Veterans began . This actually started which stems from a documentary i did on the mississippi delta chinese. And i needed to find the right hook to tell the story of the Chinese Americans in the mississippi delta. Chinese American History is not sexy, so it took me almost 20 years to find the right way to tell this story, compelling enough to bring it a full audience. And i had the good fortune of meeting doctor Gwendolyn Gong who did a tremendous amount of research on the veterans, Service Personnel from mississippi delta. And from there, we discussed and talked about how to create a three part series that aired on pbs on the chinese and mississippi delta, and that got me interested in the world war ii veterans. So, honor and duty is really a compendium that all 22,000 plus Chinese Americans that served in world war ii, is that correct . Thats correct. This research was conducted over three years time. Actually, just a bit more than three years. We have been able to identify 22,827 w
Remarks from general mark milley and nbc author tom brokaw. Good morning. I am the vice chair of the friends of the National World war ii memorial and the proud daughter of a world war ii veteran. Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 75th anniversary of victory over japan day. Or vj day, the allied victories allied victory in the pacific and the end of world war ii, the deadliest conflict in human history. 75 years have passed since millions of people around the globe celebrated the end of world war ii. Thank you for joining us to celebrate our world war ii veterans who served overseas. All of those who served on the home front and our allies who together helped defeat tyranny, preserve freedom, and literally save the world. The friends of the National World war ii memorial your , friends online commemorations is a Small Nonprofit Organization Whose Mission is to honor and preserve the National Memory of world war ii, and to create the next greatest generation of tomorrow. The cer
Celebrate our world war ii veterans who served overseas. All of those who served on the home front and our allies who together helped defeat tyranny, preserve freedom and literally save the world. The front of the National World war two memoriam your friends online commemorations is a Small Nonprofit Organization Whose Mission is to honor and preserve the National Memory of world war ii, and to create the next greatest generation of tomorrow. The ceremonies taking place throughout the day today are part of the friends for a year world war ii 75th anniversary commemoration, which began on pearl harbor day 2016. Friends is the only organization to have hosted a full four year 75th anniversary tribute, marking every major battle in which american troops participated during world war ii. Lord please be honored here as we present our gratitude to you as well as the sacrificial heroes in the allied forces indexes powers in the pacific. As we in the u. S. Officially recognize this victory in
Thank admiralo robie for his generous hospitality. I should also mention that we are here representing the friends of the world war ii memorial. Named for ours leader, the founder of the friends. You may know that we conduct ceremonies on the important commemorative dates during the Second World War throughout the year yesterday, we commemorated the invasion of torch. On saturday, veterans day. In 1947, a new american secretary of state spoke at the 200th anniversary of princeton university. He concluded his remarks this was a former army general, george marshall, who had just become secretary of state by saying he could not imagine a graduate of that institution having completed his education the text of the pen the lesion roar through saturdays. The faculty mustve of been astonished. The point was that good officers and good citizens who take their work seriously are lifelong students of history. Our speaker this morning, david kennedy, is perhaps the most extraordinary practitioner
9 11 but an important date nonetheless because on that date a squadron of one dozen b17 bombers in the United States Army Air Corps took off from base in england and flew across the English Channel and dropped the bomb load on a railroad marshaling yard or switching yard in the city stop why is this important city. Why is this important . It was the first allamerican air raid on nazi occupied europe. We had flown with britain but this was the first 100 american raid on august of 1942. A very successful raid, no damage to aircraft or crew. By all of the usual measurements it was a very successful expedition. That is not exactly why it is important. It is important because it marked the beginning let me put it this way. It marked to the implementation of a decision made a decade earlier that in the event of a future war, god forbid but in the event of a future war the United States would place its principle tbet on creating and using a new Weapon System called Strategic Bombing. Strategi