Transcripts For KPIX 60 Minutes 20140428

In 1938, a young londoner used his vacation to go to czechoslovakia as the nazis were clamping down on the countrys jews. He ended up saving the lives of 669 children. How did he do it . Youll hear all about it tonight from the man himself, who is now 104 years old. I work on the motto that if somethings not impossible, there must be a way of doing it. Im steve kroft. Im lesley stahl. Im morley safer. Im bob simon. Im scott pelley. Those stories tonight on 60 minutes. E financial noise financial noise financial noise financial noise [ bell dings ] [ bell dings ] [ bell dings ] [ buzzer ] [ buzzer ] [ female announcer ] check it out. [ bell dings ] subway is the first restaurant with meals to earn the american heart associations heart check mark. Look for it on subway fresh fit meals like the classic subway club and the freshlymade double chicken chopped salad. Subway. Eat fresh. Feel like a knot. How can i ease this pain . man when i cant go, its like bricks piling up. I wish i could find some relief. announcer ask your doctor about linzess a oncedaily capsule for adults with ibs with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation. Linzess is thought to help calm painsensing nerves and accelerate bowel movements. It helps you proactively manage your symptoms. Do not give linzess to children under 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to 17. It may harm them. Dont take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain especially with bloody or black stools the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. Other side effects include gas, stomacharea pain and swelling. Bottom line, ask your doctor about linzess today. Stahl the last time many of us thought about our nations big landbased Nuclear Missiles was probably during the cold war. But today, there are nearly 450 of these giant minuteman iiis, as theyre called, tucked away in underground silos, ready to launch on the president s command. Theyre part of a socalled Nuclear Triad that includes submarines and bombers. But its the landbased leg of the triad thats been getting all the attention lately, and its not the kind of attention the top brass wants. The entire air force chain of command of a missile base responsible for onethird of our landbased missiles was removed a few weeks ago because of a scandal involving drugs and cheating on tests. We wanted to know what was going on why so much turmoil in the missile corps . Whos minding the nukes . And where are these weapons of mass destruction . Flying over the plains of wyoming in an old huey helicopter, we came upon a small fencedin lot. It didnt look like much. Carl jones so thats it right there. Stahl air force colonel carl jones told us that, underneath the concrete near that white pole, theres a minuteman iii missile. Its one of the deadliest and most powerful weapons on the planet. So, is that particular missile armed right now with a Nuclear Warhead . Jones it is. Stahl the warhead on each of these landbased missiles is 20 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on hiroshima and could kill millions if dropped on a major city. The air force still keeps nearly all 450 of them on constant alert, ready to go. We thought the missiles would be hidden away on some vast tract of federal land. My goodness, is this a farm right here . Jones it is. Stahl we were surprised the missiles were close to rural communities. We saw bales of hay and herds of grazing cattle. Jones its a safe weapon. I mean, its not going to. Its not going to do anything here on the ground. Stahl if by accident or a deliberate act, one of those missiles was launched, is there a way to disarm it or bring it back . Jones no, we can only launch with direction from the president of the United States. Now, once that missile has gone, theres no way to recall it or disarm the warhead thats on the missile. Once theyre gone, theyre gone. Stahl the missiles are spread out over a wide area surrounding three air force bases in five different states. A web of underground hardened and pressurized cables connect the missiles to buildings like this, where the missiles are monitored remotely miles away in capsules 70 feet underground. The control rooms hang on shock absorbers within a protective shell of concrete and steel. The system was designed in another era, the 1960s, to survive a nuclear blast. We went down by elevator and were escorted to a door that weighs eight tons. Chaz demerath maam and sir, i would like to welcome you to. Stahl we were allowed to go inside, provided we use an Old Air Force camera and let Security Officials vet this footage. The socalled missileers who watch over and control the missiles work in teams of two on 24hour shifts known as alerts. They have everything down here they need to survive. We expected to find potbellied veterans at the controls. Instead, we found chaz demerath, whos 25, just three years out of the air force academy, and his deputy, dana meyers, 23. This was only her fifth time on duty. When they started this 24hour shift, they took custody of ten Nuclear Weapons. So i guess i have to ask you the inevitable question where is the button . Demerath where is the big button . Maam, there is no button. Stahl there is no button . Demerath there is no button. Stahl there are three switches and a key, which is kept in this strongbox with two locks on it. Demerath has one combination, meyers has the other. Its one of many layers of safeguards built into the system. Demerath even though we trust each other, we dont trust each other. Stahl aha. We thought the work would be tedious, just waiting for something thatll probably never happen to happen. But from nearly the moment we asked the question. Is this just boring beyond belief . Demerath it is never boring because we have so many actions we do every day. alarm beeping stahl alarms started beeping and the phones kept ringing. Demerath maam, i need to ask all of you to remove all yourselves from the capsule at this point. Stahl so, is there anything wrong . Demerath nothing wrong at this point. Stahl we were politely asked to leave at least eight times, so they could decode messages or deal with other classified information. Okay, im back. The officers may be young. Demerath if you can imagine that as being your computer. Stahl . But the equipment is ancient. This, for example, is one of the computers that would receive a launch order from the president. It uses floppy disks, the really old, big ones. Before you got down here, you probably had never seen one of these . Dana meyers i had never seen one of these until i got down in missiles. Stahl the reason the air force allowed us to visit the missile fields surrounding Warren Air Force base is because it wanted to counter all the bad press its been getting lately at the two other bases that also guard our landbased missiles. Last year, 17 missileers at Minot Air Force base in north dakota were removed from duty after performing poorly on an inspection. At Malmstrom Air force base in montana, three missileers are under investigation for drug possession, and 91 have been implicated in a scandal involving cheating on routine tests. Jack weinstein i am flying back. Stahl Major General Jack Weinstein took control of all three nuclear bases in december, with a mandate to find out what ails the missile corps and fix it. Let me ask you a question whether theres, i guess youd call it an identity crisis with the mission as a whole. You have these Nuclear Weapons that no one believes well ever use, so do you find that thats an issue the question of whats the mission . Weinstein no, because we use these weapons every single day protecting our nation. Deterrence has a value. It has a value for our nation; it has a value for our allies. Stahl general weinstein commands a force of 9,600, including Maintenance Technicians who keep the missiles in working order, Security Forces that guard the weapons and provide a heavily armed escort any time the warheads are being moved, and about 500 missileers who man 45 control centers around the clock. The vast majority, the general says, have not cheated on tests. Weinstein were talking about 1 of the 9,600 people that work for me that did violate our core values. Stahl but when you say 1 , its not 1 of the missileers, right . Youre talking about everybody . Weinstein right. Stahl its a much larger percent of the missileers . Weinstein right. Its about 20 of the missileers. Stahl well, thats huge. Weinstein it is huge, and thats why weve taken accountability for those people. General weinstein also removed the directors of operation. Stahl on general weinsteins recommendation, the air force brass announced that the montana base commander would resign and that nine other officers under him would be removed. Weinstein told us investigators found no evidence of cheating at the two other missile bases. But thats not what our reporting found. You know. Its interesting because we spoke to a lot of former missileers, and they just say cheating goes on everywhere and its been going on for quite a long time. Weinstein what we did was we look at the evidence. Whenever we saw a cell phone, whether it was a text message or an email, we investigated that. Stahl one of the people who told us about this cheating being endemic was an instructor at this base who left last year. Weinstein well, i will tell you that, as a commander, if i have any indication that people arent following our core values, i immediately attack the problem. And we have not seen this problem at the other two bases. Hands on keys and switches. Stahl the former missileers told us that the missile corps has long been treated like the stepchild of the air force pilots get all the glory. I agree. Stahl missileers have fewer chances for advancement. Were going to review the monthly lesson plan, and then were going to take a test. Stahl its said that the reason for the cheating is a culture of perfection where missileers have felt they had to get 100 on the tests they take three times a month or face no chance of promotion. We spoke to a group of current missileers at Warren Air Force base, including 26yearold Daniel Sharpe from tennessee. Why did people feel they had to score 100 . Daniel sharpe when i first came here, leadership that was in place told me that the minimum passing score for my test was a 90 , but if i was making 90s, i was a d student and i would be treated that way. Stahl but you actually were here under that 100 pressure yourself. Sharpe i was. Stahl and you felt the pressure and that caused stress, im sure of it. Sharpe absolutely. But it also caused a great deal of studying and a great deal of proficiency. laughter weinstein no one cheated because they had to, they didnt know the material. They cheated in order to get 100 . Stahl is that gone . Weinstein thats gone. Stahl so what replaces that . Weinstein well, right now, its pass fail. As long as they get, you know, above the 90 , which is the standard. Stahl wait, wait, wait pass. Its still pass . You fail at 90 . Weinstein yeah, its still at 90 right now. Stahl wow. How is that improving things . Weinstein when you take away the pressure of getting 100 on a test, you have people focused on what they need to know. I think it changes things. Stahl its one of a number of things the generals doing to boost morale, which, by most accounts, has been low for a long time, even at the top. Last year, weinsteins predecessor, Major General michael carey, was relieved of command for drunken and inappropriate behavior during an official trip to moscow. According to an inspector generals report, carey complained that his troops had the worst morale of any airmen in the air force. How many of you chose to be a missileer as your first choice for your military career . Two of you. Truth be told, the vast majority dont choose this job. This group was impressive they majored in physics, engineering, and english, and many are working on their advanced degrees. Weve obviously heard a lot about the morale problems. So i wonder what the morale problems come from. Clair reynolds well, it fluctuates. And there are times where it just becomes a grind, because youre doing so much in a short period of time a lot of times. And you just have to adapt and work with the schedule youre given. Stahl so it can be more than 24 hours . Jennifer leute of course, weather does impact how long we might be downstairs. If we have poor weather, especially during the winter we do get that a lot in these northern bases you might be down there for 48 hours at a time, or possibly 72. Stahl anybody been down for 72 . No . 48 . Yes. Yes. Yeah. Stahl 48 a lot of you. They told us they feel things are improving, and they also assured us there are many safeguards built into the systems of the Launch Control centers, or l. C. C. S, to prevent an unauthorized launch. Launch key inserted. Inserted. Stahl are any of you partners . Sharpe yes, maam. Lieutenant matuu and i. Stahl youre partners. Okay, just for the sake of this discussion, lets say both of you go bonkers. And you get the key out and you do. You switch it on. Will it go off . Sharpe no, maam. Melissa matuu no. Stahl it wont go off . Why not . Matuu because there are enable codes that we need in order to get the missile ready for launching. Only the president of the United States could authorize a launch of Nuclear Weapons. Sharpe and one capsule by themselves cant do it alone. Right. Stahl you would have to receive the codes to put them in . You. You dont have them when you go into the l. C. C . Sharpe no, maam. Stahl okay, well, thats reassuring. An important part of their job is monitoring the condition of the missiles. If they get a signal that somethings wrong, they ask for a Maintenance Crew to fix it. Oh, wow. The Maintenance Crews train on this missile that is virtually identical to the real thing, minus the rocket fuel and warhead. The systems are so complex, the technicians work off detailed checklists. Theyre constantly shouting twotwo. Twotwo, twotwo. Stahl . Because the rules require there always be two people keeping an eye on one another when they work on a nuclear missile. Twotwo, twotwo. Stahl the idea is to ensure safety and prevent sabotage. Twotwo, twotwo. Stahl sometimes, these minutemen iiis have to be removed from their silos for repairs, or for random test launches without the warhead, of course to make sure the missiles still work. These missiles were designed and built during the cold war, when there was always the fear of a Nuclear Attack from the soviet union. But the secondincommand of all u. S. Nuclear forces said recently that hes more concerned about an accident or human error than a russian attack. When we come back, well tell you about some mishaps in the past that nearly led to Accidental Nuclear detonations on u. S. Soil. Cbs money watch update sponsored by glor good evening. The french government today threatened to block ges planned purchase of energy giant allston. New sanctions will target businessmen close to putin. And the pentagon is buying 180 million worth of sneakers from new balance. Im jeff glor, cbs news. [ male announcer ] spring is calling. Get 10 off instock wood fence pickets and panels at lowes. [ male announcer ] spring is calling. Im mom at the playground the kids get trail mix, and you get a delicious milos kitchen chicken meatball. I wish you liked my cooking that much. Milos kitchen. Made in the usa with chicken or beef as the number one ingredient. The best treats come from the kitchen. You have three questions. Coffee or espresso . Oh, coffee please. Is this coffee . Its nespresso vertuoline. How do they make this froth . Its coffee crema. Last question. May i have another cup please . Thank you. Next [ penelope ] nespresso vertuoline. Experience the revolution of coffee. My 4yearold son was diagnosed with autism. As a dad, you have all these goals and dreams and hopes for your son. And youre faced with the knowledge that he may be dependent on you for the rest of his life. I had to first realize that theres nothing wrong with him the way he is. Its the world who view him differently. I love him. My son is fine just the way he is. [ female announcer ] mutual of omaha. Proud sponsor of lifes aha moments. [ female announcer ] mutual of omaha. Stahl for more than 50 years, landbased Nuclear Missiles and longrange bombers have played a key role in americas strategy to deter other nations from using their Nuclear Weapons against us. But the age of the equipment is a problem, and human error is always a concern. Small mistarlike a dropped socket, can mean the difference between routine maintenance and a major accident. We were not aware until we started researching this story how many close calls there have been involving Nuclear Weapons fires, plane crashes, fuel explosions, even a bomb that was accidentally dropped on u. S. Soil. The seriousness of many of these incidents was not disclosed at the time. But based on witness accounts and declassified government documents, we have a much better understanding today of how close we have come to a nuclear disaster. Eric schlosser we came close on numerous occasions during the cold war to having our own weapons detonate accidentally on american soil. Stahl Eric Schlosser spent six years investigating Nuclear Weapons mishaps during the cold war. His book, command and control, describes a number of hair raising incidents. Clear stahl . Like a rocket fuel explosion in 1980 in damascus, arkansas, that forced the evacuation of People Living near a titan ii missile complex. Schlosser someone dropped a socket in the silo, and the socket fell about 70 feet, pierced the missile, caused a fuel leak. And then there was a huge explosion. Stahl if that exploded, how come no. You say there was no detonation . Schlosser they put safety mechanisms in the warheads to make sure they only detonate over the target where theyre supposed to. And thats a testament to the engineering skill of the warhead designers and to good luck. Stahl schlosser says thats not the only time we were lucky. A few days after John Kennedys inauguration in 1961, an air force b52 like this one had mechanical problems and accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb over goldsboro, north carolina. Schlosser when it hit the ground, the firing signal was sent. But one safety switch prevented a fullscale detonation of a powerful Hydrogen Bomb in north carolina. Stahl okay, im kind of shocked, because i didnt hear that story ever, did i, until you revealed it . Schlosser well. Stahl was that made public . Schlosser there was a real effort throughout the cold war to deny that there was any possibility that a Nuclear Weapon could detonate by accident. Stahl todays minuteman iii missiles use rocket fuel thats more stable and less likely to explode. And theyve upgraded some key components, too, like the guidance systems that direct the missiles toward their target. Schlosser the Nuclear Weapons themselves, the warhead, the bombs, are much safer than they were 30 years ago. Theres no question about that. But the infrastructure, the equipment, what carries those weapons. Stahl the minuteman itself goes back. Schlosser . To the Nixon Administration. Stahl the Nixon Administration . Schlosser look at it this way if you got a beautiful sports car from the 1960s, it would drive really fast and it would be fun to drive. But a modern car is going to have so many more safety mechanisms that are so much more sophisticated. And the architecture, the command and control architecture is complicated and aging. Stahl how would you evaluate the risk of an accident happening, a human error kind of thing . Weinstein the probability is as close to zero as you can get. Stahl Major General jack weisteins first job as a young airman was manning one of those Launch Control centers. Today, hes in charge of all 450 landbased Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in the u. S. You have said that you sleep well at night. Weinstein thats a direct quote. Stahl some people would say you shouldnt be sleeping well at night. You should be constantly worried, because you have a very complex system here, and there are a lot of things that could go wrong. Weinstein the people that designed this Weapon System in the 1960s, even though weve made upgrades, are actually brilliant. And theres a lot of safety mechanisms built into the system. Stahl but during our visit to the underground control center with colonel carl jones, we got a glimpse of what the missile corps is up against. Take this enormous outer door designed to protect the corridor leading to the capsule. They cant close it because of a broken part, so its propped open with a crowbar and marked with a danger tag. We were told the door has been disabled like this for years. Jones many things in the capsule, in the equipment building, arent manufactured anymore, so we have to figure out a way to manufacture that piece, and see if the new piece will work. Stahl at a missile silo we visited, time and frigid weather had clearly taken their toll. The missile was being pulled from the silo for repairs because water had seeped in. Its probably the worst case of loose nukes in u. S. Military history. Stahl some Nuclear Weapons snafus have happened fairly recently. In 2007, six nucleartipped cruise missiles were loaded onto a b52 by mistake, flown across the country, and left unguarded on the tarmac. No one noticed for 36 hours. That led thendefense secretary robert gates to ask the air force secretary and chief of staff to resign. In 2010, because of a technical glitch, a missile squadron at the base we visited in wyoming stopped receiving electronic messages from the missiles it was charged with monitoring. Weinstein what happened was we lost status monitoring of 50 missiles. What we. Stahl 50 missiles . Weinstein 50, it was a squadron. What we. Stahl for an hour . Weinstein a little under an hour but. An hour. Stahl what word would you use to describe that . Is it serious . Was it dangerous . Weinstein i dont view it as dangerous at all, because of the safety of the Weapon System. I would call it serious when you lose status monitoring for that period of time. phone ringing stahl being able to communicate with the missiles and with others on the base is essential to a missileers job. So we were surprised to learn they were having trouble hearing what was being said on their phones. Meyers can you repeat that . Stahl what about the phones . Leute theyre awful. Reynolds yeah, theyre. Theyre not so great. laughter stahl what. What isnt great about them . The. Is it. What. Matuu just the connection. Stahl the hearing, or is it that you cant connect when you make a call or. . Leute its both. I mean, you cant hear the other person on the other end of the line. Sometimes, you cant dial out, which makes it very difficult if youre trying to do your job. Stahl just to be clear the president will not be calling them on the phone with his launch orders. They have other more secure systems for that. But still. Weinstein it is an analog system, and when you have an analog system, there are problems. Were looking at upgrading that in the next few years. Stahl years. Weinstein next few years. Stahl not months . Weinstein no, years. Stahl and theyre using really, really, really old computers. I saw a floppy disc, and not a floppy disc that size. It was gigantic. Weinstein ill tell you, those older systems provide us some. I will say huge safety when it comes to some cyber issues that we currently have in the world. Stahl now, explain that. Weinstein a few years ago, we did a complete analysis of our entire network. Cyber engineers found out that the system is extremely safe and extremely secure on the way its developed. Stahl meaning that youre not up on the internet, that kind of thing . Weinstein were not up on the internet. Stahl so, did the cyber people recommend you keep it the way it is . Weinstein for right now, yes. Stahl a terrorist attack is also a major concern. This tactical security team. Move stahl . Trains constantly to take back a missile silo from the bad guys if they ever get in. Once the team enters the compound. Go go go stahl . And secures the site, they go down into the silo, fastroping and drawing their guns quicker than most of us can tie a shoelace. Lets go lets go lets go stahl the landbased Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, the icbms, that we saw are just one part of the Nuclear Triad that includes missiles on submarines and bombers. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that operating and upgrading all three legs of the triad is going to cost at least 355 billion over the next ten years. Do we need all three legs of the triad . Schlosser i think that the one leg of the triad that may be the least useful are our missiles. Stahl the landbased. Schlosser the landbased missiles are targets. The russians know exactly where they are. It puts the states where they are based at risk, whereas with submarines, theyre hidden. One of the things about a bomber is if the bomber takes off with Nuclear Weapons and you change your mind, you can have the bomber come back to the base. And you cant do that with a landbased missile. Stahl the landbased leg of the triad, do we need to have that . Weinstein i think its extremely important to have an onalert, 24 7 Nuclear Capability to protect our nation. When. I think we need to look at the problem set sometimes in the eyes of other nations. When other nations are upgrading their icbm force, theyre modernizing their icbm force, i think its extremely important that we provide the American Public with that daytoday deterrent value that the icbm provides. Stahl and thats the mission. Weinstein and thats the mission. Hands on keys and switches. Stahl we were watching the missileers practicing their procedures in a simulator. Mark would you like to do a key turn . Stahl . When one of the instructors offered us a chance to do a practice launch. It was simple enough to turn the switches. And in three, two, one turn. Stahl how many missiles did i actually launch, one or ten . You launched 50. Stahl i launched 50 . 50. Sharpe i would say everybody here would remember their first alert. You ride the elevator down, you go through those first two massive blast doors, and youre looking at the same console youve been training on for so long. But this one is tethered directly to ten Nuclear Weapons with status monitoring for an additional 40. And that weighs on you, absolutely weighs on you. Stahl we left the base more aware of the pressures these young officers are under, and hoping their superiors will get around to fixing those phones and broken doors. Recently, the air force announced it would spend 19 million this year to upgrade the Launch Control centers and silos, and its asking for over 600 million next year to make further improvements. Customizable charts, powerful screening tools, and guaranteed onesecond trades. And at the center of it all is a surprisingly low price just 7. 95. In fact, fidelity gives you lower trade commissions than schwab, td ameritrade, and etrade. 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If youve been hit by. Find out more about Psoriatic Arthritis. Take the symptom quiz at doublewhammy. Com and talk to your doctor. Man we know when parents and teachers work together. Woman our schools get stronger. Man as superintendent of public education, thats been Tom Torlaksons approach. Woman torlakson has supported legislation to guarantee spending decisions about our education tax dollars are made by parents, teachers and the local community. And not by sacramento politicians. And we need to keep that legislation on track. Man so tell Tom Torlakson to keep fighting for local control of School Funding decisions. Simon now, an extraordinary story from the second world war, a humanitarian story that didnt come to light for decades. It concerns a young londoner named Nicholas Winton who went to prague, and ended up saving the lives of 669 children, mostly jews, from almost certain death. His story begins at the end of 1938, with europe on the brink of war. In germany, violence against jews was escalating, and the infamous munich agreement paved the way for hitlers armies to march unopposed into czechoslovakia. In london, Nicholas Winton had been following events and knew that refugees fleeing the nazis were in dire straits. He went to czechoslovakia to see if there was anything he could do to help. Whats strange is that, for almost 50 years, he hardly told anyone about what he had accomplished, and for 50 years, the children knew nothing about who had saved them or how. We begin on october 1, 1938. Nazi troops marched into the sudetenland, the germanspeaking region of czechoslovakia. Prague, the czech capital, was flooded with desperate people trying to escape. A fortunate few were able to send their children abroad. These parents, mostly czech jews, sensed war was coming and wanted to get their children out. By chance, a cameraman filmed a man holding a boy, a 29 yearold londoner. His name Nicholas Winton. Nicholas winton all i knew was that the people that i met couldnt get out. And they were looking of ways of at least getting their children out. Simon Nicholas Winton is one of the few people who can bear witness to those days because hes 104 years old. He told us he went to prague to see if he might be able to save some people. But what made you think you could do it . Winton i work on the motto that if somethings not impossible, there must be a way of doing it. Simon back in london, winton was a successful stockbroker, living the good life with a passion for sports. But he was deeply concerned about news reports from czechoslovakia of german persecution. Winton i went out into the camps where the people who had been displaced were put, and it was winter and it was cold. Simon emigration wasnt an option. The worlds doors were closed to the refugees. Conditions in the camps were brutal for the 150,000 people trapped there, especially for the children. And no one focused on them, until Nicholas Winton. But what did he do . We went to jerusalem, to yad vashem, israels memorial to the victims of the holocaust, and asked dr. David silberklang, a Senior Historian there. David silberklang winton went, set up shop in a hotel in the center of the old city in prague and began looking into, how can i organize getting some of these refugees, particularly the children, out of here . Simon what kind of experience did he have to qualify him for this immense bureaucratic task . Silberklang none simon winton set up a Small Organization with one aim to get as many kids out as fast as possible. Silberklang people started coming to him in increasing numbers. He didnt have time in the day to meet them all. Hed work till 2 00 in the morning, get up early in the morning to meet the next people as more and more were coming saying, take my child. Take my child. Simon by the time he returned to london, he had a list of hundreds of children and set out to convince british authorities to take him seriously. He did it by taking stationary from an established refugee organization, adding childrens section, and making himself chairman. Winton so that, eventually, they had to adopt me. Simon so, in fact, you managed to do what you did through a little deception, a little smoke and mirrors . Winton yes, to a certain extent, yes. Simon it required quite a bit of ingenuity. Winton no, it just required a Printing Press to get the. The notepaper printed. Simon the childrens section operated from a tiny office in central london. Wintons mother was in charge. The staff were all volunteers. During the day, winton worked as a stockbroker. Evenings, he wrestled with the british bureaucracy. Did you approach any other countries to take some of the children . Winton the americans. But the americans wouldnt take any, which was a pity. We couldve got a lot more out. Simon winton had written president roosevelt, asking the u. S. To take in more children. A minor official at the u. S. Embassy in london wrote back the u. S. Was unable to help. Britain agreed to accept the children, but only if winton found families willing to take them in. So he circulated the childrens pictures to advertise them. But even after a family chose a child, british authorities were slow in issuing travel documents. So winton started having them forged. He also spread some money around. Winton took a bit of blackmail on my part. Simon you were indulging in blackmail and forgery to get the children out . Winton ive never heard it put like that before. laughter simon but you seem to be enjoying it. Winton it worked, thats the main thing. Simon the first 20 children left prague on march 14, 1939. The next day, german troops occupied prague and the rest of czechoslovakia. Hitler rode through the streets triumphant. Hugo meisl was ten years old. Do you remember the germans coming into czechoslovakia . Hugo meisl not only do i remember, i personally saw hitler standing up in the car. And the children were expected to say heil hitler and so forth. I remember as if yesterday. Simon it wasnt long before violence against jews, property confiscations and forced labor that began in the sudetenland spread throughout czechoslovakia. But the nazis allowed wintons trains to leave in keeping with their policy to cleanse europe of jews. Hugo meisls parents decided it was time to put him and his brother on one of the trains. Meisl i remember that they told us that we were going to england, maybe two or three months. It would be a holiday for us. And that they would join us very shortly thereafter. Simon and you believed them. Meisl absolutely. Simon were your parents emotional when they said goodbye to you . Meisl no, i re. Ive asked myself that question many times, how my parents. Had the strength . chokes up im sorry. It never occurred to me that what they were saying to us was not true. In other words, that they realized that they. They would not be joining us within a short period of time. Simon over the spring and summer of 1939, seven trains carried over 600 children through the heart of nazi germany to holland, where they took a ferry to the english coast. From there, they caught a train to london. An eighth train carrying 250 more was scheduled to leave prague on september 1. But thats the day the war began. Winton they were all at the station, even on the train, waiting to go, and war was declared. So the train never left. Never heard really what happened to all those children. Simon but theres reason to suspect that not many of them survived . Winton i think thats true, yes. Simon two years after that last train, the nazis began implementing the final solution, their plan to slaughter all the jews of europe. Czech jews were rounded up and shipped to theresienstadt, an old military garrison town about an hour north of prague, their first stop on the road to annihilation. These tracks were the exit from theresienstadt, the only exit. The tracks led east. The trains were called polish transports destination auschwitz. Some 90,000 people took that oneway ride, among them, almost all the children sir nicholas wasnt able to get out in time, their parents, and the parents of the children already in england. After the war, you went back to czechoslovakia. Was there one instant where you accepted the fact that your parents were dead . Meisl for three years, we used to visit when trains came from siberia, especially when the communists moved in in 1948. A lot of people started coming back from siberia. So, i would go to a station hoping. And when films were being shown of people walking in concentration camps, auschwitz and so forth, there were so many shots being taken by the germans and. And so forth never stopped looking. Simon the name of every czech jew murdered in the holocaust is painted on the walls of pragues pinkas synagogue. Over 77,300 names, including arnostka and pavel meisl, hugos parents. And Nicholas Winton . During the war, he volunteered for an ambulance unit for the red cross, then trained pilots for the royal air force. He got married, raised a family, earned a comfortable living. For 50 years, he told hardly anyone what he had done. A question which i know intrigues everyone who hears your story is why did you keep it secret for so long . Winton i didnt really keep it secret; i just didnt talk about it. Simon all this time, youre in england, and then you go back to czechoslovakia. Then you go to israel. You still had no idea how your departure from czechoslovakia had been organized . Meisl absolutely no idea. Simon and you learned that by seeing it on television . Meisl thats right. Simon in 1988, the bbc learned about wintons story and invited him to be part of a program. He had no idea that the people sitting around him were people he had saved. Can i ask, is there anyone in our audience tonight who owes their life to Nicholas Winton . If so, could you stand up please . Mr. Winton, would you like to turn around . On behalf of all of them, thank you very much indeed. applause winton i suppose it was the most emotional moment of my life, suddenly being confronted with all these children who werent, by any means, children anymore. Simon no, they werent. And for the first time, they looked at you and knew that you were the reason that they were alive. Winton yeah. True. Milena grenfellbaines i wore this around my neck, and this is the actual pass that we were given to come to england. And i am another of the children that you saved. Simon Lady Milena Grenfell Baines describes winton as one of the most modest people shes ever met. Why do you think he didnt say anything for 50 years . Grenfellbaines i think it was in his nature. He really felt that hed done all he could, and having got those children settled, he felt, been there, done that. My jobs done. Ive got other things to do. Simon other things. For the last 50 years, wintons been helping mentally handicapped people and building homes for the elderly. Winton weve just opened our second old peoples home, and its full. And its doing very well. And there are plenty of old people like me to go in. Simon yes, but youre not there, youre at home. Winton oh, id hate to go into one of my own homes. laughter dont print that. Sir Nicholas Winton. Simon in 2003, winton was knighted and became sir Nicholas Winton. In the czech republic, hes become a national hero. He was celebrated in a documentary called nickys family, but he isnt really comfortable with all the adulation. Winton im not interested in the past. I think theres too much emphasis nowadays on the past and what has happened, and nobody is concentrated on the present and the future. Simon in 1939, Nicholas Winton used a twoweek vacation to go to prague and ended up saving the lives of 669 children. In the decades since, of course, the children had children, who then had children and so on, and the numbers multiplied. If you want to summarize it in one sentence guy takes a two week vacation. Grenfellbaines and ends up with 15,000 children . Yes. Simon its a pretty good story. Grenfellbaines its a great story. laughter winton theyve got children and grandchildren and great grandchildren. Simon and none of them would be here if it hadnt been for sir nick. Winton thats right. Yeah, yeah. Terrible responsibility, isnt it . One familys final gift to the daughter theyd never see again. Go to 60minutesovertime. Com. Sponsored by lyrica. I was living with pain all over. The intense ache made it hard to do the things that i wanted. 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