the normandy invasion. the video is playing here, 75th anniversary of d-day usaa. give us a sense why this is so important. as you mentioned, they re dying and we re losing the veterans. hearing their firsthand account is wonderful, emotional and inspirational. these two men that truly are heroes speak of their fallen comrades. i can tell you 40 times at least that i shouldn t be here, easy. there was a hitler youth division sitting on that hill waiting for us and they opened up on us and i lost seven men that day. i was looking around for my buddy i knew always had my back. and i said where is smitty and the lieutenant looked at me and said, smitty is gone. what struck me most, one of the individuals asked, you re a hero. he said i m not a hero, he said
in the 409th radio unit in vietnam. he led a platoon, and a man who served under him who say four decades later that he was one great guy. lieutenant cochran fell to sniper fire on the 24th of october, 1966, just six days before he was scheduled to meet his wife in hawaii on r&r. in his final letter home, he wrote to his mom and dad these words. tonight i m awaiting an attack. yes, that s right. your only son who you didn t raise to be stupid is 11,000 miles away from home, sitting beneath a shaded coleman lantern on top of a hill waiting for a visit from our friend charlie. he later wrote, i know why i m here and why i couldn t be any
first lieutenant cochran served in the 409th radio unit in vietnam. he led a platoon, and a man who served under him would say four decades later he was one great guy. lieutenant cochran fell to sniper fire on the 24th of october, 1966, just six days before he was scheduled to meet his wife in hawaii. on r & r. in his final letter home he wrote to his mom and dad these words tonight i m awaiting an attack. yes, that s right. your own son who you didn t raise to be stupid is 11,000 miles away from home sitting beneath a shaded coleman lantern on top of a hill waiting for a visit from our friend charlie. he later wrote, i know why i m here and why i couldn t be any