Europe and the dday landings. Mr. Symonds, thanks for joining us. My pleasure. Thank you. We just saw yesterday, mr. Symonds, an anniversary in normandy, the 70th anniversary of dday. A lot of dignitaries there to make the day special yesterday. Why do you think 70 years later this date still resonates with the American Public . Well, first of all, im glad that it does. I think its important to remember significant moments in american and even World History and particularly this one where the world changed so dramatically as a result of the sacrifice of those who invaded northern france in 1944. And i think the 70th is particularly moving. Its a lifetime. I mean, if you consider the biblical injunction that a man has three score years and ten, 70 years now have passed. Generations now born obviously do not remember dday, have no connection with it beyond perhaps those grainy old black and white images on Late Night Television or a chapter in a history book, and not even the most recent
Well, first of all, im glad that it does. I think its important to remember significant moments in american and even World History and particularly this one where the world changed so dramatically as a result of the sacrifice of those who invaded northern france in 1944. And i think the 70th is particularly moving. Its a lifetime. I mean, if you consider the biblical injunction that a man has three score years and ten, 70 years now have passed. Generations now born obviously do not remember dday, have no connection with it beyond perhaps those grainy old black and white images on Late Night Television or a chapter in a history book, and not even the most recent chapter. So enough time has elapsed now that it would be easy i think, unfortunately easy, to let those memories slip, and im glad were not doing that. Im glad were paying attention. This is a moment we should remember. Why do you think 70 years later, whats the most important thing for us to remember on this day about what happ
It had been postponed for more than a year. Thehopes of so many, futures of so many, depended on what happened that day. We just saw video of the landing. Talk about the significance. Especially the take you put on it. This is called operation neptune. Talk about it from a naval point of view. Of us, perhaps because of the famous photographs taken that day most recently, steven spielberg, saving private ryan. We look at that story as if it begins the moment the bow ramp drops on those landing boats. That is the culmination of a very long story. Much of that story involves the navy. The name operation neptune refers to all of the naval aspects of the Broader Campaign of operation overlord. I suspect more people would recognize the title for this operation. Before. S years not just months before. Probably could be traced all the way back, as i mentioned in my earlier talk, to the british evacuation from dunkirk. The that moment on, angloamerican allies try to determine how to do this. It
They are all over the place. I wondered if you could answer them for me. Thank you. Sure thing. Those are called barrage balloons. They are tethered to the ships themselves. The idea is to create enter trafing for potential s by german aircraft. The allies gained overwhelming command of the air, which may dday possible. An of the reasons invasion would have been very difficult we had not gained complete command of the air. By 1944, we had. Nevertheless, there were still some german aircrafts. Mostly, they attacked at night. The idea is that they create a barrier of interference for any plane attempting to stafe the beach. There were cables and balloons that would interfere with attempts to do that. Ymonds, a followup on the guadalcanal amphibious landings. Did the navy bring any of that to operation neptune . Yes, lessons not only from guadalcanal, but also subsequently endings in the pacific. Were actually taking place nearly simultaneously, two weeks apart from the dday landing. On o
As we had a man there any right to suspect. He had to deal with americans who were quite assertive and was she. Pushy. Think if there is a particular tale that illustrates this. Like eisenhower, you are as much a political leader is a military leader. You have to keep his quiet between the various elements. There were difficulties between the royal navy, the united channel, andnd the terms of who have responsibility where. The commander in chief commanded the harbor and every ship in it. If there is an american ship, a british commander commands that ship until it leaves the harbor and once it is in the channel now it is under the command of an american rear admiral. Then when it gets involved in a joint task force unit, then it might fall again so those kinds of problems he had to deal with on a regular basis. And he did so as successfully as i think anyone could expect. Admiral. I think were done . Thank you very much. My pleasure. You for coming out on this dark and stormy night. [c