Director of research and history here at the National National World War Ii Museum. We are standing in the road to berlin permanent gallery exhibits that opened in december 2014 after several years of development. Our mission here at the World War Ii Museum is to tell the American Experience in world war ii how it was fought, where it was won, and what it means today. The building we are in tells what i call the war part of the story, how it was won. Here we are in the first gallery. Behind me, you will see the large portraits of the political leaders of the axis and allied powers, the lineup, if you will, of the two sides engaged in this great struggle. When our visitors arrive in this gallery, we believe they will know that pearl harbor has already occurred due to exhibits on the other side of the street in our museum. With the country already at war, we have a video that introduces them to the five major Strategic Elements that the United States and our allies must master in order to win world war ii. These five key Strategic Elements include arsenal of democracy, building a greater war machine than our enemies, technology its not enough just to out produce our enemies, we have to make better equipment and weapons. Control of the sea lanes, control of the air. And then the last strategic element, mastery of amphibious landings, which was highly debated going into world war ii as a successful military strategy. All of these things combined into the eventual invasion of europe, and the normandy landings in june of 1944 at the high point of the allied effort. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill huddled in a series of topsecret meetings codenamed the arcadia conference. American military strategists, including army chief of staff George Marshall and Brigadier General Dwight Eisenhower lobbied vigorously for an invasion of northern france. Keith when the United States entered world war ii after the attack on pearl harbor in 1941, we were faced with the strategic choice. Who to fight first, japan or nazi germany . Franklin roosevelt and Winston Churchill believed that hitler and nazi germany were our chief enemy. The problem was that we werent ready to fight the nazis on the continent of europe. We did look into plans to perhaps invade across the English Channel into normandy in 1942 or 1943, but realized we would not have the Material Resources or the army built up that would be necessary for victory. In the meantime, the soviet union was taking a terrible pounding on the eastern front. And so, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill realized they had to do something to meet Joseph Stalins pleading for a second front. But it was not going to be in france. Where do we fight . They decided that we would land in north africa. So, we tell the story in this north african farmhouse we are standing in of that decision and its consequences. The problem we are going to face after we decide to go into north africa is, can our troops, green , young soldiers, actually fight the battle hardened nazi army and win . We are now entering the north african gallery at the museum. Behind me over here is our weapons case. Featured in this weapon are handguns, rifles, shotguns, mortars, other weapons used to weapons we are going to use to fight in europe. Included in this case is the m1 garand rifle. It became the standard rifle for infantryman in the United States army. We also have the m11 a1 pistol in this case. It was designed by john browning, and it is going to become the standard issue, very popular pistol that is going to be issued to many u. S. Army personnel. In the museum, we try to build in environmental challenges that the u. S. Faced, our forces faced around the world in world war ii. And so in north africa, of course, the desert is as big of a challenge as the enemy at times. And so, what we have here in the gallery is an environmental treatment that not only shows the rocky desert that we are going to be fighting in, but also kasserine pass, the battle in february of 1943 where the United States is, unfortunately, going to be very, very badly whipped by the germans in the desert. Many of our viewers may remember the famous scene in the movie patton, where George Patton is try toought in to reorganize American Forces to fight in the desert and beat the germans. In this case here, we have a tricolor french flag. Many americans and others dont realize that when we landed in morocco in north africa, the french vichy government was allied with nazi germany. And so we actually did have to do some fighting against the french with the initial landing. Included in this case is a waffen s. S. Cap. You can see the death head on it. This one is unique because it was a tropical wear issue that the germans are going to give the s. S. , part of their elite troops, part of their elite forces, i should say. The s. S. Is going to be in charge of carrying out the holocaust in europe. And one other thing i thought i would point out here, you have life magazines issue, war hits red oak. Red oak, iowa. At kasserine pass, 45 men from red oak iowa are going to be killed or captured by the germans. And so, this was the point where the reality of war in north africa and the european theater is going to start to come home to americans with these losses in such a small town, so many boys, in one single battle. Behind me is a 105 millimeter howitzer. The howitzer was originally designed to shoot at aircraft, but in north africa, we discovered that this was an ideal antitank weapon. Where the gun could be lowered and then fired at tanks across the deserts of north africa. It was a very effective weapon. This map introduces visitors to the situation when the allies landed in north africa in november of 1942. You can see on the map that the allies are represented in blue. But the axis powers and the territories they controlled are represented in red. You get a sense of the scale of adolf hitlers power where he and Benito Mussolini have an empire, really more german, but have an empire that stretches all the way across europe and north africa, a sea of red. We have a long way to go in this war. This jeep actually plays an audio track that mimicks what it was like to be in the retreat. After kasserine pass, united the United States is going to reorganize its forces. General George Patton is going to come in and we are going to inve forward to victory north africa when in may, 1943, we win against the germans at the battle of el guitar, driving germany out of north africa. Unfortunately, it wasnt a complete victory because the germans are going to escape with a lot of men and equipment into sicily and italy to continue on the fight. And so, sicily is the next stop on the road to berlin. We are now entering the sicily gallery here at the National World war ii museum. Here you can see on this map the initial landings where allied forces are going to drop parachutes and then also come in with amphibious landings in july of 1943. Now, sicily is going to prove to be a very quick campaign all told. Only 38 days long, but it was filled with a lot of drama, and included the rivalry between general George S Patton and bernard law montgomery, the british commander. However, something i wanted to point out that is of special significance in this gallery that we want our visitors to understand is that war is a very messy, dirty, and often unfair business. And in those landings at sicily, we are going to see the worst friendly fire incident that American Forces suffer in world war ii. Better than 300 american paratroopers are going to be shot down by allied forces as they approach southern italy early in the invasion. This is something that came about because of inexperience and green troops and fear. It is part of war, and it is not an easy, glorious march to victory in world war ii like a lot of people think it was today when we call it the good war. Very bad things happened in that good war. Here we have an airmans cloth map of italy and tunisia. When our paratroopers in the war would drop into unknown territories, they would have the maps dyed into scarves that they would wear, and this is how they would try and maneuver the territories around them. In this space here, you can see taking palermo. Palermo was the first European Capital to fall to the allies. General George Patton raced up the western side of sicily, to take palermo, and then headed to the east across the northern border of sicily, combining with Bernard Montgomery to push against the germans and the italian forces, eventually driving them off of the sicilian island, across the straits of sicily into the southern boot of italy there. So you get a sense of the campaign and how it moved to this very rapid conclusion only 38 days after the landing. Landings here. We are now leaving the sicily gallery and entering the Italian Campaign here in the National World war ii museum. You can see on the map to my right the situation the allies faced in september of 1943 as we begin the invasion of southern italy. Now, the Italian Campaign had been urged by Winston Churchill to be a soft underbelly of europe that we could drive up the peninsula and possibly get at nazi germany and win the war. It is not going to turn out that way at all. Instead, the Italian Campaign is going to be a long, bloody slog. It starts from the very beginning. The allies are going to face great challenges with the amphibious landings that we must perform to win. And it is always important as you walk through these galleries to remember the ultimate fight we are going to have to have, which is the invasion of normandy. If we are having trouble making amphibious landings in italy and other places, well, that forbodes ill for the normandy landings that we know are coming at some point. So, in this italian gallery we have an environment like an italian villa. Our video here tells the story of this Overall Campaign that goes to the very end of the war, all the way to may of 1945, with bitter fighting that occurs. Now, in this gallery, you will find out stories of americans who are often marginalized at the edges of American Society at this time. Japaneseamericans and africanamericans in particular are featured in this gallery. We are committed to telling diverse stories of americans here at the museum, but we tried to tell the stories within the context of the overarching narrative of the American Experience in world war ii. And so, in italy, visitors will find out stories about africanamericans who fought with the 92nd i. D. They are going to find out stories about japaneseamericans fighting with the 442nd rct. Regimental combat team. And, they are going to find out how tough it was to fight against the elements. Once again, the environment and nature plays a terrible role in this campaign where we are fighting up mountains trying to drive towards rome. We are standing next to a panel involving john r. Foxs story. John fox was an africanamerican fighting with the segregated 92nd infantry division. He ordered a mortar fire to come down on his position in the midst of a german attack where, frankly, the germans were about to break our lines. When fox was discovered a couple of days later, he was surrounded by over 100 dead germans. So in 1998, he was eventually rewarded posthumously the medal of honor. In this case over here, we have a congressional gold medal that was awarded to takuji takahashi, a member of the 442nd regimental combat team, which was a segregated unit of japaneseamericans who fought in italy in world war ii. He had actually been interned at a camp in arizona before he was allowed to fight for his country. The 442nd put up the most impressive record of combat of virtually any unit in world war ii. They were eventually awarded 21 medals of honor, including one that went to daniel inue, who later became the longtime senator from hawaii. Ernie pyle starts to become a wellknown figure back in the United States with his columns detailing what life was like for the average american soldier, the dog faces as he calls them. Here you can see a couple of books from the war. I wanted to point out this artifact in between the books. You can see his zippo lighter. This lighter was given to a young g. I. Named reed switzer from ernie pyle. It sort of exemplifies the spirit the troops have because he identified with them. Average americans out on the battlefield, having to fight. And, one other artifact i thought i would point out here that brings home the reality of what these young men and women were facing. Young men on the battle lines, of course, but you can see next to ernie pyles book a cigarette case and a purple heart medal. Now, this cigarette case belonged to a Young Private by the name of andrew sexton. He was a medic where he was basically shot and the bullet went through the cigarette case, but was stopped on the other side and fell into the case. He later credited this with saving his life. But if you could imagine what an experience like that must be like, certainly, it brings home the reality of life and death that these young men and women were facing, and that ernie pyle understood so well. We have here in the italian gallery a 4. 2 inch mortar. This is going to turn out to be an extremely effective weapon for allied troops. It weighed about 330 pounds, and it had a maximum range of about 4400 yards. A minimum range of about 650 yards. And you could, of course, fire it for much longer, but it changed the rate of fire the longer you went. But if you will follow me over here, you can see one of the shells that that 4. 2 inch mortar would have fired in this exhibit case over here. We have in this case a number of items that are interesting, but up top i thought i would point out we have a couple of guns that are dummy guns. These were taken from italians. Kind of interesting when you think about it that these are toy guns captured by the americans. But toy guns, once again, the reality is everyone is shooting with live rounds most of the time. And that reality is brought home very dramatically in this case. We have another purple heart, and we have below it a coffin casket title tag. It belonged to anthony sconza, who was a private, an infantry man serving in italy. He had written his brother a letter in which he said he feared that he might not make it home, but begged his brother not to say anything to his parents because of these fears. And, indeed, he was killed in september of 1944 while fighting in italy. So, one other element that i thought i would point out in this case here is 05. You can see the graphical firing table. It is a slight rural, basically basically, for the 4. 2 inch mortar that we were viewing in the previous room in the gallery. So if you wanted to make adjustments to hit your enemy, this was how you would calculate that and then make the adjustments and then hopefully hit your target. Behind me you see a sign, a fabricated sign. Something that we put throughout the museum in these galleries to remind people of how far away we often are from victory. Here you can see 736 miles to berlin from italy. What we tell, however, the public, is that the road to berlin will not go through italy. Despite the efforts of the allies to fight up the italian peninsula, the terrain, the nazi armies, all of this is going to combine to bring us short of our goal of ultimate victory against nazi germany. We arent able to make it over the alps. And so, in order to hit germany directly, we are next going to visit a gallery that talks about the air war. The one place in these years of 1942 and 1943 where we are able to directly strike at the heart of hitlers empire. We are now entering our air war gallery. Now, up to this point at the museum we have had the visitor on kind of a chronological march of action in world war ii. North africa, sicily, italy. The air war was going on throughout 1942 to 1945, and it was the one part of the war where we were constantly trying to hit nazi germany. Couldnt strike them from north africa or italy physically, but we could from the air. And you can see this on our maps where we are launching missions from out of north africa, and especially from Great Britain where the 8th air force was located. Now, in this gallery with the air war, the air war went through several stages. You have some initial beginnings, and then, most importantly, by the end of 1943, we are basically losing the air war very badly. Andaids at regents berg places like polesti, we are losing disproportionate amounts of our bombers going up, trying to hit the heartland of nazi germany and other Industrial Facilities throughout europe that the nazis were using. The reason this is so problematic for us, if you think about it, for example, a b17 bomber, which was the workhorse of the european bombing campaign, had Trained Personnel in it where you had 10, 11 men in there that every time one of those were shot down, it was one thing to lose a plane, but it is another thing to lose those Trained Personnel. That was true of the other side as well. The luftwaffe of the germans, the german air force, had trained pilots where this is going to be a key element of what is going to eventually happen with the air war where it is ultimately about replacing pilots and planes. However, by late 1943, what we want people to understand, we had to have control of the air in order to launch the dday invasion of normandy. We dont have it in late 1943. In fact, we are getting beaten rather badly in the air. So we tell that story in this video here. And then we are going to bring our visitors into life at the abbots airfield in england, and in east anglia, where you will have the 8th air force stationed. In a hut just like we have fabricated in this gallery. Now of the features in this , one gallery, we do suspend reality a little bit here. Can see up top, our animation, which depicts a flyover of thousands of b17 bombers, b24 liberators, other aircraft, the massive air force that we eventually build up in england to continue the fight against the germans. But what we try to tell people about in this story here is the turning point in that air war. What is going to happen in early 1944 is a huge shift. We tell the story of the berlin raid of march 6, 1944, where we are going to put up better than 1000 planes in the air. The key to this is going to be the fact that in the earlier raids i referenced, you are looking at 150, 250 aircraft up in the air, 60 of them getting shot down. Well, once we start putting up 800 bombers, it is true, for example, on the berlin raid, we are going to lose about 69 bombers. This was one of the worst in terms of total numbers that we are going to lose, but in percentage terms, we are only 7 of our bombers. And the key to this was fighter protection. The p51 aircraft is going to come online in production, and the p51 is going to be probably the best Fighter Aircraft of world war ii. The p51 was fast, it was maneuverable, and most importantly, it could fly much greater distances, accompanying the bombers deeper and deeper into europe. And so they are able to give those bombers protection to do their job and they are going to be able to fight and kill off the luftwaffe as it comes up. Those Fighter Pilots the germans had to kill the bombers, instead themselves being shot down in numbers that nazi germany could not sustain. Over here we have the medal of honor that was awarded to an aviator by the name of archibald matthews. Archibald matthews no formal had no formal training, and he was aboard the b17 10 horsepower in 1944 when it was hit by flak and the pilot was killed. Archibald matthews and a couple of other crew members tried to land the plane, even though he was not a pilot and had no formal training in this. The pilot was wounded, and he was going to have the rest of the crew bail out. He attempted to then land the plane in england, but crashed upon landing, killing himself and the pilot aboard. And for his heroism where he could have bailed out himself left the wounded pilot, but he didnt, he is awarded the medal of honor. What we have in this case is wreckage from First Lieutenant augustus hamiltons p47. Which crashed in france. Augustus hamilton actually was set to go home. His bags were packed. He had a wife, he had a newborn child, but his unit then requested a volunteer to do one last mission. He went up, and is going to find himself under severe attack by a bunch of german messerschmitt 190 aircraft, and he is shot down and killed. His remains were not discovered until the crash site was discovered in france in 1993. And so, these are the remnants from that crash site. His plane had been named mrs. Little ham, after his wife and son, who he would never meet. There is a monument in france at the crash site commemorating his ultimate sacrifice and his bravery for going ahead when he could have gone home, but volunteering for one last mission in support of the cause for which he had to give his this gallery is that, starting in march 1944, we begin to wrestle control of the air away from the luftwaffe, and only if we can gain control of the air, can we launch the normandy invasion on dday, we do not know what day that will be yet, but it will turn out to be three months to the day after the march 6, 1944 berlin raid. On march 6, 1944 tv,his is American History covering history cspan style with lectures, interviews, and discussions with authors, historians, and teachers. 40 hours, all weekend, every weekend, on cspan three. Firstat noon, we revisit Lady Jacqueline kennedys white house tour, which was watched by millions. In this 2012 presentation, william all met talks about her extensive restoration of the executive mansion and the evolution of the white house collection. Here is a preview. Green room, as you see it today, this is the third set of changes since misses kennedys time. Replaced inas been each case, but it is a key air element. The nixon era furniture has been kept, but we have made a new rug and fabrics. Misses kennedy was interested in improving the collection beyond portraits, so what you see in the pictures of the lower left painting was acquired for misses laura bush by Jacob Lawrence called the builders. She wanted it to go in the public rooms as misses kennedy thought the things that were new and interesting should be added to the public rooms. It was decided to put it in the green room and we had we do not own a lot of abstract art, and this might be a little harsh for misses kennedys taste, but the collection is growing and, in the interest in all periods is growing. What we were able to kick to pair with it is this wonderful pairing painting to the right. This is what she found easy and useful upstairs, and it was more abstract and interesting as a pair for the builders. Above that painting on the wall on the far left of the green room scene is the wonderful John Singer Sargent painting called the mosquito net, acquired early in the johnson administration. I think misses kennedy wouldve been pleased that several great paintings were donated great collectors who wanted to remember president and misses kennedys contributions to the white house. Whitern more about her house renovation today at 12 00 p. M. Eastern and 9 00 a. M. Pacific on American History tv. Talking tonew book, strangers, Malcolm Gladwell thinks details why he that people make inaccurate judgments. I am going to drag you out of here. You are going to drag me out of my car. Forhe is imprisoned resisting arrest, and two days later she hangs herself in her cell, a tragic and unexpected result, but the whole exchange that we sell, which goes on and on, we only saw a small snippet it, that was the kind of when i first saw that online, that is when i realized what i wanted to write about. Downu break that exchange moment by moment, you see multiple failures of understanding of empathy, of one million things. Sunday night on eight eastern on q a. Cspan has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and Public Policy events, from the president ial primaries through the impeachment process. And now, the federal response to the coronavirus. You can watch all of their Public Affairs programming on television, online, or on our free radio app, and be part of the National Conversation through washington journal, or our social media feeds. Cspan, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you by your television provider. My name is eric finley, and i am the docent for the africanamerican heritage trail. This is the 14th year in mobile. They got started five or six years prior to that when one of our africanamerican city councilman took a trip to boston on city business, and while he was there, he saw a sign that said African American heritage trail. He thought it sounded interesting because it was kind of a novelty, it was prior to most of the museums we see today
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