The to a defeats in the open battle. Man to man. Our air offensive has sowersly their strength in the air and their capacity to wang war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war. And placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The freemen of the world are marching together to restrictry. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck appear let us all beseech the blessing of al mighty god upon in 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 lafrt, the first wave, the dday war ners who led to victory in world war ii. Thank you for joining thus morning. Whats the significance of you being there in bedford and the memoryual youre sitting here . This is the one place in america that gave more to me as a european im 53 years old and ive spent 53 years in a europe thats been at peace and enjoy enormous prosperity and unity. This one community here, bedford, virginia, gave more lives, sacrificed more than anywhere else on america within union dday, june 6, 1944. 19 guys from this commune of 3,000 in 1944 died in the first wave of omaha beach. Per capita bedford gave more than any other allied communities on any other date. Thats why the memorial is here. And im happy to be sitting in front of it. Ive always heard that bedford gave more than any other american town. But you said any other allied community. Yes, thats what the National Dday memorial pro claims. And thats true, yeah. Actually on dday company a from the 116th infantry regiment. Guys from this community joined the National Guard in 1933. They never envisioned by 1937, 38 they would be in the most critical assault in u. S. History. Out of company a there were 1807 guys handing omaha beach and 102 were killed in about half an hour. Of the 102, 19 killed from bedford. But 34 guys still in company a from this community who faith on june 6th, 1944. Your book focuses on the personal stories of the first wave of soldiers, airmen and marines. You write early on the book, 12 15 a. M. , june 6th, 1944, the most important day of the 20th century the First Americans arrived in france. Why do you think dday was the most important day of the 20th century . Because it to led a europe you see today, the restoration of civilization, human rights, democracy, peace in western europe. The foundation of tlansism ichls, the more than relationship between u. S. And the europe. And let the record to the millions of freedom of millions and millions of europeans in western europe. 19 million simple yans died in world war ii. When american, british and french and americans it gave countless millions hope that barberism and the rule of naziism, the terrible genocide and oppression would finally end. Our guest allis kershaw. We welcome questions and comments. 20247800 for those in the eastern and central time zone processes. 20,274,888,000 np mountain and pacific. For those of you with world war ii veterans in your family, that line is 2027488002. Well get to your calls shortly. I want to start with a photo most all have seen at some point or another in this we have seen. You have a similar photo on the front of your book. Whats invite about this photo. Thats probably the best photo of what you can find for first wave troops approaching the deadliest of five beaches of dday. Omaha beach. The Landing Craft is one of the eight sectors on omaha, the second deadliest sector. Guys will be killed. Its an atmospheric shot of what it was like to approach bloody omaha, over 90 oh americans killed on that beach, far more than any other allied soldiers than any other beach on dday. Its a moment anticipating immense violence and slaughter and death. Alex kershaw we have guests, callers waiting. Lets hear first from ralph in morning view, kentucky. Hi, there. Yeah, how is it going . My dad served in world war ii. But he was part of the occupation force after combat. But i just wondered, how many men did we actually lose on omaha beach that day . Well, we on good authorities we know that its over 900. Its impossible to say down to the exact man. But its over 900 on omaha beach. Compare that with the other american beach, utah. At utah less than 200 casualties killed wounded taken prisoner. 900 killed. Over 2500 casualties. Utah impeach are beach as immense success omaha a blood disaster. Lets go to joseph in plano, texas. Caller hi, how are you doing. Fine, go ahead your comment. Fine, thanks. Caller yeah, i was recalling the other caller that said that you know inappropriate to talk about the president , you know, on this marmial day. First of all, the sacrifices of the greatest generation has a little bit to do about it. You got to remember, the president did his deferment and bone spur controversy. And somebody had to take his place. Thanks walks joseph moved on from that topic talking about ddau with alex kershaw, his book the first we have. This is hillsdale, new jersey and robert, welcome. Caller thank you very much for writing the book and the question i asked was about the the bedford boys the memorial day. Ive been privileged to be there. I was there a couple years ago on veterans day when they brought the School Children in and lined up all the veterans next to the Landing Craft you are seated left of. The children wont by and must have been 100 veterans from various campaigns. It was fantastic to see the children thank the veterans in person. And its a great thing. Im just its a shame it took so long to get the memorial built there. What do you think the difficulty was, mr. Kershaw . I think its a difficulty with many memorials. The National World war ii memorial in d. C. Was built far too late as far as most are concerned. It took a long time to realize we needed to memorialize the Second World War. Its a shame. But, you know, we have to remember that it is here. Im sitting here now. Its been opened since 2001. Opened by president bush in 2001. And we have a Beautiful National memorials all over the u. S. And in fact in europe to american sacrifice and loss in world war ii. We have them. Thats whats most important. Alex kershaw, in general how were the men selected to be part of in first wave were they looking for specific experience, character traits . Or just needed raw numbers. Its a mixture of both. Its a great question. For omaha beach it was a mixture of two divisions, First Division which had seen combat before. Some guys landing in the first wave with the big redouane eon omaha were the third first we have. In theyd been in narcissistic and sicily and omaha beach. The other division was a Rural Division completely green, the 29th division abNational Guard division. Not one of those guys had seen combat before. We had a problem because we had so many men we could put in the battle who had seen combat before. Two thirds of the merp on d. Day never had a shot fired in anger. It was a combination. For certain objectives key object he was that were very difficult and challenging, the storming of the point, the points we used elite troops, the rerng rangers, 101st airborne were elite troops but most had never seen combat before. The 82nd airborne had. But the vast majority of americans on dday had never been in combat before. One of the green troops was a man you write a great deal about lieutenant John Spaulding leader of the e company, 16th infantly gemt o reg meant and you write about hig and second in command, south phil star trek, the big red one. What was their relationship . And describe the first couple of moepts where they stepped off the boat. Lefthand spalding stepping off the higgins boat into the water. First of all, remember when this he came into the beach they were told it was flat as american pan cake the American Bombing would be effective. They just got in line and the germans would counterattack when they dared look over the edge of Landing Craft 20 or 300 years, their hearts were displayed. They were utterly dismayed to see nothing had been touched. The 28yearold guy, spalding never seen combat before from owen bro, kentucky, Sports Writer before the war and he had to shout at his men he was going first. He was going to test the depth of the water, the noise level was absolutely extraordinary. Veterans described it to me as a wall, a constant wall of noise. You would hear every now and again the rip like a piece of being turn close to your year of mg 42 machine gun which could kill an entire cuff killed his platoon in second. He goes into the water. Its cold. Jolt. Machine gun bullets everywhere. Goes under the water because he walks into a runle. He has a pack, trying to get rid of the back. Comes up and then manage manages somehow to wade to the beach. Then crawls across a stone shingle beach and protection protection finery by the ruins of a small villa that had been heavily she would. It took him about an hour and a half he landed at 6 32 a. M. Easy red seconder around about 8 00 in the morning he managed to cross not only get the Landing Craft lead his men across three or four hundred yards of flat sand and then across smingle but then up a minefield which was part of a bluff and finally emerged took a german strong point about 8 00 in the morning and be therefore became the First American officer to lead americans off the bloodiest beach on dday. Back to callser. As we look at the 75th anniversary of dday. Here on American History tv. This is saline in winston salem, north carolina. I was a grand daddy that was in world war ii. But they couldnt find him no more because they locked him up. They fought for American People all over. At a i just wondered, do we how much did we see about getting people out some people been missing during the war. And they kept them in jail. Thats where my grand daddy was. Charlie fields was they had him and i just saying why dont we keep saying about donald trump . Dont you know donald trump was a corporation man. Weal well hear from walter next new albany. I want everybody out there watching the brought to know one thing when it comes to losing or winning a war, thats a geopolitical matter. When it comes to the men on the ground eating the fire, its more simple than that. And see is when it comes to winning or losing a war, the winners walk out and the looser dont. And that is the perspective of a combat veteran. Thank you for your time. Thank you, walter. What alex kershaw your thoughts on walters perspective on what it took. Well, there was alt critical moment on omaha beach a critical moment for the entire invasion actually. So many men had been wounded and killed there was very little communication. Around about 10 30, 11 00 in the morning, general omaha bradley five miles at sea considered pulling americans off omaha beach. Had he pulled them off omaha beach on june 6th, 1944. I believe dday would have a disaster aba great defeat not a victory for allied forces. The difference was made as omar bradley qb the difference was made by individual americans young officers getting guys to standing up walk into the line of fire and have the courage to sacrifice in re lives and lead oerps into enemy fire. It came down to individuals. Maybe maybe four or gief dozen young officers that made the difference between victory and deefs on omaha and indeed during the entire battle. So yes we can reduce this massive invasion down to critical moments and we can say that key individuals, key americans, american guts and courage made the difference ob dday. I was amazed however in lieutenant spaldings case and a couple of others you write about, how much gear was lost right away. In spaldings case they wait in the water. Ditch a machine gun and also other gear and he barely winds up on the beach with any equipment at all. Did that surprise you at all that they could continue the fight with so much gear either in the water or being lost or elsewhere . Well, one of the problems and see at omaha beach they had very high surf. You have to remember that the night of the 5th of june had a storm in the english channel. When the guys came in some of them had been in the water for three, four hours. Some of them had circled several times. In one Landing Craft i talked to one veteran who said that five out of six guys were puking for several hours before handing on the beach. You read testimony after testimony. Ive interviewed veterans they didnt care how many bullets were coming at them they just wanted to be on dry ground on the beach. They could have been like the rangers didnt carry lots of equipment. Their jobs was to to get somewhere quickly and effectively and minimum arm mts weight. When you jump into water with a 70 pound back and m 1 and radio that equipment gets wet as spolding said his uchlt was like lead weights. Theyre slowed down by equipment and the fact that the uniforms were wet. To stand up when spalding looked to his left on omaha beach in the first wave he saw guys stagger after if walking into a heaviy wind because of the weight of the packs and the weight of the wet uniform. Soo neshd have gone in lightly armed. The book is the first wave, the dday warriors who 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 d. Eisenhower, his letter to the troops just before the invasion, a photo in your book, the famous photo of his speaking with the 101st airborne par troopers looking confident. But you write he was quite concerned after wards. And actually you said that afterwards he broke into tears after he left this. Yeah, he said to his driver, the k. Somers we, a 36yearold anglo iish beauty. He got into jeep with her after he bade fare well to the 101st airborne and he in tears in his eyes. And he said its hard to along a Young American american into the eye is and know he is sending him to his death. When you look at the original film its the blue eyes,s smile, not a moment of fear or hesitation. He is a great leader. He shows great confidence pu he wasnt confident. He had a palsy in his right arm from signing so many orders, so many orders that he actually had to use a lead pencil. A constant ringing in his right ear, smoking 60 cigarettes a day. Basically a nervous wreck. But he dared not show it to the generals or to the men fighting a o and dying for him. A class act who could hide the tension and emotion and show confidence. Because we he had needed to show confidence. A because it was a risky operation. Here are the phone lines for eye. 2024788001 if the pacific. For those with veterans in your flam. 724428, 80 2. Caller thanks for taking my call. Id like to remark about the dday. My father went on utah beach backup he was lucky when in a 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 the rest of the utah and omaha and everyone stepping off the Landing Craft were as brave as anybody else. And as in the fog of war the luck of the draw makes a big difference. And doesnt matter what happens i mean, you could be lucky or you could be brave and you can be unlucky. And so i attribute all those guys that stepped off those things. Im a vietnam veteran. My son served with the 75th Ranger Regiment during iraq and afghanistan. So i appreciate all those veterans that stepped forward, and did their bit. Its too bad that we have someone in the white house that dont. Thank you for taking my call. Alex kershaw. Well, yes we have to remember that the utah and omaha dominate the american narrative. But juneau beach for the canadians, there were 90 oh americans killed more than 90 oh killed at omaha. Over 300enings killed at juneau beach. Thats the second deadliest. Something important about the neighbors the canadians very strong allies they were all volunteers, every single guy, every single canadian that stepped out of a Landing Craft on juneau beach. Every canadian that jumped out of a c47 dakota on dday was a volunteer not having to be there. That made their courage special and unique on dday. Dday is a story of allied cooperation. Superb allied cooperation the pinnacle you could argue in world war ii. And we mustnt forget was a joint effort, fighting side by side and dying side by side. And the victory was one bought by several nakss not just one. Your book is full of stories, firsthand accounts from veterans. What was your primary source, alex kershaw, letters home . Their personal diaries interview was surviving veterans . It was a combination of many things. Interview was veterans of course. Unfortunately there are many alive today. In fact several died during the five years i was working on the book. But i weve been very lucky in the u. S. And britain and canada. Weve interviewed world war ii veterans at great, great, glaet length, the National World war ii museum, the imperial wash Museum Library of congress. We have interviewed veterans at great length. I was able to delve into a treasure he trove of all histories hundreds of hours of oral histories. Weve done a good job of preserving the memories of the great warriors. Let me ask you about the son of theodore roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, jr. And his participation in the invasion of normandy. Incredibly, 56 years old, the oldest general officer on dday. He begged dsh basically begged to go in with the Fourth Division on utah and did arrive in the first wave on utah beach. 6 28 was watt was the time the First American. Leonard schroeder. And schroeder remembered looks to his right and seeing this 56yearold guy who had arthritis and a bad heart with a Walking Stick huffing and puchg across utah beach in the first wave on dday. An extraordinary guy. I think he had a sort of fatherson complex. He wanted to prove that he was courageous as his famous father and that day he did. He became of one of only four americans to receive the medal of honor for actions on june the 6th, 1944, extraordinary courage, extraordinary american leader on dday at utah. Well, correct me if im wrong, too, thats Teddy Roosevelt jr. And his son was in the invasion as well. Am i right . Yeah, actually amazingly the father is on utah. And the son was with the big red one on omaha. Tragedically, the father died on the 12th of july, 1944 of heart failure. I think basically the stress of combat of leadership in the peninsula there where, of a sambal combat the Fourth Division endured after dday basically killed him. But the son just a couple of hours before his father died was able to see his father and check with him how he was doing. Lets go back to calls for alex kershaw and this is janice, in plymouth, michigan. Good morning. Caller 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 public in manchester, england. And they got married in 43. And he put her on the queen mary when they were 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 wab was a photographer. And while he went in on the second wave, and through after the war he published a book called over there a collection of photographs he took of what happened there. And its out of print, of course. But i was just wondering, what happened in the second wave . Weve all heard the stories about the first wave and i look forward to read gd your book. But what did the people in the second wave do, if you could please tell me that. Thanks. Well, first of all its great to be talking to a fellow someone related to a british lady put it that way. The americans that came over to england stole an awful lot of our most beautiful young roses. I think the queen mary at one point took around 7, 8,000 british women back to the u. S. After the war in 1945. But anyway, the second wave depended where you were pu but lets go back to omaha beach. Im in bedford, virginia, right now and when i was writing the bedford boys with owe about the lads here, the boys who died on omaha beach. I interviewed a guy in the second we have. A bub sail was from company b from lynch burg, virginia. Process and when he landed on omaha beach after the first wave, all he could see was was ked bodies. You were as likely to die in the second, third, fourth wave as you were in the first wave. Because by the time the second and third waves had arrived, the german huss presighted machine guns. Knew we were come. And it was target practice often in lethal sectors easy red appear dog green sector it was target practice by the time you got to the second wave. Weve been talking. Just as high a chance. Weve been talking a good deal about the landings on the beaches. You also a write a great deal with about the par troopers and the gliders, aircraft used to land soldiers behind enemy lines. Describe gliders, knows horsa gliders and how many men were delivered that way. Well, you have to imagine that youre in a horsa glider, say that the british that spectacularly took the peg sus bridge, the First Successful operation of dday. They were let loose in a basically a wooden the and canvas glider at 6,000 feet around about midnight on june the 6th, 1944. The pilot had a compass and stop watch. That was all. In the case of the peg sus bridge petition they crash landed 30 is a crash landing at 90mileperhour in a wooden and canvas glide are. It was a suicidal operation. And they knew it. Guys were concussed, injured, many many casualties certainly within the glider operation on dday. In that case those guys broke out of a broken glider within 10 minutes seizing pegasus were bridge, the First Successful operation of dday. You are crash landing basically in a canvas and wooden plane. Its incredible to think that they would volunteer to do that let alone succeed and live after that experience. And the british and the americans used these gliders, correct . Yes, they did. Americans and british use the horsa glider and 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 were crash landing. And you better make sure that youre a damn good pilot because where you crash landing you were unenemy fires. Defensive obstacles in field hedge rows, trees. Just think about it youve got 30 guys lives in your hands. In a flieder shot at, fired at constantly. And youre landing in a mined field with what we call rummell aspires gus 15foot telephone poles with barbed wire and it wasnt a more dangerous or scary job on dday than being a glider pilot. This is spencer in maine. Hi, there. Caller how you doing . My grandfather was at omaha beach. Joining the navy when he was 18 years old. And found himself in a little talked about group called the naval the navy six beach battalion. They were the they called them the sailors that looked like soldiers. They were attached to the army for the 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 any anything written about the six beach battalion and if there is anybody out there from battalion, i did tweet to the washington journal a picture of my grandfather. He he made it. My father, his son, joined the marine corps, when to vietnam and he did lose a leg. But he came home like my grandfather did and raised a big family. And my grandfather is gone now. Any information on the six would be appreciate zbld and spencer if you want to tweet that thats great. Were at cspan3 wj thanks for calling in on that. Alex kershaw. First of all its a great privilege to talk to you because in im in bedford. As you can see to the left there is a plaza covered with plaques to each of the units serving on dday. Your grandfather landed in the most lethal place that any allied troop could find himself on. That was dog green sector on omaha beach. When you look at the 20ants of saving private ryan, the amazing minutes of carnage and death and slaughter. Your grandfather was in knows scenes as were the bed fortunate boys. He landed in a very, very dangerous place indeed. It was a miracle he managed to survive, especially as he presided the first wave. Extraordinary achievement. He would have seen an enormous a trauma and death. You should be extremely, extremely proud. There is a picture in your book, alex kershaw of Frank Lillyman it almost out of a movie there with the helmet and kr cigar jumping with a cigar was was pretty much standard tell us about his role in the opening invasion. Captain Frank Lillyman 28 years old on dday he had made 24 practice jumps before dday only one he was a path find frere the 0502nd pir from the 101st airborne. Officially recognized in 1944 as the very First American cowboys yang to put boots on the ground in normandy on dday extraordinary achieve when you think about it. He made many practice jumpsuit not once in combat i should say. On one occasion his men looked at him as they strapped up about to jump out of the c47 and saw he didnt have a sig car in his mouth one of his men looked at him and in shock and surprise looking worried because they were suspicious and lily man grabbed a sig car stuff the stowingy in his mouth and jumped. In guy he jumped from about 500 feet at 12 a. M. A. M. First american to land took about 25 seconds to drop 500 feet. When the parachute hit the due sodden field near normandy he still had the sig car in his mouth. Great panache. And style. Wounded later on dday at market garden. And finished the war with many, many decorations. Great man. About how many allies troops par trooped in on jun 6th. Only about 25,000. 101st Airborne Airborne fop americans the 6th airborne including the canadian elements for the british and canadians. Lets hear from suzanne next in sacramento, california. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I thought of my morning 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 nargt africa and italy. Pan really one of the saddest memories for my father was the fact when he was on troop trains he is a black soldier often the black soldiers were not given seats, were made to sit on duffel bags op the floor. When they had events with the uso they sat behind the officers of the defeated people. And really until president truman came in the the army was still segregated and they suffered terribly. And that is thats story has not been told. I hope you might consider that for a future study. Yeah, definitely. I think one of the great the great achievements of world war ii of americans fighting in world war ii is that it transformed american society. The america we know today was built out of that transformative experience. I think segregation, for example, started to break down. The first big fishes in segregation came through the experiences and courage of black soldiers in world war ii mo showed that they deserved to be equal citizens they were certainly just as brave and competent as every other american vieting in that great conflict. We had the caller a while ago talk about the navy six beach battle be. He has indeed tweeted the photo of his grand dad. And the question that you answered alex kershaw her here is a picture of the navy 6 beach battalions the sailors that looked like soldiers my grandfather. Lets hear from york, pennsylvania. Next, linda. Go ahead. Caller good morning thanks for taking my call can you hear me. We can, go ahead. I have a question or comment for mr. Kershaw. Every now and then they show a movie on cable tv called dday. And tom selleck stars as eisenhower. Im sure it doesnt get into all 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 with 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 ikes plan. The french would do their own plan. And i wasnt quite sure about that but it only covers the basics of the pressure that ike faced in this war. And i found it a very compelling movie. Im sure there is more horror stories. By i wondered if mr. Kershaw had seen this movie or was aware of it. Thank you. Alex kershaw. Yeah, ive seen ive seen the movie im a big fan of tom selleck bau i dont think he has the same dreamy blue eyes as ike not as good looking i dont think. But to answer your question, yes we did the british, the canadian, the americans had Serious Problems with degaulle we didnt accept him as the National Leader of the french. He hadnt been elected. He was not an official we could negotiate with officially. But to come back to your point about eisenhower, i dont think any man in the 20th century faced the pressure eisenhower did on the fifth of june, 1944 when he alone was able to give the decision to go. And not churchill, mot marshall in wshl not roosevelt, not the king of england, however much they would have liked to influenced ike how much they might have wanted to him to go only ike our Supreme Commander wsh 53 years old only he could give the final decision to go. And it was a very, very serious decision when he gave the decision a storm was blowing. Literally rain was pelting against the building in which he was holding his conference the overlord commanders. When he looked out the window at around about 4 00 in the morning upon the 5th of june, 1944 and given the decision to give final orders to go, he was thinking, my god what am i going to do . What am i doing . What am i sending all these soldiers to snp he was under enormous crushing strain and thats not forget he had been under growing, growing strain since january of 1944 when he came to london to take control of overlord. I dont think there was a decision in the 20th century so important where so much was riding on the outcome and where there was so much uncertainty. Eisenhower himself had told a friend in washington, d. C. A few weeks before dday this was a huge, huge gamble, florida in his words we were placing everything on one number, everything on one number. There was no plan b. And i believe we would have never gone back again. Had we failed it would have been the greatest failure in modern military history for the u. S. And the allies. Lets hear next from deb by calling from from south dakota. Welcome. Caller no im calling from mitchell, saturday. Okay. Caller thats good. Caller yes, i simply want to thank all the veterans of you would o all the worries wars that the United States soldiers have fought in. I had a dad and uncle that happened 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 that the fact that that they had first of all after pearl harbor every available young man pretty much signed up. But they had the draft also. And do you think that helped with the success that we had in world war ii because the young men were from so many varied backgrounds . Yeah, i think that the draft without the draft we couldnt have won our way to victory in the pacific and lets not forget the european theater. American was waging two very, very intense wars over 3,000 miles away from this country where im speaking today. So it was a distant affair for most americans. Most hardly any americans actually suffered domestically from i think a handful with were victims of japanese bombing on the west coast. Americans didnt experience was the europeans did. But yes the draft was absolutely essential. And american dsh all american from all different backgrounds gave pretty much everything during the Second World War because lets not forget was a question of national survival. Everybody gave everything because the future the countrys future was at stake. We are joined by alex kershaw this morning, author of the first we have, the dday warriors who led to victory in world war ii and he is joining us from bedford, virginia, the dday memorial in bedford, virginia. The bedford boys, one of your prior eight books. Alex kershaw a number of of your books about world war ii. What made you want to focus on dday and in particular the story of the individual soldiers . Ill be honest with you, because they gave me an amazing life. Im i was born in britain 53 years aigt. I fell in love im a gi groom, met my wife in london since i was 28 and lived in this country 25 years. My son was born if los angeles but i grew up in a europe that was a beautiful and united and peaceful face. Weve enjoyed 75 years of peace in europe. Thats the longest period in that continents history, a place scarred since time immemoryual by killing and war and death the. So ive been extraordinarily lucky, very, very lucky to have benefitted from the sacrifice and liberation of western europe. I considered myself englishamerican but also very much ufrpen. And i cant say thank you enough. I cant say ever thank you enough to the young men who gave in re lives from where im sitting right now to allow plea to have that life. To have that to enjoy the freedoms and to have done what i have been able to achieve in my life. Because it was a gift, a beautiful beautiful gift. Lets hear from mike next in carbondale, colorado. Caller i just wanted to congratulations alex on another wonderful book, the first wave. I wanted to share that my father, an immigrant from ireland, fought in world war ii. And then i had five other uncles fight in world war ii. One was killed. One was a p. O. W. So alexs books really hit home for me. And i wanted to ask alex and its 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 and families she knew. And i would love to hear his comments about that. Well, thanks for calling in, mike. I interviewed elizabeth t. She was 21 years old in july 1944. Im going to graveyard in bedford not from from here this afternoon and go and visit graves of several bedford boys brought home. 22 killed in normandy in june and july of 1944. Half in graves above omaha beach but half here not far a couple miles from where i sit. On the 21st of july, 1944 elizabeth tease went to work at the greens drug store till hope today and went to the Western Union turned on the teletype machine appear she told me that teletype machine wouldnt stop for at least a couple of hours. And the names kept chemical through killed in action. Killed in action, missing in action. And unbelievably when i talked to her she told me there was so many names all she could remember was that there were a lot of johns. So i think that what was so powerful about that moment at the teletype spitting out the messages of tragedy was that the stutter of the machine guns on omaha beach that killed the boys from the town was echoed and repeated several weeks later by the teletype machine spitting out the messages that went to the loved ones in bedford and devastated this community. It was a grieve stricken tragic time. You have to remember that people in america you on june 6th we invaded normandy. It was a huge story, the biggest of war for everybody in the allied nations. And people in bedford knew that their sons were involved in some way. But they had to wait weeks and weeks and weeks to find out what happened to them. Mail was returned. Letters didnt come back. There were rumors. One woman told me that it was like waiting for an earthquake week after week after week, no news whats happened to our boys. Then finally the morning, elizabeth tease turned on the teletype and the truth came out. Was that delay fairly typical, june the 6th, invasion. And you mention midjuly when the bedford boys news comes to down. Was that typical in terms of noeskts of him. Yeah absolutely it tuscon several weeks for the next of kin to be kwfd informed by telegram from the war office of what happened to loved ones. A very long time to wait if you knew that your loved one had been involved in very intense combat. And the first fighter craft appeared in the u. S. And what it was like to be an american at the sharp end on dday. Were taken by robert kappa, the life photographer who landed with the big red one on omaha beach. Families in bedford where i am right now opened life magazine on the 19th of june, 1944 and saw the extraordinary images of images of carnage and death. And intense violence. And they knew that their sons by then had been involved on that that combat on that beach. They hill had to wait another month before they found out what had happened even though they had seen images of what might have happened to loved ones. About 10 more minutes with our guest alex kershaw well get more calls bill next up, mount pleasant, south carolina. Caller good morning. Good morning zblook i would just like to say thanks cspan3 for a Great Program and author, mr. Kershaw. Its a Great Program today. Mr. Kershaw, my question to you is, supposedly president president or general eisenhower at the time wrote a letter on in the car about bringing the troops off the shores because of the invasion that failed. I wonder if you could comment about that. Thank you so much. Well, i think if you want a moment of that epitomizes great leadership and from i believe one of your greatest president s eisenhower. Its this. On dday he had a note in this 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. Showing the greatest courage or words to this effect. Unfortunately the invasion has failed. And i alone i alone take responsibility. So that 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 accept responsibility solely him as a sign of a great man, a great, great man. You are joining us this morning from the dday memoryual in befd o bedford. I understand recently you led a tour of normandy. Who joined you on that tour . It was a group of americans. I do tours with the nashld National World war ii museum. I was there two or three weeks ago visiting all the places id been talking about. Went to the section, easy red seconder where spalding came ashore, the seconder where the bedford boys came ashore. I think its a powerful place to go if youre 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 where any american can go on the planet where you will feel more proud to be an american. Than omaha beach. Thats the finest hour, the best moment in history was when you kicked the brits out, the second best, june 6th, 1944 where you gave american lives over 90 oh on omaha beach on one beach where you gave Many American lives, 20,000 americans killed in the battle of normandy, you gave american lives, the old world came to liber eight the the new world came to liber eight the old where american sacrifice their lives so the others could 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 1944 by june 6th, 1944 american americans were in no danger of being invaded. American freedom was assured. The americans who served in the european theater who laid down their lives who stepped out of Landing Craft, jumped out of c47s on june 6th they laid down their lives for europeans, not in terms of importance in terms of freedom, for americans they laid down their lives for europeans. It was an act of great altruism. And its the greatest act of american altruism in herron history. Lets hear from mike, wheeling, west virginia. Caller i would like to say today being memorial day so proud of all the people that serve. Im a veteran, vietnam veteran myself. My father was in the 6 army rangers. And they they actually made a movie about him about 15 years called a laid to cabana. My mom lost two brothers in german in the about a taun death marni. And for all the men in world war ii. If it werent for this we won be here today for all those who served it makes me feel good today. Thank you. Tell us about one of the many men you writ about, Lieutenant Colonel james rudder. Oh, a wonderful guy. Yet again one of the many, Many Americans american combat commanders too guys that had really serious jobs on dday. Colonel rudder in charge of the second ranger battalion assaulted plunder huck. Culled by bradley the most difficult job on dday. They had to scale the 100 High Pressure foot cliffs. Very famous scenes np but rudder had never been in combat process. In fact the only guys he had led was a College Football team but did a wonderful job on dday. There were 225 guys in the second ranger baltimoren assaulted plunder huck and suffered over 6 oh casualties. Ive been to the spot where rudder was round o wounded twice on june 6th, 1944 kept on fighting appear leading men. And fought for 48 hours before his men were relieved by fellow americans. The second ranger battalion many of the guys had not slept the night of the fifth of june. They were relieved around ma midday the 8th of june. Imagine that, 72 hours of combat of adrenalin peaking and flowing, losing your loved ones, brothers guys that you treated like your real brothers because they were in combat with you. Very high casualties. And extraordinary job. And went on become i think texas a ms greatest ever president. A wonderful leader in combat, much loved by his men. When he was decorated awarded the dsc after june 6th, 1944 a couple weeks later he cried in front of his men he held up the dsc and said this is for you. You did this. One of the guys shouted back. You keep it for us. So he was much loved and a wonderful, wonderful combat leader. But never had a shot fired at him in anger before dday. As its extraordinary how men found their moment. Tested to the full ordinary americans i mean really ordinary working class americans when the mission was right when the task was supreme, they performed miracles. He did on dday. He definitely performed a merck zblool the dfc is that and see the distinguished flies cross. Distinguished service cross. 153 americans received the dsc for actions op omaha beach areason. Only four medal of recipients for dday. Three of those rip yents blngd to big red one to John Spalding division on omaha. I think quite a few more guys deserved the medal of honor on dday but thats history. Thats past now. Lets get one more call from mark in michigan. Mark, hello there. Caller hello there. My name is mark stahlers. My father was at omaha beach at dday in the second wave. They already seen what was happening on the beach. And they didnt go out the front of the ship out of the boat when he they landed they were out the side. Therapy the ranger division. He seen the movie tom hanks made. And he said just like they were being there. And Everything Else he says he was he climbed that cliff. And he was also at baston where the german surrounded and his commander just said nuts. Allis kershaw. Some final thoughts. I think that the 75th anniversary of dday is a very important event. And i think its a unifying event for americans. I think this country needs unity more than it has in a long, long time. And every american should reflect on the 7 agent anniversary of dday what this nation achieved in unity with other nations. Allied to other nations. What was given and what was given was human life, the most precious thing so others could be froed. So american could stand by founding values of equality democracy, justice and human rights. And i think thats something we should remember. Americans were unified appear fought together and achieved a great, great victory because they were together and they werent divided. The book is the first wave. The dday warriors leading the way to victory in world war ii. Our guest alex kershaw joining from us the dday memorial in bed fortunate, virginia. Thanks so much for your time. Thank you so much. My great honor. All week we feature American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan3. The lectures in history, american artifacts, real america, the sil war, oral histories, the presidency and special event coverage about our nations history. Enjoy American History tv now and every weekend. On cspan3. The house will be in order. For 40 years cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and Public Policy events from washington, d. C. And around the country. So you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1979, cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. American history tv products are now available at the new cspan online store. 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