Raymond e. Mason jr. Distinguish lecture on world war ii. General raymond e. Mason junior served under general George Patton in world war ii. He worked his way through the rankses including important posting at the pentagon. After his military career, he was a successful businessman and concert with his wife margaret, became a generous philanthropist. A gift from the Mason Foundation created an endowed lecture series here at the museum which we have been hosting 2008 and with which we will be bringing in here for multiple events many distinguished speakers such as the gentleman who will be joining us in a moment. For the final session of the morning, were bringing one of our oldest friends from the museum best selling author, alex kershaw. Who i joke one or two may know him, i think all of you know him, anybody who has any interest in world war ii or military history generally has Great Respect for alex and his many books which include the bedford boys. Longest winter escape from the deep. In our final Mission Submarine experience. But today alex is here to discuss his latest book, the first wave the dday warriors who led the way to victory in world war ii. Please join me in welcoming alex kershaw. [applause] good morning, can you hear me . Good. Im going to leave the podium and join my men. How are you this morning . Lets get this thing started. Youll see my bald spot here, which is growing very quickly. Do we have can you see this . Finally great. This is what its down to for me. This is a shot. Second deadly place that you guys could find yourself on dday. This is easy sector. One of eight sectors on omaha beach. It takes you through all june 6, 1944. I will photograph enormously when i woke up in the hotel this morning, i could smell paint. Thank you for that. I love the smell of paint. Look at that plane there. Look at the plane. The paint on that plane is fresh fresh. This is taking it thank you. This was taken around 6 00 in the evening. The guy here, second from left is a guy called joe crouch. Hes the finest c47 pilot of world war ii. Think about this. Plane one, his job is to drop the first yanks since normandy on dday. Plane one. Why he got the job . Because hes done it four times before. Lead pilot north africa, lead pilot sicily, lead pilot number one, plane one First American to be drop on dday. Former United Airlines pilot, thankfully in those days you werent dragged off leading from the United Airlines. Hes a super star. Lead pilot operation market garden. Six times number one. These are [indiscernible] im pleased to give you british or european. These are the first 18 americans to jump out the plane out of joe crouchs plane 12 15 a. M. On dday. I love them because they started to kill my least favorite people. German nazis. I should add nazi to the german part. Only one of these guys were killed. They are pathfinders. Their job is to set up lights, beacons, radars to guide in that beautiful magnificent sky train 6. 5000 screaming eagles. They dont get the job done. Dday could fail. Heres their leader, captain frank, 28 years old. 43 practice jumps lets not forget almost three quarters of americans were prepared on dday. [audio inaudible] superstition. In his boots hit the jew sudden graphs normandy, 12 15 a. M. On june 6 1944, badly 1 wounded that evening, completed his mission. Hit in the face with shrapnel, went back to england and came back to 101st airbourne. All the way through end of the war. Fantastic combat leader and american. You can tell from my tones that arent white like Boris Johnson i am british. Been here 25 years. My heart beats faster when i look at this photograph. This is the most Successful Operation in British Military history. 10 minutes. Theres a glider a plane made of wood. It different land using the wheels. They are entirely cosmetic. This plane is designed not to land, its designed to crash land at 100 miles per hour. 30 guys in each glider, this is famous bridge. After 10 minutes crash landed at 12 15 a. M. Just 10 minutes later, 90 guys have carried out successfully the first operation that is a success on dday. Question arises, who was first . Americans or british. Who was able to claim brag rights that they were the first . It wasnt captain frank and the pathfinders. It was norman poole. Imagine him standing in the door of c47. He jumped out holding a grammarphone. Four other britts. We did stop to have cups of tea four other britts jump out with grammarphones. Surrounded by thousands. These are not British Public schoolboys from minor public schools. They are about 4foot high. They are part of decoy unit. They land and they actually play the grammarphones and they play the sound of war. We can legitimately claim on dday we were the first. Heres the first guy, american guy dome in from the water. 6 20 a. M. Think about this, over 900 americans gave their lives on one beach on dday. Theres really only significant opposition that morning. 197 i think. A frenchman who is a wonderful guy, give me a wave. Thank you sir. 197 casualties. This guy was the first guy i will pause a second here. I find that photograph to be very powerful. Very emotional. Thank you. Always fear. Its not a good thing. Second time its this moment here. This dude here is a junior officer. Hes a captain. Thats the only place youll be if you lead leave working class americans today. Youre at the front of the boat. Most of these guys will be killed. The guy there at the of the boat will not be standing up like this. The sound of machine gunfire of enemy fire will be so intense that he would be towering down most of them shivering with terror. He sat there 3. 5 hours on dday. All he could hear was a pop here we have a famous autograph to use. Guy over here, he looks like my son. My son is 21 years old. Average age of americans killed in combat is 22 and 23. He had a captain leading. Look at the photograph carefully. You see the clouds, the hay of clouds above the bluff. [indiscernible] he has the beginning of the sequence of photographs taken by the great robert capper. Finest combat photographer of the 20th century. Look at that intensity there. Same sector, it wasnt easy at all. Look at that. Look at the level of the sea the ocean. The weather conditions were terrible. I just showed you a picture the Fourth Division. Four out of five guys were sea sick. They were not combat ready. They were so sick. Lot of guys couldnt wait to put their feet on the sand. They want to put their feet on the sand. Look at them push around there. You can see why. They are the only ones that show us what it was like to be in those early moments. Plus around the defense obstacle. Bad idea. I wait too long on that beach, and stand up and have a smart idea that somehow youll live in you walk back, way back bloody, vicious. If you do that youll have to remember one thing, if you keep your head above the water like this, you have to make sure to survive. Otherwise, a fine german will put a bullet in your heart. There we go again. You can see now just below the bluff where some of you walked in respect and honor, youll see the first wave pinned down. They cant move. If some of them left their heads few inches dead. Sniper bullets. You can see them there pinned down first wave. Look at that. 5. 5 miles of that on omaha beach. 5. 5 miles of defensive obstacles, all along bloody omaha. Here we have robert capper, perhaps his most iconic shot. This is how close you had to get to obtain this beautiful history with a 50millimeter camera. Hes standing probably where i am to this guy. Here he is. Over the years, there have been several fine warriors who claimed to be this man, claim to be this guy here. Its private houston riley photograph. I think about this. We all know, many ddays in world war ii and those who serve in the pacific, will say, the europeans five or six, we did 10 dday. This guy when he handed in the first way on omaha beach standing near the front of that Landing Craft as that ramped up to rattle down. Thats the third time in world war ii that its been in the first wave. 1942, 1943 and then 1944 with the First Division. Third time burst of land with the first wave. A m here. That fine shut out to texas a m thank you. I spent wonderful week with them this past year. 34 years old on the left here. 34 years old, 225 guys in second range battalion. It was the hardest job on dday, maybe i think the britts would disagree. They had to take that here. You can see that photograph was not taken on dday. It didnt have time to stand around and talk about how hard it was to get closeed fist. Both receiveing after dday. 153 americans receive actions on omaha beach. Just four medal of honors given for action on dday to americans. Dday wasnt that bad. It was lot easier than we thought. Even though the germans were dropping grenades, after two days out of 225, only 80 guys could stand and fight. They said it was easier than i thought. Weve been trained by the britts. Makes a big difference. In fact, maybe 100 feet high. They actually trained on cliff, on the island. 350, 400 feet high. Thats how well trained they were. Its a very fine young american. 26 years old. Looks like a baby there. Really young. Leadmarch 1945, when i walked up that path, there were mines on both sides of that path. When i got to the top of that path, i believed one thing, there was an angel of each of my shoulders. I have been put on this planet to do one thing. I was immortal, how could i survive that with the first wave on omaha beach. When everyone was being killed around me. How could i lead those 18 men. How can i do that if i wasnt immortal . That was my mission. He knew only too well by August August 1944, he wasnt immortal. Today, 75 years ago, in the meat grinder, when nine americans of Division Square wasted certainly decimated in. Longest defeat for americans in world war ii, this guy broke down. He broke 1945 end of the war he entered psychiatric unit. The price of victory was very high. Here we have my favorite dday super star for obvious reasons. Its not because hes scottish. This is lord lovat. 34 years old. Graduate just like me. A brutal poet. Wrote beautiful accounts of world war ii. A ruthless man. He said to his men before dday he said we are the fine cuttingedge of the british army army. Our best killers, guys do it nice and gentle. Dont stab and jab, pull him on the eye. 2. 5000, youre the fine cutting edge of the british army. If you make one single mistake most important day in history. Youll never come into combat with me again. Late june 1944, lovat buried 12 of his officers an Apple Orchard in normandy. He said on our brothers, after we have dropped the last civil of earth, thank you for the interruption, after we dropped the last civil of earth on to our brothers we tiptoed out of the field. Lord lovett. Heres my ugly mug and im sorry, i almost missed the best part of the show. Those of you who adore world war ii, this is a wonderful image. Thats lord lovett on the beach walking towards, walking across. The guy in front of him here, some of you may recognize this chat, its bill miller. Hes actually playing the pipes there. Theres over 150,000 allied troops that landed on dday. We believe that hes the only guy with a bagpipe. We believe hes the only guy wearing the kilt. He talked to lovett before hand. He said youre going to be my piper. Bill said the british army has regulation. They dont allow pipers. After the first world war, they blew up pipers and the sniper would kill you. Were not allowed to have pipers in combat, sir. Lovat said youre not in the british army. Youre serving as scotsman. Youre following my orders. Bill millin said after the war he waited for lovat to go first so he could test the depth of the water. [laughter] why drown if you dont have. We dont know what tune hes playing there. Who cares. Any way, millin said it was colted water was very cold that day. It was 57 degrees. When he finally walked in the water with his nice little scottish kilt, the kilt rose up like a tutu, like this. I should apologize to anybody whos scottish or scottsman or relate to a scotsman here. I wont because im english. I dont care. Theres been expensive studies done about the size of various nationalities testicles. We know that all scotsmen do not wear anything under these tutu or kilt. They dont wear anything underneath. Its fair to say when he entered the water, not only where they were very small, they were very small indeed . [laughter] sometimes that gets a larger laugh than other places. [laughter] we have to be careful here. Were not far from the end. Frenchman, 177 guys get the huge honor. The fantastic honor of invading yes you sir 177 under british command of course invade their own country on dday. This is leon gotye here on dday. Reason why i love this photograph is because if you look up at the top here, youll see an oil painting. Oil painting of the part of the sword beach where he landed. The house where hes sitting is half a mile from where he landed. Hes still alive. Hes one of only three french guys living gods in france. 30year walked among the same beach he landed on with the britts on dday. Married an english woman, we have the most beautiful women in the world. His daughter is half french half english, not quite as beautiful as the mother. British troops first, this is where most of us were killed. Nowhere near as many as you on oimomaha. This is an amazing representation and adrenaline and drama and tension what its like in the first wave for the british. Canadians, do we have any canadians here . Anybody canadian . Well lets not forget that for the americans and the british and the french and the others, this was their they had to do this. Every single guy in this photograph every canadian on dday was a volunteer they didnt have to be there. This is footage taken from the first for about two or three minutes of film. Only film that we have. Motion film what it was like to arrive in the first moment. You can find it on youtube google, whatever. I have to say that after omaha beach, the canadian suffered the second highest casualties on dday. Over 300. Towards the end, over here, everyone knows his famous desires here. This is taking midmorning june 6, 1944. Guess what hes thinking. Hes thinking this is a big disaster. We are in real trouble. Early reports coming from omaha beach are very negative, very pessimistic. One message comes from one officer in the 116th infantry. It says we are being butchered like hogs. Butchered like hogs. Hes thinking, do i do the unimaginable. Do i pull off the First Division do i pull off the 29th division from omaha beach. What happens if i pull over 30,000 americans off the second american beach. Should do i that. Thats what hes thinking. Thankfully that those who like to go back to france to vote in a democracy, he didnt make that decision. Further reports later this morning on june 6th, suggested that americans were starting to get off that beach. They were starting to take the ground that we needed. Young americans very young lets say six dozen, we can argue the tough. Six dozen Young Leaders on omaha. Leaders who never been in combat before, who would kick and shove, punch inshout and scream and take that combat knive and stick them in the back of Young Americans who they thought were dead, get them to stand up and run in the line of fire and get off that beach. Six dozen, changed history, i believe. Courage matters. It matters. Here is a picture of omaha beach. Its a bad map. Im using it to show you one thing. Not one of the defenses, german defenses was taken by an assault. Thats how costly it was. All of them were outflanked. Not one taken from the front. Here we have some statistics. Not going to bore you. My eye sight is really bad. Omaha beach 4700 casualties. Over 900 killed. It was a blood bath. As you know, the water ran red and a slaughter house for company a on the sector. 116th infantry regimen company a, original 6. 5 miles of the beach. Only units to land in the right place at the right time. 6 32 a. M. , 180 guys, 102 killed in neighbor 20 maybe 20 or 25 minutes. Thats not wounded. Thats dead bleeding out on the sand, 102 killed. From virginia, guys joined company, hometown of that National Guard unit in the 1930s. They joined the National Guard because they were really poor. They were patriotic, they loved their country and they wanted to put food on the table. Imagine this, 103,000 joined the National Guard in 1937 in 1944 still 34 of you guys from a town of 3000 in the first wave in company a. 19 killed, dead. Look at the penetrations on dday. The thing i like to stress here is my half baked theory, which is look at utah over here. Look at omaha and look at the british. Thats around 30 miles. What would have happened if he said pull them out. Thats a massive gap. Even the most rudimentary strategy tells that the german could have divided the forces and dday would have had a very different outcome indeed. Look at these statistics. The one i want to stress here casualties. 10,250 casualties. U. S. , it didnt have the majority of troops canadians and british did. You had the majority of casualties. Already on june 6, 1944, the yanks are doing most of the dying and the bleeding. By december 1944, 75 of the killing and the dying and the bleeding is done by americans in the european theater. You arrived far too late from our point of view but boy, did we need you, did you do a fantastic job in finishing that dirty job. 6603 casualties. Dday did not end on the 6th of june 1944. For many veterans, i can say many im old enough to say that, many veterans dday i interviewed, they said that dday was the easiest day. The cakewalk compare to what happened next to the Fourth Division in utah, for john spaulding, 1 a 68 days in combat after dday. 158 days, getting every morning and having to move forward towards berlin. This is taken two days after dday. This is Sergeant Jack pune over here. Two days after june 6th, the americans the ones who can stand, who have not collapsed who have not been shot killed, wounded or traumatized, so they cannot fight on. Two days later, they are finally relieved by the fellow americans. You might be able to see the little arrow over here up there thats pointing at rudder. It didnt end on dday. It only ended in europe on the 7th of may 1945. For many of those allied troops, the fighting got a hell of lot