Tonights program has been a long time in coming. David was originally scheduled to be here in february, but was grounded byebye bad weather. Kansas city library programming, its the latest in our series with the u. S. Army command of general staff in ft. Leavenworth. But it also comes in the middle of the librarys partnership from january through may with the eisenhower president ial library and foundation in abilene. And its on the Dwight Eisenhower exhibit thats up on the second floor gallery. We had a series of programs running on Dwight Eisenhower. The next one is next wednesday. Tonight we focus on icen how are and George Marshall. The army chief of staff who targeted ike for advancement as a military officer, keen eye for talent. Among others with ike, he spied george patent and omar bradley. And he became one of ikes primary mentors as the army chief of staff from 1939 to 1945. Marshall, of course, went onto become the secretary of state and win a Nobel Peace Prize. David mills
Senior means age, not rank. They review the manuscripts and make a recommendation to the director of the book program, and then the wheels start rolling. The negotiation with the publisher goes on between the book Program Director and the author himself. Weve got a nice stable of printing houses, universities, and other organizations that produce our books. As a bit of history, in the audience in the back, dr. Roger cirillo, who was really the genesis, start of this years book program. A number of years ago when it came under attack, we brought roger in and he resolved it and kept it running. Roger is a colonel in the regiment. If you are a tanker, you know what regiment im talking about. Im not a tanker. Im an engineer. In the last row, and some of you have heard this story before, is a retired general, but in the opening days of world war ii, this individual was stationed in greenland as an army weatherman. Back then i think you were a tech sergeant, who had launched the balloons. He
Vulnerable to surprise attacks. April 18, 1942, 16 b25 bombers led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle prepared to take off from the Aircraft Carrier hornet. Their target tokyo and 4 other major japanese cities, with carefully selected military targets. It was only nine days after the fall of bataan. [plane engines] never before had such a thing been attempted. The psychological effects of the raid on tokyo were even greater than the material damage inflicted. It raised the morale of all americans and shocked the enemy into realization that we had the will and wherewithal to carry the war to the heart of his own homeland. Three weeks later, United States navy planes from the Carrier Task Force dealt the japanese fleet a damaging blow in the coral sea, the first naval battle in history to be fought entirely with carrierbased aircraft. [explosions] while the navy was starting to make a comeback, general wainwright surrendered corregidor. A proud old soldier who had fought in world or o
Who and where were those who once had said the american was no soldier, that he would not fight . World, events were swiftly gaining momentum. Army dropped armydays later, the first occupied cologne. That, 300 of our fortresses of our forces lasted tokyo. Blasted tokyo. By the 17th of the same month, general Pattons Third Army had taken. The next day, and half a world away, our troops invaded the island in the central philippines. That, the third army crossed the rhine. Four days later, the eighth army was landing in the philippines. [explosions] less than a week after that, on april 1, 1945, the u. S. 10th army invaded okinawa. On the 11th of the same month, the Second Armored Division of the night army reached 63 miles from berlin. Thir on the 12th of april, president Franklin Delano roosevelt had yet to see the triumphant advances of american arms but fate denied him the satisfaction the final victory would bring. Afterhan a month president roosevelts death, germany surrendered. Was
You episodes four through eight. They cover u. S. Involvement and world war ii, from the pearl harbor attack through the surrender of japan. Each of these is about 30 minutes. They originally aired on the u. S. Army big pitcher television series. This was the europe of 1941. Nazi blitz, had overwhelm fronts, holland belgium, denmark, norway, and luxembourg. Russian armies were in desperate retreat. The German Air Force was raining destruction on england. Combined italian and German Forces were menacing egypt. Their objective to defeat an opposing british army and dominate fall north africa. In asia, japanese air and Ground Forces were driving forward in their conflict with china. Only one of the worlds major powers, was still not at war. The United States. It was a sunday afternoon in december 1941. The statue of liberty towered certainly over the new york harbor. As if she were the last symbol of freedom left to the crumbling free world. Afternoon york Early Morning and why, and anoth