. It has been open since 2001. It was opened by president bush in 2001. We have a Beautiful National memorial all over the u. S. In fact in europe, americans sacrificed a lot in world war ii. In general, how were the men selected to be part of this first wave . Were they looking for a specific experience, character traits . Or did they just need raw numbers . It is a mixture of both. It is a great question. Omaha beach was a mixture of two divisions. The first which was in combat before. Some guys landed in the first wave with the big red one in omaha were in the 31st wave. They had been in north africa and sicily and then omaha beach. The other divisions was a Rural Division which was the 29th division. A National Guard division. Not one of those guys had seen combat before. We had a problem which was that we only have so many men that we could put into that that had seen combat before. Two thirds of the americans on dday had never had a shot fired at them in anger. So it was a combination. Certain key objectives were very difficult and very challenging. We used rangers, 101st airborne. Most of those guys had never seen combat before. The 82nd airborne had. The vast majority of americans on dday have never been in combat before. One of the green troops was a man you write a great deal about. Lieutenant john spalding, the first division. He was the first wave of men on the beach. You write about lieutenant spalding and his second in command of the first infantry division. What was their relationship and describe the first couple of moments where they stepped off the boat lieutenant spalding stepping off of the boat into the water. First of all, you have to remember that when they came toward the beach, they were told it would be as flat as a pancake and the American Bombing would have been very effective indeed and all they would have to worry about is when they got to the land. And they may dare to look over to the edge of the Landing Craft about 2300 yards from the beach. Their hearts fell. They were dismayed to see that nothing had been touched by the bombing. The ramp came down. A spalding was on the front of the Landing Craft. 28yearold guy who had never seen combat before from owensboro, kentucky. A Sports Writer before the. He had to shout at his men that he was going to go first and test the waters. The noise level was absolutely extraordinary. It was described to me as a constant roar of noise. You would hear every now and again, a piece of cloth being torn. And a machine gun that could kill an entire platoon and could have killed spaldings Landing Craft platoon in seconds. He goes into the water. It is cold. Machine guns everywhere. Goes underwater. He has a pack on his back and tries to get rid of the pack. He comes back up and manages somehow to get to the beach and crawls across the beach and finds protection by the ruins of a small villa. It took him about an hour and a half. He landed at 6 32 a. M. At about 8 00 in the morning, he managed to lead his men across 3400 yards of flat sand. And across shingles but up a minefield which was part of the and then finally took the german strong point at about 8 00 in the morning and therefore became the First American officer to lead americans off the bloodiest beach on dday. Taking calls for alex kershaw as we look at the 75th anniversary of dday. Here on the washington journal and American History tv. This is sherry from winston. I had a granddad from world war ii. I just wondered, how can we get these people people who are missing in the war. They are keeping them in jail. That is what my granddad they had him. I am just saying, why do we keep saying something about donald trump. Dont you know donald trump is a corporation man. We will hear from walter next in new albany, indiana. You are with alex kershaw. Go ahead. I want everybody out there who is paying attention to this broadcast to know one thing. When it comes to losing a war or winning a war, that is a geopolitical matter. When it comes to the man on the ground eating the fire. It is more simple than that. When it comes to winning or losing a war, the winners walk out and the losers dont. And that is the perspective of a combat veteran. Thank you for your time. Thank you, walter. Alex kershaw, your thoughts on walters perspective and what it took. There was a critical moment on omaha beach. A critical moment for the entire invasion actually. So many men had been wounded and killed. Very little communication. Around 10 30 a. M. , 11 00 in the morning, general Lamar Bradley 5 miles out at sea seriously considered pulling american troops off of omaha beach. Had he pulled american troops off june 6, 1944, i believe d day would have been a disaster. A defeat. Not a great victory for allied forces. The difference was made as bradley said, the difference was made by young officers getting their guys to stand up and walk into the line of fire and have the courage to sacrifice their lives and lead others into enemy fire. It came down to individuals. To be 45 dozen young officers on omaha beach. That made the difference between victory and defeat on d day and indeed during the entire battle. So we can take this massive invasion down to critical moments. And we can say key individuals, key americans made the difference on dday. I was amazed in lieutenant spaldings case and a couple of others you write about, how much gear was lost right away. In spaldings case, they are in water. They told him to ditch a machine gun. He barely winds up on the beach with any equipment at all. To that surprise you at all that they could continue to fight with so much of the gear either in the water or being lost or elsewhere . One of the problems with omaha beach as we had very high surf. You have to remember that the night of the 6th of june, there was a storm in the english channel. When those guys came in, some of them had been in the water for 34 hours. Some have circled several times. In one craft, i talked to a veteran who said five out of six guys were there for several hours before even landing on the beach. I have interviewed veterans who said they did not care how many bullets were coming at them. All they wanted to do was get their feet on dry ground or rather on the beach. So they should have gone in lightly. Like the rangers for example. Did not carry equipment. You wanted to get somewhere very fast and very effectively and with minimum weight. When you jump into water and you have a 70pound pack and a rifle and a radio on your back, that gets wet, the equipment gets wet, as spalding said, his uniform felt like lead weight. So it was slowed down massively by the equipment and the uniforms were very wet. Spalding said when he looked to his left at omaha beach, he saw guys staggering as if they were walking into a very heavy wind that morning because of the weight of their pack. And the weight of the wet uniform. The book is the first wave. The dday warriors that led the way to victory in world war ii. Alex kershaw, our guest. Joining us from the dday memorial in bedford, virginia. We showed earlier the comments of dwight do you eisenhower and his letter to the troops just before the invasion. A photo in your book, famous photo of him speaking with the 101 exam cap t airborne paratroopers looking very confident. You say that he was quite concerned afterwards and you actually said afterwards that he broke into tears after he left. Yes. The driver he got into the jeep with her. She said he had tears in his eyes. He said to her, it is hard to look a Young American in the eyes and know you are sending him to his death. I love him. I think the charm and the front that he shows. When you look at the original film, it is the blue eyes and the smile. Not a moment of hesitation for these Young Americans. He is a great leader. He shows great confidence. But he was not confident at all. In fact he had signed so many orders that he had to use a lead pencil. He had a constant ringing in his right year. Smoking a 60 filter list cigarettes a day. Very little sleep. Basically a nervous wreck. But not showing it to the general or to the men that were about to go and fight and die for him. So a class act. A man that can hide that tension and show confidence. We needed to show confidence. It was a very risky operation, dday. Very risky indeed. For those of you with world war ii relatives or veterans, david from wellsburg, pennsylvania. At morning. Good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I would like to remark about d day. My father went in on utah beach and he was lucky in the sense that it was utah beach. And people focus on omaha which rightly they should. But lets look at the whole picture and look at the canadians, the british and utah and omaha. And everyone that stepped off the Landing Craft was as brave as anybody else. And to fight a war the look of the draw makes a big difference. And it does not matter what happens. You could be lucky or you could be brave or you could be unlucky. So i attribute all of those guys that stepped off. I am a vietnam veteran and my son served during iraq and afghanistan. So i appreciate all of the veterans that stepped forward. It is too bad that we have someone in the white house that dont. Thank you for taking my call. Alex kershaw. We have to remember that the utah and omaha but juno beach for the canadians there were 900 americans killed. More than 900 killed in omaha but over 300 canadians killed at juno beach. That was the second deadliest beach on dday. And we have to remember something very important about the canadians, our neighbors. Great allies. Very strong allies. They were all volunteers. Every single guy. Every canadian that stepped out of a Landing Craft on to juno beach. Every canadian that jumped out of a c47 dakota on dday was a volunteer. They did not have to be there. That made their courage special i think. It made it unique certainly on dday. The story of allied corporations the pinnacle you could argue we mentioned this as it was a joint effort. We fought sidebyside and we died sidebyside. And the victory was one that was brought by several nations, not just one. Your book is full of stories and firsthand accounts from veterans. What was your primary source, alex kershaw . Letters home, personal diaries, interviews with surviving veterans . It was a combination of many things. Interviews with veterans of course. Unfortunately, there are not many alive today. Several died during the five years i was working on the book. We were very lucky in the u. S. , britain and canada. We interviewed world war ii veterans at great lengths. National world war ii museum, the imperial war museum, library of congress. We interviewed veterans at great length. So i was able to delve into a treasure trove of history. Hundreds and hundreds of hours of oral history. We have done a good job. We have done a good job of preserving the memories of these great warriors. Let me ask you about the son of Theodore Roosevelt or Teddy Roosevelt junior and his participation in the invasion of normandy. Incredibly, 56 years old. The oldest general officer on d day. He basically begged to go and with the Fourth Division in the first wave and actually did arrive on utah beach in the first wave. 6 28 a. M. Was the time of the First Americans to the shore. Captain schroeder remember looking over to his right and seeing a 56yearold guy who had arthritis and a very bad heart with a Walking Stick huffing and puffing his way across utah beach in the very first wave on dday. So an extraordinary guy. I think he had a father son complex. He wanted to prove he was as courageous as his famous father. And that he did. He became one of only four americans to receive the medal of honor for action on june the sixth, 1944. Exordinary courage. Extraordinary american later on dday. Correct me if i am wrong. This is Teddy Roosevelt junior and his son was actually in the invasion as well. Is that right . Amazingly, the father is on utah and the son on omaha. Tragically, the father died on the 12th of july, 1944 of heart failure. I think basically the stress of combat, the leadership which endured after dday killed him. But the son a couple of hours before his father died was able to see his father and check with him on how he was doing. Lets go back to the calls for alex kershaw. This is janice in summit, michigan. Good morning. Good morning. Mr. Kershaw, my dad was a sergeant in the army air corps. And dday was his 24th birthday. And he had met my mom, a scottish girl, in a pub in manchester, england. And they got married in 43. And he put her on the queen mary when they learned she was pregnant with me. So his first child would be born in the u. S. But i have always been curious about the second wave. Because my dad named sandy blakeman, was a photographer and he went in on the second wave and after the war, he published a book called over there which was a collection of photographs that he took on what happened there. And it is outofprint of course. I was just wondering, what happened in the second wave . We have all heard the stories about the first wave and i look forward to reading your book. But what did the people in the second wave do . If you could please tell me that. Thank you. First of all, it is great to be talking to someone related to a british lady. Put it that way. The americans that came over to england stilled a lot of our beautiful roses. I think the queen mary took 7 8000 british women back to the u. S. After the war of 1945. But anyway, the second wave depending where you are lets go back to omaha beach. I am in bedford, virginia right now. When i was writing the bedford boys about the boys that died on omaha beach, i interviewed a guide a guy that was from the second wave. He was from lynchburg, virginia 20 miles north of me. He said he came in on the second wave and when he landed on omaha beach after the bedford boys and after the first wave, all he could see was dead bodies. So you are as likely to die in the second, third, fourth wave as you were in the first wave. By the time the second and third waves had arrived, the germans had reloaded machine guns and they knew they were coming. And it was target practice. In the green sector of omaha beach. It was literally target practice by the time he got to the second wave. We have been talking a good deal about the landings on the beaches. You also write a great deal about the paratroopers and the gliders the aircraft that was used to land soldiers behind enemy lines. Describe the gliders and how many men were delivered that way. You have to imagine that the First Successful operation of dday. They were let loose and basically a wooden and canvas glider at 6000 feet around midnight on june the sixth, 1944. The pilot had and they crash landed. 30 guys gripping each others hands. Crash landing at 90 miles an hour in a wooden and canvas glider. It was a suicidal operation. And they knew it. Guys would get cuts. They were injured. Many casualties. Certainly in the glider operation on dday. The guys managed to which was the First Successful operation of dday. You are crash landing basically and a canvas and wooden plane. It is incredible to think that they would volunteer to do that, let alone succeed and live after that experience. The british and the americans used of these gliders, correct . Yes, they did. Americans and the british used the gliders and we also used the waco glider. Being a glider pilot on dday was perhaps i would argue it was the most dangerous job you had. Because whatever happened, you are crash landing and you better make sure that you are a good pilot. Because where you are crash landing, you were on to enemy fire. There were obstacles in fields. There were trees. Just think about it. You have 30 guys lives in your hands. Your being shot at and fired at constantly. And your landing in a minefield. 15foot poles with barbed wire attached to them. There was not a more difficult job than being a glider pilot. More dangerous on dday. More calls for alex kershaw. Hello there. How are you doing . My grandfather was at omaha beach. He joined the navy when he was 18 years old. And found himself in a little talked about group called the navy six beach battalion. They were they call then the sailors that look like soldiers. They were attached to the army, to that dday landing. And i believe in the first five seconds of saving private ryan, the six Navy Beach Battalion is featured in the opening scene. And i was just wondering if there is anything written about the six beach battalion and if there is anybody out there from that battalion. I did tweet to the washington journal a picture of my grandfather. He made my father, his son, joined the marine corps. He went to vietnam and lost a leg. He came home like my grandfather did and raised a big family. My grandfather is gone now. But any information on the six would be appreciated. Spencer, if you want to tweet that, that would be great. We are at cspan wj. Alex kershaw. First of all, it is a great privilege to talk to you. I am and bedford here. If you can see to my left, there are the individual units that served on dday. Your grandfather landed in the most lethal place at the most lethal time on dday that any allied troops could find themselves on. That was the green sector of omaha beach. And he came before the first wave. If you look at the 20 minutes and saving private ryan, the amazing minutes of death and slaughter, your father belonged to those scenes. Your grandfather was in those scenes as were the bedford boys. He landed in a very dangerous place indeed. And i think it is pretty much a miracle that he managed to survive. Especially as he succeeded the first wave. Extraordinary achievement. He would have seen an enormous amount of trauma and death. You should be extremely proud. There is a picture in your book, alex kershaw, of captain frank out of a movie it looks like. He has a helmet and the cigar. You are right there jumping with a cigar. The captain was pretty much standard. Tell us about his role in the opening invasion, the first wave. He was from upstate new york. He was 28 years old on dday and had made 43 practice jumped before dday. And only on one as he was about to jump out of a c47. He was a pathfinder from the 101 airborne. Officially recognized in 1944 is the very first cowboy to put his boots on the ground in normandy on dday. Extraordinary when you think about it. He made many practice jumps. Not once and combat, i should say. On one occasion, his men were looking at him as they strapped up and were about to jump out of the c47. They saw that he did not have a cigar in his mouth. One man looked at him in shock and surprise looking very worried. Because they were very superstitious. He stuffed the stogie in his mouth and jumped. This guy jumped from about 500 feet at 12 15 a. M. It took him about 25 seconds to drop 500 feet. When his parachute hit that field, he still had a cigar in his mouth. Great style. And a great warrior. And survived the war. Wounded later on dday. And finish the war with many decorations. About how many allied troops. Trooped in on july 6th. About 5000. You have the six airborne. The canadian elements. The british and canadians. Lets hear from suzanne next in sacramento, california. Suzanne, good morning. Good morning. I thought of my mother when the previous woman mentioned the need for documentation of womens involvement. My mother was one of the welders at the navy yard. My father went to north africa and to italy. And really, one of the saddest memories for my father was the fact that when he was on troop training till she was a black soldier. Often black soldiers were not given seats and they were made to sit on duffel bags and on the floor when they had events. They would have to sit behind the officers. And until president truman came in, the army was still segregated and they suffered terribly. And that story has not really been told. So i hope you might consider that for one of your future studies. Definitely. I think one of the great achievements of world war ii im sorry, of americans fighting in world war ii is that it transformed american society. The america we know today was built out of that experience. I think segregation for example, started to break down the first. The first big fishes and segregation came from the experience and courage of black soldiers in world war ii. They showed they were just as brave as every other American Fighting for the great country. We have the person a while ago talk about the navy six beach battalion. He has tweeted the photograph of his granddad and the question you answered, alex kershaw here is the question. When heres a picture of his granddad. The sailors that look like soldiers. Lets hear from york, pennsylvania. Next linda. Go ahead. Good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I have a question or comment for mr. Kershaw. Every now and then, they show a movie on cable tv called dday. Tom selleck stars as eisenhower. And im sure it does not get into all of the nittygritty. But it just shows how much pressure eisenhower had on him to plan this. Especially with the rotten weather. In england. And he had to plan this to consider the least loss of life possible on these landings. And there was one scene that i wasnt quite clear on. When eisenhower went to talk to the french president at that time, the french president was very difficult and said that he would not follow the plan. And the french would do their own plan. And i wasnt quite sure about that. But it only covers the basics of the pressure that was faced in this war. I found it a very compelling movie. Im sure there are more horror stories. I wondered if mr. Kershaw had seen this movie or was aware of it. Thank you. Yes. I have seen the movie. I am a big fan of tom selleck. But i dont think he has the same dreamy blue eyes as i kept ke did. Not as goodlooking. But to answer your question, there were serious problems. We did not accept him as a National Leader of the french. He had not been elected. He was not an official that we could negotiate with officially. But to come back to your point about eisenhower, i dont think any man in the 20th history century faces as much pressure when he alone was able to however much they would have liked to have been influenced however much they might have wanted to tell him to go, only the allied supreme commander, 53 years old. Only he could get the final go. It was a very serious decision. When he gave the decision, a storm was blowing in. Rain pelting against the building in which he was holding his conference with the commanders. When he looked out the mirror, out the window at about 4 00 in the morning on the 5th of june, 1944 and was given the decision to give final orders to go, he was thinking, my god, what will i do . What am i sending all of these soldiers to because it was under enormous strain. Since january of 1944. I dont think it was a decision in the 20th century that was so important. Whether there was so much uncertainty. Eisenhower himself had told a friend in washington dc just a few weeks before dday that this was huge. And in his words, we were placing everything on one number. I believe we would have never gone back again. Had we failed, it would have been the greatest failure and history for the u. S. And allies. Lets hear from debbie who was calling from south dakota. Im calling from mitchell, south dakota. I simply want to thank all the veterans of all the wars that the United States soldiers have fought in. I had a dad and an uncle that have been to serve in the u. S. Navy in world war ii and were not directly near the dday invasion. But my uncle harold informed me more of the history than even my own dad did. And i have one question mr. Kershaw. Do you think the fact that they had first of all, they had the draft. And do you think that it helped with the success that we have had in world war ii because the young men were from so many varied backgrounds . Yes. Without the draft, we could not have won our way to victory in the pacific. America was waging two very intense wars. Over 3000 miles away from this country. Hardly any americans actually suffered domestically from a handful were victims of japanese bombings on the west coast. Americans did not experience war as the europeans did. But the draft was absolutely essential and all americans from all different backgrounds gave pretty much everything during the war. It was a question of national survival. Everybody gave everything. The countrys future was at stake. We are joined by alex kershaw this morning, author of the first wave, the dday warriors that led the way to victory in world war ii. He is joining us from bedford, virginia at the dday memorial. The bedford boys, one of your prior eight books. A number of your books are about world war ii. What made you want to focus on dday and in particular, the story of the individual soldiers . I will be honest with you. It is because they gave me an amazing life. I was born in britain 53 years ago. I met my wife in london when i was 28. I have lived in this country for 25 years. My son was born in los angeles. I grew up in a europe that was a beautiful united and peaceful place. We enjoyed 75 years of peace in europe. That is the longest period and that continents history. I have been extraordinarily lucky. Very lucky to have benefited from this sacrifice and the liberation of western europe. I consider myself english american. Also very much european. And i cannot say thank you enough. I cannot ever say thank you enough to the young man that gave their lives to allow me to have that life and enjoy the freedoms. It was a beautiful gifts. Lets hear from mike next in colorado. I just wanted to congratulate alex on another wonderful book. I wanted to share that my father, an immigrant from ireland, was in world war ii and i had five other uncles in world war ii. One was killed. One was a pow. So the book really hit home for me. I wanted to ask alex and it has been a scene from his book, the bedford boys, if he could relate to the audience about what it was like for that Western Union operator, a female, who started to receive the notifications of the boys who were dying in bedford. There were so many. They were actually people that she knew. And i would love to hear his comments about that. Thank you for calling in, mike. I interviewed elizabeth she was 21 years old in july of 1944. And i will go to a graveyard in bedford not far from where i am sitting right now this afternoon and i will go and visit the graves of several of the for boys that were brought home 22 were killed in normandy. And that was june and july of 1944. Half are engraved at omaha beach. Half of them here. Not far. A couple of miles from where i am sitting. On the 21st of july, 1944, elizabeth went to work at the greens drugstore still open today. And she went to Western UnionTelegram Office at the back of the drugstore and turned on the teletype machine and told me that the teletype machine would not stop for a couple of hours and that these names kept coming through. Killed in action, missing in action. And unbelievably when i talked to her, she told me there were so many names that all she could remember was that there were a lot of what was so powerful about the teletype machine spitting out these message of tragedy, what killed these boys was repeated and echoed by the teletype machine spitting out the messages that went to the loved ones in bedford. It devastated the community. It was a very tragic time. And you have to remember that people in america nuno on june the sixth that we invaded normandy. It was a huge story. The biggest of the war for everybody in the allied nations. People and bedford new that their sons were involved in some way. We had to wait weeks and weeks to find out what happened to them. There were rumors. One woman told me it was like waiting for an earthquake. Week after week, no news what has happened to our boys. Finally that morning elizabeth turned on the teletype machine and the truth came out. Was that delay fairly typical clicks june the sixth and then you are mentoring mid july when the news came to that town, was that typical in terms of notification . Absolutely. It took several weeks for the next of kin to be informed by telegram from the war office. A very long time to wait if you knew that your loved one had been involved in very intense combat. The first photographs appeared in the u. S. Of what it was like to be an american at the sharp end on dday, the great life photographer landed on omaha beach. Families living in bedford where i am sitting right now opened life magazine on 19 june of 1944 and saw these extraordinary images of carnage and death and intense violence. And they knew that their sons have been involved in that combat on the beach. They still had to wait another month before they found out what had happened even though they had seen images of what might have happened to their loved ones. 10 more minutes with our guest, alex kershaw. We have a few more calls. We have fill up next from mount pleasant, south carolina. Good morning. I would just like to say thanks to cspan for a Great Program and our author mr. Kershaw. It was a Great Program today. Mr. Kershaw, my question to you is supposedly general eisenhower at the time wrote a letter in the car about bringing the troops off the shores because of the invasion. I wondered if you could comment about that. Thank you so much. I think if you want a moment of grace that the pit of my sports that epitomizes great leadership for Many American in world war ii and arguably one of your great president s, eisenhower, on d day he had a note in his back pocket and he found it several weeks later. The note had been written by eisenhower before he gave the order to go. And it said our men, our troops , sailors, soldiers, our men have done their very best. They showed the greatest courage or words to that effect. Unfortunately the invasion has failed. I alone, i alone take responsibility. The sense that he was going to take it all on his shoulders not only giving the decision to go, but if it failed he would expect except responsibility solely him. That is the sign of a great man, a great great man. If you are joining us this morning from the dday memorial in bedford. I understand recently you led a tour of normandy. Who joined you on that were . It was a group of americans. I do tours with the National World war ii museum. I was there two or three weeks ago. I visited all the places i have been talking about. Went to the red sector were spalding came ashore. Went where the bedford boys came ashore. I think it is a powerful place to go if you are an american. I always say to americans when i take them to omaha beach, particularly where the bedford boys were slaughtered, i say there is no place on the planet, no place for any american can go on the planet where you will feel more proud to be an american then omaha beach or normandy. That is the place where americans enjoy their finest hour. The best moment in your history was when you kicked us britons out. The second best was dday, june 6 1944. You gave American Life over 900 at omaha beach and you gave Many American lives, 20,000 americans killed in the battle of normandy. The old world im sorry, the new world came to liberate the old where americans sacrificed their lives so that others can enjoy freedom. So i could grow up in freedom. Without going on too long i want to stress one thing. I do this with people i take to the beaches in normandy. I say by june 6, 1944, americans were in no danger of being invaded. American freedom was assured. The americans who served who laid down their lives who stepped out of Landing Craft, who jumped out of the 47th on june 6, 1944 they lay down their lives for the europeans, not in terms of freedom for americans, they lay down their lives for the europeans. I think it is the greatest act of american altruism in modern history. Lets hear from mike wheeling west virginia. Hi there. Hello. I would just like to say today being memorial day, i am so proud of all the people that serves. Im a veteran myself, a vietnam veteran. My father was in the sixth army rangers and they actually made a movie about him about 15 years ago called the great raid. My mom lost two of her brothers, one in germany and one in the bataan death march. If it werent for all those people and the men that served in world war ii, we wouldnt be here today. Today being memorial day i am so happy to say my family served and all the people that served with me, we really feel good today, thank you. Tell us about one of the many men you write about who is Lieutenant Colonel james rutter. A wonderful guy. Again, one of the many Many Americans, combat commander, guys that had pretty serious jobs to do on dday. Colonel rutter was in charge of a second battalion that assaulted plunder hock. It was called the most difficult job on dday. They had to scale 100 foot cliffs. Very famous scenes in movies. Rutter had never been in combat. The only guys he had under led under any kind of stress was a College Football team. But did a wonderful job on d day. 225 guys in the second ranger battalion and they suffered over 60 casualties. Rather, i have been to the very spot where he was wounded twice on june 6, 1944. He kept on fighting and leading his men and fought for 48 hours before his men were relieved by fellow americans. The second rangers battalion, many of those guys had not slept the night on 5 june. They were relieved around midday on 8 june. Constant german counterattacks. Imagine that, 72 hours of combat of adrenaline peeking and flowing. Of losing your loved ones, your brothers, guys you treated like your real brothers because they were in combat with you. Very high casualties. An extraordinary job and went on to become texas a m greatest ever president. He was a wonderful leader in combat much loved by his men. When he was awarded the dsc after june 6, 1944, a couple weeks later he cried in front of his men and he held up his dsc and he said this is for you. You did this. One of the guy shouted back at him, you keep it for us. He was much loved and a wonderful, wonderful combat leader. Never had a shot fired at him before dday. It is extraordinary how men found their moment. How tested to the full ordinary americans, ordinary workingclass americans when the mission was right, when the task was supreme they performed miracles. And he did on dday. Definitely performed a miracle on dday. The dsc, is that the distinguished flying cross . Distinguished service cross. 153 americans received the dsc for actions on omaha beach alone. Only four metal of honor recipients to dday. Three of those recipients belong to the big red one in john Spaldings Division in omaha. I think quite a few more guys deserved the middle of honor on dday but that is history. That is past now. Lets get one more call from mark in michigan. Hello there. Hello there. My name is mark. My father was at omaha beach at dday. And he was in the second wave. They had already seen what was happening on the beach. And they didnt go out in the front of the ship. They went out the side. They were the ranger division. And they were talking about the beach being bloody. He has seen the movie tom hanks made and he said just like they were being there. And everything else. He was also at bastogne where the germans surrounded his commander. Alex kershaw, some final thoughts. I think that the 75th anniversary of dday is a very important event. I think it is a unifying event for americans. I think this country needs unity more than it has in a long long time. Every american should reflect on the 75th anniversary of d day of what this nation achieved in unity with other nations. What was given and what was given was human life. The most precious thing so that others could be free. So america could stand by its founding values of equality, democracy, justice and human rights. I think that is something we should remember. Americans reunified and fought together and achieved a great great victory because they were together and they were divided. The book is the first wave the dday warriors who led the way to victory in world war ii. Our guest alex kershaw joining us from the dday memorial in bedford, virginia. Thanks so much for your time. Thank you so much. My great honor. This is a special edition of American History tv. A sample of the compelling history programs that air every weekend on American History tv like lectures and history, american artifacts, real america, the civil war, oral histories. The presidency and special event coverage about our nations history. Enjoy American History tv now and every weekend on cspan three. Wednesday American History tv looks at the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Alliance. Historian mark stein joined us from the Stonewall National monument in new york citys Greenwich Village to talk about the six days of protest starting in june 1969 that became a turning point for rights in the u. S. The Stonewall Alliance starting at 8 pm eastern here on cspan three. Cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up wednesday morning mike davis, founder and president of the article 3 project on the groups role in supporting president trumps judicial nominee. Then frederick discusses efforts to improve medical bill transparency as well as the state of healthcare in the u. S. And center for growth and Opportunity Research director megan hansen will talk about new research for how to improve the management of public land. Be sure to watch cspans washington journal live at seven eastern wednesday morning. Join the discussion. Next, Mary Louise Roberts author of dday through french eyes normandy 1944. She talked about the impact of the invasion and its aftermath on