The Megyn Kelly Show - December 20, 2022


Revisiting World War II: History Week on The Megyn Kelly Show | Ep. 457


Episode Stats

Length

1 hour and 23 minutes

Words per Minute

154.78232

Word Count

12,909

Sentence Count

795

Misogynist Sentences

8

Hate Speech Sentences

80


Summary

Tim Gray is the founder and president of the World War II Foundation and a documentary filmmaker who has made it his life s mission to make sure the brave souls who fought and won that war for us are never forgotten. He s interviewed so many members of the greatest generation, he s lost count.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Now streaming on Paramount Plus.
00:00:02.860 Someone is trying to frame us.
00:00:05.160 Until our names are cleared.
00:00:07.700 We're fugitives from interval.
00:00:09.480 Like Bonnie and Clyde with better snacks.
00:00:12.840 Espionage?
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00:00:16.580 Better.
00:00:17.400 Is there love language?
00:00:18.860 We like to walk that fine line between techno-thriller
00:00:21.360 and romantic comedy.
00:00:24.180 We make up our own rules.
00:00:25.940 NCIS Tony and Ziva.
00:00:27.400 Now streaming on Paramount Plus.
00:00:30.600 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.
00:00:32.540 Your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations.
00:00:41.820 Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly.
00:00:43.520 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.
00:00:45.280 Perhaps no event defined the 20th century more than World War II.
00:00:50.660 A battle of good versus evil.
00:00:52.340 A story of atrocities we hope will never happen again.
00:00:55.800 Of the 16 million Americans who served our nation around the globe
00:00:59.600 during that war, only about 167,000 are still alive today.
00:01:06.000 180 of these heroes are dying every single day.
00:01:11.000 And with them go countless stories of heroism,
00:01:15.960 of depravity that they witnessed,
00:01:19.140 and of honor in which they participated,
00:01:22.080 perhaps unmatched at any other time in history.
00:01:24.840 Today, we're going to talk about their stories
00:01:27.100 and the lessons we can all take from them
00:01:29.520 as we walk through the arc of World War II
00:01:33.520 with a filmmaker who has made it his life's mission
00:01:37.500 to make sure the brave souls who fought and won that war for us
00:01:41.580 are never forgotten.
00:01:43.560 He's interviewed so many members of the greatest generation,
00:01:46.080 he's lost count.
00:01:47.420 His dozens of documentaries have taken him
00:01:50.000 to the battlefields of Europe, the Pacific,
00:01:52.580 and here at home in Hawaii,
00:01:54.380 where a Sunday morning attack
00:01:55.900 propelled America into World War II.
00:01:59.480 Tim Gray is the founder and president
00:02:00.940 of the World War II Foundation
00:02:02.360 and a documentary filmmaker.
00:02:05.320 Tim Gray, welcome to the show.
00:02:07.040 So great to have you here.
00:02:08.420 Thank you, Megan.
00:02:09.660 It's a pleasure to meet you.
00:02:11.260 Oh, the pleasure's all mine.
00:02:12.220 I've enjoyed your work for a long, long time
00:02:14.380 and appreciate the personal touch you put on everything you do,
00:02:18.960 going right to the guys who fought this battle
00:02:21.780 and getting their take on it
00:02:23.960 before that's no longer possible.
00:02:26.620 It's hard to imagine, right,
00:02:28.100 that there will be a time on this earth
00:02:30.100 where there are no more members of the greatest generation
00:02:33.420 to walk us through this history.
00:02:35.220 These are precious souls still walking amongst us.
00:02:38.740 It's amazing when you think about the fact
00:02:40.780 that you can talk to people who actually saved the world.
00:02:46.720 I mean, I can't remember.
00:02:48.240 I mean, I can't talk to George Washington.
00:02:50.340 I can't talk to Benjamin Franklin.
00:02:53.000 I can't talk to a lot of those people,
00:02:54.540 but I can actually talk to people
00:02:56.120 who were involved in World War II
00:02:58.300 and actually played a role in saving the world,
00:03:01.460 which I think is extraordinary,
00:03:03.020 but it is also a very short window
00:03:06.220 that we have to talk to these people.
00:03:08.140 And I think, you know, it's just amazing
00:03:11.660 that we have that opportunity.
00:03:13.900 Let's just start there
00:03:14.520 because you think of the greatest generation
00:03:16.160 and in particular, those who fought in World War II.
00:03:18.560 There are some seam lines that pull them together
00:03:21.640 and that describe most of them.
00:03:23.460 And you've spent more time with them than anyone.
00:03:26.240 How would you describe these guys?
00:03:28.340 I mean, what is it about them?
00:03:29.880 What are some of the adjectives that jump out at you?
00:03:32.680 Humble.
00:03:33.380 You know, they could be going around to your local mall
00:03:35.660 or they could be going around to your local place
00:03:38.040 and saying, you know, hey, look at me.
00:03:40.420 I saved the world.
00:03:42.540 I want the likes on my Instagram page.
00:03:45.120 I want the likes on my Facebook page.
00:03:47.980 But they don't do that.
00:03:49.760 It just blows my mind that there's such a generation
00:03:53.260 that is so humble about the fact
00:03:56.940 that they really dictated where we are today.
00:04:00.040 And so, you know, when I look at that generation,
00:04:04.740 I think, you know, if there's any generation
00:04:06.820 that really deserves the fact to want that attention,
00:04:10.940 it's that generation, but they don't want it at all.
00:04:14.480 That's the thing is that, I mean,
00:04:16.140 they are literally the opposite of selfie culture
00:04:19.380 that we find everywhere around us today.
00:04:22.700 And there's a quiet dignity about these guys.
00:04:25.480 I've interviewed a fair amount of them.
00:04:26.540 I'm happy to say over my years as a journalist,
00:04:28.780 there's a quiet dignity.
00:04:30.880 There's a deep patriotism, deep, deep love of America,
00:04:34.800 hard earned and hard fought.
00:04:37.620 And there's just some sort of a bond between them
00:04:41.100 and between them and the country.
00:04:44.020 They survived the Great Depression.
00:04:45.820 They fought World War II like it was a job.
00:04:48.720 And then they came home and they went on with their lives.
00:04:51.200 And their lives were centered around their job
00:04:53.920 and their family.
00:04:55.660 And that was it.
00:04:57.420 I mean, they didn't want the accolades.
00:05:00.240 They felt the accolades belong with those who were buried
00:05:03.740 in American cemeteries in Manila and Normandy
00:05:07.280 and Holland and Belgium and other places.
00:05:10.700 There was almost this survivor's guilt that they had.
00:05:15.360 So when they came home, they took the lessons of World War II
00:05:18.940 and they applied them to their own daily lives.
00:05:20.880 And some of them dealt with them better than others.
00:05:24.080 I mean, some of them came home and they were fine.
00:05:26.780 Some of them came home and they had a problem with alcoholism.
00:05:30.820 Or some of them came home and they had a problem
00:05:33.000 with committing suicide.
00:05:35.420 Or they had a problem with their families in some way
00:05:39.160 where they would wake up their mom or their wife
00:05:42.060 or their children in the middle of the night
00:05:44.840 and be screaming about a Japanese bonsai attack.
00:05:48.700 And the families at home couldn't understand.
00:05:51.720 But they came home and they rebuilt America
00:05:54.240 to what it is today.
00:05:56.080 And when I think about that generation,
00:05:58.540 anytime I go to a mall or anytime I log on to Amazon
00:06:01.680 or anytime I want to travel to Ohio or Montana
00:06:05.120 or another state, I don't need papers.
00:06:09.060 I don't need someone to check in with me.
00:06:11.160 I don't need someone to authorize my daily activities.
00:06:17.740 And that's all because of that generation.
00:06:20.000 But it's just so funny that they're kind of like
00:06:22.340 the anti-Kardashian generation,
00:06:24.560 that they just went on with their lives
00:06:27.220 and they saved the world.
00:06:29.260 And they just didn't want any credit for it.
00:06:31.920 And they felt all the credit belonged with those
00:06:33.920 who never had any opportunity to live a full life
00:06:38.280 or to have kids or grandkids
00:06:39.920 or to be someone who solved cancer
00:06:43.240 or solved the dilemma of autism or dementia
00:06:46.800 or Alzheimer's or something.
00:06:50.960 So to me, they lived their lives
00:06:53.060 in honor of those who never came home
00:06:54.720 and have the opportunity to do great things.
00:06:59.220 And it's awe-inspiring.
00:07:02.380 You're so right.
00:07:03.200 I mean, the juxtaposition is stark
00:07:05.540 when you think about someone like Kardashian
00:07:07.260 who is famous for being famous,
00:07:09.160 for doing absolutely nothing.
00:07:11.080 All she wants is for us to celebrate her,
00:07:13.540 the way she looks, her money, her vanity.
00:07:18.280 And these guys were famous
00:07:20.460 for doing something extraordinary,
00:07:22.380 but wanted no fame, eschewed the spotlight
00:07:25.980 and would never have wanted a celebration
00:07:28.740 of anything around them.
00:07:30.240 They would have deflected the credit
00:07:32.200 onto the country and to others.
00:07:33.920 Exactly.
00:07:35.520 And I think that's kind of what's lacking in America
00:07:38.160 is to understand the sacrifice
00:07:41.680 that was made to preserve everything
00:07:44.520 that we are today,
00:07:46.560 our ability to believe in a God
00:07:50.500 and to believe in a religion
00:07:51.780 and to believe in whatever we want to accomplish.
00:07:56.460 And I think that generation humbly did that
00:08:00.220 and they left us a blueprint in which to follow.
00:08:04.460 And I think we've gotten away from that blueprint
00:08:06.520 in a lot of ways.
00:08:08.520 And so when I look back at that generation,
00:08:11.080 I always say, you know,
00:08:11.900 I always tell the younger generation
00:08:13.660 that, you know, these men have left us a blueprint
00:08:16.200 on how to be better Americans
00:08:17.780 and how to be better people.
00:08:20.880 And we've kind of gotten away from that.
00:08:24.320 And I think that's unfortunate in a lot of ways.
00:08:27.040 Yeah. And now we need to follow it.
00:08:30.240 Now we just need to know it and follow it.
00:08:32.540 All right. So let's talk about the war
00:08:34.600 and go through the arc of it
00:08:37.080 so people have a better understanding of it.
00:08:40.160 I think to understand how we got into World War II,
00:08:42.680 you need a basic understanding
00:08:44.060 of how World War I ended.
00:08:47.000 You know, most of us on tourist trips,
00:08:49.100 if we've ever had the privilege
00:08:51.020 to go through Europe, through France,
00:08:53.680 if you're lucky, you get to go through the Palace of Versailles.
00:08:56.840 And we know that word Versailles.
00:08:58.540 And what happened there was directly related
00:09:01.540 to the Second World War
00:09:03.320 in a way many people may not understand.
00:09:05.840 So let's start there.
00:09:07.520 Yeah. I mean, Versailles,
00:09:08.600 the Treaty of Versailles ended World War I.
00:09:11.240 And a lot of people,
00:09:12.580 especially over the last,
00:09:14.240 I'd say 30 years or so,
00:09:16.060 have decided,
00:09:17.460 historians have decided
00:09:18.880 that World War I
00:09:19.840 was really a continuation
00:09:21.240 of World War II.
00:09:23.320 And it was.
00:09:24.380 And I think World War I
00:09:26.160 directly led to World War II.
00:09:29.160 And a lot of that
00:09:30.580 dealt back with the Treaty of Versailles
00:09:32.520 and how Hitler utilized
00:09:34.100 the Treaty of Versailles
00:09:35.340 to really emphasize
00:09:37.680 how the German people were mistreated
00:09:39.640 and blamed for World War I.
00:09:42.300 And there are some lessons there.
00:09:43.640 I mean, my understanding
00:09:44.780 of the Treaty of Versailles
00:09:45.720 is it essentially humiliated
00:09:47.560 or humiliated Germany.
00:09:49.520 And it basically dismantled
00:09:52.520 their military.
00:09:54.280 It imposed harsh penalties
00:09:55.740 against them.
00:09:56.640 It put all the blame on them
00:09:58.260 and left them unable
00:09:59.600 to really function
00:10:00.340 in many key ways.
00:10:02.240 And they became
00:10:03.160 predictably resentful
00:10:04.940 over those terms.
00:10:07.500 And up rose Adolf Hitler.
00:10:10.100 It was no accident.
00:10:10.880 Those things were connected.
00:10:13.080 And he decided promptly
00:10:14.960 to play the victim
00:10:16.320 and play Germany as the victim.
00:10:18.000 And surely thereafter
00:10:19.660 decided that the villain
00:10:21.160 would be Jewish people.
00:10:24.260 Yeah.
00:10:24.500 I mean, he was the right guy
00:10:26.040 at the right time in history
00:10:27.960 like Mussolini was in Italy.
00:10:30.080 He was a flamboyant leader
00:10:31.620 who basically blamed
00:10:33.460 all of their problems,
00:10:35.160 Italy's problems,
00:10:36.080 and then on Hitler's side,
00:10:37.400 Germany's problems
00:10:38.280 on World War I.
00:10:39.320 When he blamed them,
00:10:40.020 he blamed it on the Jewish people.
00:10:42.380 He blamed them on the communists.
00:10:44.000 And he was elected
00:10:46.020 on the fact that
00:10:47.180 he was that person
00:10:48.660 who could take the results
00:10:51.960 of World War I,
00:10:53.200 which was the economic depression
00:10:54.840 that Germany was in,
00:10:56.460 the fact that Germany's military
00:10:58.060 had been decimated
00:10:59.460 and deactivated,
00:11:01.340 and that he would restore
00:11:03.280 that aura to Germany.
00:11:06.780 And we've talked to German soldiers
00:11:08.200 who said basically
00:11:10.640 that Hitler was that person
00:11:13.520 who said,
00:11:14.460 you know,
00:11:14.740 we were wronged
00:11:15.780 in World War I
00:11:16.820 and this is what
00:11:18.160 we need to do now.
00:11:19.840 And then again,
00:11:20.480 by the time he was in power
00:11:22.120 and his directives were known,
00:11:26.100 that it was too late
00:11:27.880 to have former resistance
00:11:30.180 or to object
00:11:31.760 to what he was doing.
00:11:33.780 Even before World War II,
00:11:35.020 I mean, that's the thing
00:11:35.900 that a lot of people sort of miss.
00:11:37.720 In the 1930s,
00:11:38.840 he built Dachau,
00:11:40.420 one of the, you know,
00:11:41.120 the first concentration camp.
00:11:43.200 It was Kristallnacht
00:11:44.020 was in 1938, I think.
00:11:46.020 Hitler was doing this
00:11:46.820 before the war
00:11:48.200 was actually launched,
00:11:49.720 targeting Jewish people.
00:11:51.380 But obviously,
00:11:52.500 then his eyes
00:11:53.760 became more territorial
00:11:55.320 and he started grabbing territory
00:11:57.800 and that's when the war
00:11:58.600 actually broke out in earnest.
00:12:01.020 Yeah, he started looking
00:12:02.040 at Czechoslovakia.
00:12:03.300 He started looking
00:12:04.080 at the expansion of Germany,
00:12:05.840 that Germany needed more room.
00:12:07.480 And because of World War I,
00:12:09.580 that Germany was due
00:12:11.460 this more room.
00:12:13.480 And he looked at Czechoslovakia
00:12:14.920 and the Brits and the French
00:12:16.520 gave him Czechoslovakia.
00:12:18.060 And then he started
00:12:18.960 to look at Russia
00:12:19.720 and he started to look
00:12:20.720 at the Soviet Union.
00:12:22.020 And that, of course,
00:12:23.260 led to the start
00:12:24.600 of World War II.
00:12:25.520 And it's just one
00:12:28.760 of those situations
00:12:29.660 where you look at it
00:12:31.400 and that Hitler
00:12:32.520 really did a great job
00:12:34.560 of appealing to the common man
00:12:37.240 in Germany
00:12:38.600 in World War II
00:12:39.620 that the government
00:12:40.380 has forgotten about you
00:12:41.940 and that we need
00:12:43.720 to get back to,
00:12:45.080 you know,
00:12:45.860 being able to honor you
00:12:48.120 and to help you.
00:12:49.980 But then again,
00:12:50.700 he had no plan
00:12:51.940 that would ever succeed
00:12:53.260 in doing that.
00:12:55.140 Yeah.
00:12:55.340 And we now know,
00:12:55.920 of course,
00:12:56.100 he was not abiding
00:12:56.800 by the rules
00:12:58.480 in the Treaty of Versailles
00:13:00.020 saying no more militarization
00:13:01.500 to the contrary.
00:13:03.220 So just for the timeline,
00:13:05.260 World War I ended
00:13:06.240 November 11th, 1918.
00:13:08.380 Fifteen years later,
00:13:09.860 January 30th, 1933,
00:13:11.320 Hitler was appointed
00:13:11.940 the German leader.
00:13:13.400 And September 1st, 1939,
00:13:15.820 is when World War II
00:13:16.940 was considered
00:13:17.400 to have begun.
00:13:18.600 Germany invaded Poland.
00:13:20.980 A couple weeks later,
00:13:22.440 the Soviet Union
00:13:23.360 invaded Poland.
00:13:24.180 In the beginning of the war,
00:13:25.120 the Soviets were friendly
00:13:26.580 with Germany.
00:13:27.680 I mean,
00:13:27.880 people forget
00:13:28.820 that that's how it began.
00:13:30.560 I mean,
00:13:30.680 one of Hitler's greatest mistakes,
00:13:31.880 I think,
00:13:32.260 was going after
00:13:33.340 the Soviet Union,
00:13:34.120 just getting so power hungry
00:13:35.440 and land hungry.
00:13:36.660 He thought he could take
00:13:37.320 the Soviets as well,
00:13:38.420 which would be a critical moment
00:13:40.100 for the world, right?
00:13:41.540 Because he couldn't.
00:13:42.780 And the Soviets decided
00:13:43.680 to fight with the Allied powers.
00:13:45.900 And soon thereafter,
00:13:47.240 the war ended.
00:13:48.220 But in any event,
00:13:48.820 in the beginning,
00:13:49.800 he took Poland.
00:13:51.500 He invaded Poland.
00:13:52.420 The Soviet Union
00:13:52.880 invaded Poland.
00:13:54.040 And there was fighting
00:13:54.940 going on for quite some time.
00:13:56.660 In 1940,
00:13:57.800 Norway was invaded
00:13:58.600 by Germany.
00:13:59.940 Same year,
00:14:00.840 Winston Churchill
00:14:01.420 becomes prime minister.
00:14:03.340 And the war is underway.
00:14:06.620 Now,
00:14:06.800 the United States
00:14:07.480 at this point
00:14:07.940 is isolationist.
00:14:09.480 We've been through
00:14:10.280 a world war.
00:14:11.200 We don't want
00:14:11.800 another world war.
00:14:12.880 The American people
00:14:13.560 are not in the mood
00:14:15.500 at all.
00:14:16.620 But we are helping
00:14:17.900 our friends,
00:14:18.700 are we not?
00:14:19.880 Yes,
00:14:20.140 we are.
00:14:20.600 We're helping them
00:14:21.480 through what's called
00:14:22.260 Lend-Lease,
00:14:23.060 which is giving arms
00:14:24.260 to England
00:14:25.240 and giving arms
00:14:26.820 and supplies
00:14:27.500 to the Soviet Union.
00:14:29.120 I mean,
00:14:29.280 there's a point
00:14:29.860 on December 6, 1941,
00:14:32.040 the day before Pearl Harbor,
00:14:33.440 where there's about
00:14:34.100 88% of the United States
00:14:36.240 that has no interest
00:14:38.080 in helping
00:14:38.660 what's going on
00:14:39.880 in Europe.
00:14:40.480 There's just no interest
00:14:41.960 in getting involved
00:14:42.860 in another world war.
00:14:44.880 And that all changes
00:14:45.820 on December 7, 1941.
00:14:48.480 So 88%
00:14:49.700 of the United States
00:14:50.940 is against
00:14:51.820 getting involved
00:14:52.880 in the war in Europe,
00:14:54.040 despite the fact
00:14:54.880 that England is alone.
00:14:56.100 France has already conceded.
00:14:58.380 The Netherlands
00:14:58.900 have already conceded.
00:15:00.300 Belgium,
00:15:00.820 everybody's already conceded.
00:15:02.980 But the United States,
00:15:04.480 having been through
00:15:05.760 World War I,
00:15:06.700 or at least the last year
00:15:07.960 of World War I,
00:15:09.020 wants no part
00:15:10.020 of the war in Europe
00:15:11.420 until the Japanese
00:15:12.720 attack Pearl Harbor,
00:15:13.840 which I find interesting
00:15:14.660 is that
00:15:15.240 it's such a high percentage,
00:15:17.480 88%,
00:15:18.320 87%,
00:15:19.100 88%,
00:15:19.880 that wants no part
00:15:21.520 of that war in Europe
00:15:22.720 until
00:15:23.560 we're attacked.
00:15:24.920 And I think that's the way
00:15:26.240 the United States is
00:15:27.260 in general,
00:15:27.900 is that we're not
00:15:28.860 a warring nation,
00:15:29.920 but when we are attacked,
00:15:32.460 like a December 7th
00:15:33.960 or a September 11th,
00:15:35.580 2001,
00:15:36.820 that we respond.
00:15:39.320 So history
00:15:40.420 doesn't repeat itself,
00:15:42.300 but it certainly rhymes.
00:15:44.060 And that's what was
00:15:44.620 the case in 1941.
00:15:47.540 You have a great documentary
00:15:48.460 among many,
00:15:49.560 this one called
00:15:50.580 Remembering Pearl Harbor.
00:15:51.660 And I recommend it
00:15:53.600 to everybody.
00:15:54.120 It sets the stage
00:15:54.940 with the actual
00:15:55.860 greatest generation,
00:15:57.180 with the actual veterans.
00:15:58.880 But it sets the stage
00:15:59.800 in Pearl Harbor
00:16:00.360 quite nicely
00:16:00.940 about how
00:16:01.980 it was going that day,
00:16:03.660 how it was a rather
00:16:04.620 peaceful day.
00:16:05.480 No one anticipated this.
00:16:07.260 To the contrary,
00:16:08.560 there had been a bulletin
00:16:09.400 not long before
00:16:10.160 suggesting this would
00:16:11.460 never happen.
00:16:12.180 It was just too long
00:16:13.060 a reach,
00:16:14.080 a stretch for the Japanese.
00:16:15.520 They didn't really need
00:16:16.140 to worry about getting
00:16:16.900 attacked at Pearl Harbor.
00:16:17.920 I mean,
00:16:19.540 a war was underway,
00:16:20.580 so we were watching it,
00:16:21.900 but we didn't think
00:16:22.940 it could happen.
00:16:23.460 So here's,
00:16:24.040 this is from
00:16:24.500 Remembering Pearl Harbor
00:16:25.320 on the day before
00:16:27.440 Tom Selleck
00:16:28.040 narrating SOT 3.
00:16:31.400 Some sailors
00:16:32.420 and soldiers
00:16:33.080 that Sunday morning
00:16:34.200 were already
00:16:34.920 at church services
00:16:36.040 by the beach.
00:16:37.540 Others were up early
00:16:38.440 playing a little
00:16:39.060 toss and catch
00:16:39.940 on the docks
00:16:40.680 before reporting
00:16:41.780 for duty
00:16:42.340 if they had to work
00:16:43.320 on December 7th.
00:16:45.200 Chowbell sounded
00:16:46.140 good for breakfast.
00:16:48.760 All was peaceful
00:16:50.000 and serene
00:16:50.960 on Oahu
00:16:51.740 from Pearl Harbor
00:16:53.380 to the nearby airfields.
00:16:56.640 And then,
00:16:57.600 what happened
00:16:58.340 very early that morning?
00:17:00.660 The Japanese attack.
00:17:02.320 I mean,
00:17:02.780 it was a situation
00:17:03.600 where we expected
00:17:04.920 the attack
00:17:05.460 to come in Guam
00:17:06.440 or the Philippines
00:17:07.880 or at Wake Island.
00:17:09.700 And we had
00:17:11.080 a warning
00:17:12.520 that war
00:17:13.400 was inevitable,
00:17:14.560 but we did not
00:17:16.080 know where
00:17:16.620 it would come.
00:17:18.040 And Pearl Harbor
00:17:18.780 was not high
00:17:20.100 on that list.
00:17:21.780 Can we just take
00:17:22.200 a step back
00:17:22.740 and talk about
00:17:23.180 the Japanese?
00:17:24.000 Because we set it up
00:17:24.660 by talking about Germany
00:17:25.440 and a little bit
00:17:26.220 about the Soviet Union.
00:17:26.940 The Japanese,
00:17:27.860 what are they doing there?
00:17:28.900 Yeah, what are they doing there?
00:17:30.360 Yeah, go back
00:17:31.020 and talk about
00:17:31.520 their participation,
00:17:32.720 their interest,
00:17:33.260 and their start
00:17:33.840 in this war.
00:17:35.060 Japanese were,
00:17:37.620 Japan is a country
00:17:38.640 of zero
00:17:39.600 natural resources.
00:17:41.560 And they needed
00:17:42.200 natural resources.
00:17:43.380 And so they had
00:17:44.480 already invaded China.
00:17:45.860 They had already
00:17:46.400 invaded Korea.
00:17:47.760 They had already
00:17:48.900 invaded French Indochina,
00:17:50.920 which is now Vietnam today,
00:17:52.300 because they wanted
00:17:53.160 to expand,
00:17:54.100 but they needed
00:17:54.620 natural resources.
00:17:56.200 So the United States
00:17:57.360 decided at that point
00:17:58.740 that they would start
00:17:59.680 to cut off
00:18:00.620 supplies to Japan,
00:18:02.920 whether that be
00:18:03.520 oil or steel.
00:18:05.360 So Japan always felt
00:18:06.460 as though they were
00:18:07.020 backed into a corner
00:18:08.100 and their expansion
00:18:09.600 was dependent
00:18:10.320 on these resources,
00:18:12.200 these natural resources.
00:18:13.380 So if the United States
00:18:14.340 was not going to supply
00:18:15.620 these natural resources,
00:18:17.440 that they would have
00:18:18.380 to disable
00:18:18.980 the American Pacific fleet
00:18:20.480 at Pearl Harbor.
00:18:21.660 And that's exactly
00:18:22.440 what they tried to do
00:18:23.480 on December 7th, 1941.
00:18:25.080 But they did not
00:18:26.480 understand that,
00:18:28.440 A, that the American
00:18:30.120 aircraft carriers
00:18:31.200 were not there,
00:18:32.660 and B,
00:18:33.220 they never launched
00:18:34.200 the third wave,
00:18:35.120 which attacked
00:18:35.760 the oil refineries
00:18:36.960 at Pearl Harbor.
00:18:38.100 So Japan was trying
00:18:39.120 to expand their empire
00:18:40.500 in the Pacific,
00:18:41.280 while Hitler was trying
00:18:42.640 to expand his empire
00:18:44.020 in Europe.
00:18:46.480 And they thought...
00:18:47.440 And it wasn't
00:18:47.880 totally unrelated.
00:18:48.880 They'd been talking.
00:18:49.920 There was an agreement.
00:18:50.740 Like, this wasn't,
00:18:52.240 you know,
00:18:52.480 just two separate wars
00:18:53.520 happening at once.
00:18:54.740 No.
00:18:55.160 I mean,
00:18:55.440 they had formed
00:18:56.320 an alliance
00:18:56.880 called the Axis Powers
00:18:58.040 between Italy,
00:18:59.120 Japan, and Germany.
00:19:00.620 So they were talking
00:19:01.900 about what the situation
00:19:03.960 was in the Pacific.
00:19:05.240 So what they needed
00:19:05.860 to do was eliminate
00:19:06.900 the American Pacific fleet
00:19:08.440 for six months
00:19:09.840 or a year.
00:19:11.160 But they did not figure
00:19:12.100 on the resolve
00:19:13.280 of the United States.
00:19:15.040 The United States
00:19:15.640 wants a fair fight.
00:19:17.540 I mean,
00:19:17.700 that's always how
00:19:18.400 Americans are.
00:19:19.560 They want a fair fight.
00:19:20.680 They don't want
00:19:21.460 to be attacked
00:19:22.300 without notice
00:19:23.680 or be attacked
00:19:24.640 by surprise.
00:19:25.780 And that's the slogan
00:19:27.360 of Remember Pearl Harbor.
00:19:29.340 And that was the rallying
00:19:31.020 cry of World War II.
00:19:32.340 It was Remember Pearl Harbor.
00:19:33.780 We were attacked
00:19:34.560 without notice
00:19:35.280 by the Japanese
00:19:36.160 and the Japanese
00:19:37.040 had their intentions.
00:19:38.680 But that became
00:19:39.720 the rallying cry.
00:19:40.880 And that's why
00:19:41.500 so many millions
00:19:42.360 of Americans
00:19:43.060 signed up
00:19:43.760 for the fight
00:19:44.520 in World War II
00:19:45.280 because it was
00:19:46.420 a sucker blow.
00:19:47.920 And Americans
00:19:49.180 don't like sucker blows.
00:19:51.680 Maybe this is
00:19:52.620 hindsight being 2020,
00:19:54.260 but it seems so foolish
00:19:55.620 now in retrospect.
00:19:57.400 Like,
00:19:57.560 why would they want
00:19:58.160 to drag us
00:19:59.280 into the war
00:20:00.200 of all powers?
00:20:01.740 It's not like
00:20:02.420 we were not known
00:20:03.760 for our military might.
00:20:04.980 You know,
00:20:05.200 we had just won
00:20:05.760 World War I.
00:20:06.720 Like,
00:20:07.040 why drag
00:20:08.260 the United States
00:20:09.720 into this conflict
00:20:10.860 that we'd been
00:20:11.600 rejecting thus far?
00:20:13.340 It's so funny
00:20:14.220 because,
00:20:14.760 you know,
00:20:16.100 Admiral Yamamoto,
00:20:17.340 who was the
00:20:18.180 key architect
00:20:19.660 of the Battle
00:20:21.100 of Pearl Harbor,
00:20:22.380 the attack
00:20:22.980 at Pearl Harbor
00:20:23.560 and also the Battle
00:20:24.320 of Midway,
00:20:25.420 told the Japanese military,
00:20:27.320 he said,
00:20:27.840 you know,
00:20:28.180 you only have
00:20:30.100 a certain amount
00:20:30.640 of time here
00:20:31.600 to put
00:20:33.400 with the United States
00:20:34.180 at bay.
00:20:35.140 Yamamoto had studied
00:20:36.320 at Harvard.
00:20:37.140 He had been
00:20:37.640 a naval attache
00:20:38.860 in Washington.
00:20:39.880 He had ventured
00:20:40.580 out into the
00:20:41.360 American heartland
00:20:42.360 and seen
00:20:43.420 the industrial power
00:20:44.840 of the United States.
00:20:46.860 So,
00:20:47.180 he basically
00:20:48.100 was against
00:20:49.300 a strike
00:20:49.940 against the United States,
00:20:51.480 but the Japanese military,
00:20:53.820 the Japanese army,
00:20:54.720 was in control
00:20:55.940 of what the decisions
00:20:57.600 would be
00:20:58.180 in World War II.
00:20:59.120 So,
00:20:59.980 you know,
00:21:00.260 Yamamoto at certain points
00:21:01.960 voiced his concern
00:21:03.860 and said,
00:21:04.420 this is not going
00:21:05.260 to work.
00:21:06.020 We're going
00:21:06.420 to awaken
00:21:07.200 a sleeping giant.
00:21:08.880 And he meant
00:21:09.460 by a sleeping giant,
00:21:11.180 he meant
00:21:11.540 American industry.
00:21:13.320 He meant
00:21:13.560 by the ability
00:21:15.580 to convert
00:21:16.480 the Ford plants
00:21:19.080 in Detroit
00:21:19.660 from cars
00:21:20.580 to tanks
00:21:21.300 and airplanes
00:21:22.020 and everything else.
00:21:22.940 He said,
00:21:23.320 we cannot win
00:21:24.360 a war
00:21:25.300 with the United States.
00:21:26.720 But nobody
00:21:27.300 listened to him,
00:21:28.100 especially the army,
00:21:29.260 and there were
00:21:29.700 attempts on his life.
00:21:31.760 And so,
00:21:32.860 you know,
00:21:33.120 Japan did not listen
00:21:34.400 to the voice
00:21:35.420 of reason.
00:21:36.360 The army
00:21:36.720 was hell-bent
00:21:38.280 on attacking
00:21:40.040 the United States
00:21:41.040 because they felt
00:21:41.820 they were inferior
00:21:42.880 in many ways,
00:21:44.160 inferior as soldiers,
00:21:45.580 inferior as Navy,
00:21:47.100 inferior
00:21:47.500 in militaristic ways.
00:21:51.100 But Yamamoto
00:21:51.840 was the voice
00:21:52.940 of reason,
00:21:53.560 and they did not
00:21:54.260 like that.
00:21:55.420 And they still
00:21:56.040 attacked Pearl Harbor,
00:21:57.000 and they still
00:21:58.060 had Yamamoto
00:21:59.160 plan the attack
00:22:00.080 on Pearl Harbor
00:22:00.820 and plan the attack
00:22:01.760 on Midway.
00:22:02.660 But he was a voice
00:22:03.600 who just said,
00:22:04.780 we cannot win a war.
00:22:06.340 We can only buy time.
00:22:08.020 And how much time
00:22:08.820 we can buy
00:22:09.520 is negotiable.
00:22:11.820 And I think
00:22:12.840 they were looking
00:22:13.480 at some point
00:22:14.220 to say,
00:22:14.720 okay,
00:22:15.080 we're going to buy time.
00:22:16.320 We're going to be able
00:22:16.880 to occupy Guam
00:22:17.980 and the Philippines
00:22:18.580 and those will be
00:22:19.520 our islands.
00:22:20.280 And then we'll settle
00:22:21.280 for peace.
00:22:21.900 But Yamamoto
00:22:23.000 was really
00:22:23.520 the only one
00:22:24.120 who understood
00:22:24.640 the industrial might
00:22:25.640 and the capability
00:22:26.500 of the United States.
00:22:28.860 The element of surprise
00:22:29.880 is still hard
00:22:30.860 to understand
00:22:32.040 given radar
00:22:33.460 and satellite
00:22:34.200 and all the gifts
00:22:34.960 that we have today.
00:22:36.120 But I didn't realize
00:22:38.420 this actually
00:22:39.220 prior to preparing
00:22:40.100 for this interview
00:22:40.660 that there was
00:22:42.500 an alert operator
00:22:43.700 of an Army radar station
00:22:45.500 at 7 o'clock
00:22:46.780 that morning.
00:22:47.280 We got hit
00:22:47.900 at around 8 a.m.
00:22:49.360 but at 7 o'clock
00:22:50.440 that morning
00:22:51.060 who spotted
00:22:52.260 the approaching
00:22:53.340 first wave
00:22:54.180 of the Japanese
00:22:55.640 attack force
00:22:56.780 and sounded the alarm
00:22:58.420 and what happened?
00:23:01.080 Well,
00:23:01.400 the problem was
00:23:02.320 is that radar
00:23:03.220 was so new
00:23:04.000 at that time.
00:23:05.340 What Joe Lockhart
00:23:06.580 and his colleague
00:23:07.580 decided
00:23:08.220 at the Opana
00:23:09.200 radar site
00:23:10.020 on Hawaii
00:23:10.640 was,
00:23:11.740 you know,
00:23:11.840 they reported this
00:23:13.040 to the authorities
00:23:15.260 in Hawaii
00:23:15.960 and they thought,
00:23:17.040 well,
00:23:17.300 this is a
00:23:18.700 crew of B-17 planes
00:23:21.660 coming in from California.
00:23:23.220 Radar was not
00:23:24.160 being utilized
00:23:25.800 that effectively
00:23:26.700 by the United States
00:23:27.740 at that time.
00:23:28.480 So they thought
00:23:28.980 it was a B-17
00:23:29.920 squadron
00:23:31.460 coming in
00:23:32.060 from the West Coast
00:23:33.560 of the United States.
00:23:35.520 And Tyler,
00:23:38.680 the man
00:23:39.080 at Hawaii,
00:23:40.580 said,
00:23:40.760 don't worry about it.
00:23:42.000 Those are famous
00:23:42.640 last words.
00:23:43.480 Don't worry about it.
00:23:44.320 It's just a group
00:23:45.180 of B-17s
00:23:46.200 coming in from California.
00:23:47.780 And they said,
00:23:48.200 okay,
00:23:48.480 we're going
00:23:48.880 to go for lunch
00:23:49.560 now then.
00:23:50.800 And that's
00:23:51.740 what happened.
00:23:52.860 And so
00:23:53.440 it's almost
00:23:54.400 like 9-11
00:23:56.140 in terms of
00:23:57.080 things are
00:23:57.600 building up
00:23:58.400 and things
00:23:59.760 are presenting
00:24:01.120 themselves
00:24:01.800 and we're
00:24:02.760 saying
00:24:03.540 it's something
00:24:04.460 else.
00:24:04.980 It's not
00:24:05.700 what is
00:24:07.140 actually
00:24:07.660 happening.
00:24:09.060 Radar
00:24:09.240 was so new
00:24:09.820 at the time,
00:24:10.460 Megan,
00:24:10.780 that we didn't
00:24:12.080 trust it enough
00:24:12.960 to say
00:24:14.200 we assumed.
00:24:15.300 Kermit Tyler
00:24:16.000 was a guy,
00:24:16.840 and I hate
00:24:18.020 to single
00:24:18.420 him out,
00:24:19.460 but he was
00:24:20.060 the guy
00:24:20.520 in the famous
00:24:21.100 movie
00:24:21.460 Tora,
00:24:21.880 Tora,
00:24:22.220 Tora,
00:24:22.500 who said,
00:24:22.960 don't worry
00:24:23.360 about it.
00:24:23.920 It's a squadron
00:24:25.340 of B-17s
00:24:26.180 coming in
00:24:26.580 from California.
00:24:28.000 Oh my goodness.
00:24:28.740 And it wasn't.
00:24:29.520 It was Japanese
00:24:31.080 planes coming
00:24:31.700 in the sink,
00:24:32.240 the Arizona
00:24:32.820 and Oklahoma
00:24:33.340 and everybody
00:24:33.900 else.
00:24:34.820 Yeah,
00:24:35.100 the Arizona
00:24:35.700 took the worst
00:24:36.660 of the damage
00:24:37.300 and the Oklahoma
00:24:39.140 and all 21
00:24:40.180 ships of the
00:24:40.820 U.S. Pacific
00:24:41.300 fleet were
00:24:41.900 sunk or
00:24:43.060 damaged.
00:24:45.040 Aircraft
00:24:45.520 losses,
00:24:46.240 188 destroyed,
00:24:47.500 159 damaged,
00:24:48.780 the majority
00:24:49.160 hit before they
00:24:49.860 had a chance
00:24:50.260 to even take
00:24:50.700 off.
00:24:51.700 And the
00:24:52.200 Japanese
00:24:52.600 success was
00:24:53.600 overwhelming.
00:24:54.860 I mean,
00:24:55.060 it was
00:24:55.420 incredible.
00:24:56.180 Not to compliment,
00:24:59.220 but it was
00:24:59.840 a great success
00:25:00.840 for them.
00:25:01.980 And our guys
00:25:02.780 were completely
00:25:03.400 caught by surprise
00:25:04.380 as documented
00:25:05.120 again in
00:25:05.820 remembering
00:25:06.380 Pearl Harbor.
00:25:08.040 This is a
00:25:08.940 clip from it
00:25:09.940 in which
00:25:10.720 several of the
00:25:11.420 survivors on
00:25:12.060 the USS Arizona
00:25:12.880 describe the
00:25:14.340 explosion that
00:25:15.360 destroyed their
00:25:16.140 ship.
00:25:16.540 It's SOT 6.
00:25:18.920 At nine minutes
00:25:19.700 after eight,
00:25:20.780 one of the
00:25:21.080 bombers came
00:25:22.000 over the
00:25:22.400 lucky bomb.
00:25:23.720 And then the
00:25:24.300 big bomb
00:25:24.840 hit the number
00:25:26.100 two turret.
00:25:26.920 Dropped it
00:25:27.400 from maybe
00:25:28.100 eight,
00:25:28.500 ten thousand
00:25:28.980 feet.
00:25:29.780 And it
00:25:30.060 went right
00:25:30.460 into a million
00:25:32.440 rounds of
00:25:33.060 ammunition and
00:25:34.120 fuel oil and
00:25:35.720 aviation gasoline.
00:25:38.440 It went in
00:25:38.780 there and
00:25:39.060 exploded.
00:25:39.720 That's what
00:25:40.060 exploded.
00:25:41.080 It blowed
00:25:41.540 the 110 foot
00:25:42.600 of the ship
00:25:43.140 clear off.
00:25:45.320 And everything
00:25:45.760 from the main
00:25:46.740 mess forward
00:25:47.320 was on fire.
00:25:52.940 The bow of
00:25:53.820 the ship
00:25:54.060 came out of
00:25:54.540 the water
00:25:54.900 about 30
00:25:55.900 feet.
00:25:57.520 Blew in
00:25:58.160 the water.
00:26:01.480 Well, the
00:26:01.900 fireball went
00:26:03.680 off and it
00:26:04.320 went about
00:26:04.880 five or six
00:26:05.680 hundred feet
00:26:06.240 in the air
00:26:06.640 and just
00:26:07.060 engulfed us
00:26:07.900 up there in
00:26:08.520 the sky control
00:26:10.000 platform.
00:26:12.540 A couple of
00:26:13.820 things there
00:26:14.320 to pick up
00:26:15.900 on.
00:26:16.140 It wasn't
00:26:16.620 just Pearl
00:26:17.120 Harbor.
00:26:17.760 This hell was
00:26:18.520 unleashed in more
00:26:19.120 places than Pearl
00:26:19.900 Harbor.
00:26:20.180 And you
00:26:21.100 mentioned it
00:26:21.560 before.
00:26:22.700 It was an
00:26:23.560 overwhelming
00:26:23.900 success, but it
00:26:24.620 wasn't a
00:26:24.940 complete success
00:26:25.640 because we did
00:26:26.200 not have our
00:26:27.100 aircraft carriers
00:26:28.060 in Pearl Harbor
00:26:28.700 that day.
00:26:29.320 So can you
00:26:30.160 first explain
00:26:30.700 the vast
00:26:31.560 amount of
00:26:32.500 areas and
00:26:33.120 locations
00:26:33.680 attacked and
00:26:35.000 then talk
00:26:35.600 about why
00:26:36.040 our aircraft
00:26:36.700 carriers were
00:26:37.220 not there?
00:26:38.560 Yeah, I mean,
00:26:38.900 our aircraft
00:26:39.480 carriers were
00:26:40.320 delivering planes
00:26:41.300 to Midway.
00:26:42.860 First of all,
00:26:43.720 the Enterprise
00:26:44.120 was delivering
00:26:44.960 planes to
00:26:45.600 Midway.
00:26:46.020 the Saratoga
00:26:46.880 was undergoing
00:26:47.680 repairs.
00:26:49.280 So the
00:26:49.880 Japanese
00:26:50.400 decided that
00:26:51.900 this based
00:26:53.300 on local
00:26:53.900 intelligence
00:26:54.720 given by
00:26:56.660 spies in
00:26:57.480 Hawaii,
00:26:59.220 that the
00:27:00.420 Pacific fleet
00:27:01.700 was there
00:27:02.280 for the
00:27:02.680 taking.
00:27:03.320 And they
00:27:03.660 were.
00:27:04.100 The destroyers
00:27:04.920 were there
00:27:05.400 and the
00:27:06.120 battleships
00:27:06.640 were there,
00:27:07.280 but the
00:27:07.500 aircraft
00:27:07.900 carriers were
00:27:08.840 either A,
00:27:09.740 delivering
00:27:10.200 planes to
00:27:10.920 Midway or
00:27:11.580 out on
00:27:12.060 other missions
00:27:12.720 or being
00:27:13.940 repaired in
00:27:15.760 Bremerton,
00:27:16.920 Washington or
00:27:17.800 other places.
00:27:18.960 And the
00:27:19.140 Japanese also
00:27:19.780 made a huge
00:27:20.560 mistake in
00:27:21.740 the fact that
00:27:22.220 they did not
00:27:23.020 attack the
00:27:23.900 oil refineries
00:27:25.020 in Pearl
00:27:26.080 Harbor.
00:27:26.600 That would
00:27:26.960 have been
00:27:27.260 the third
00:27:27.860 wave of
00:27:28.980 the Japanese
00:27:29.560 attack.
00:27:30.380 So they
00:27:30.720 missed their
00:27:31.380 opportunity
00:27:32.040 to really
00:27:33.600 inflict a
00:27:34.660 lot of
00:27:34.960 damage on
00:27:36.180 the United
00:27:36.720 States at
00:27:37.340 Pearl Harbor.
00:27:38.640 And I
00:27:38.780 think the
00:27:39.100 Japanese
00:27:39.520 also,
00:27:40.560 Admiral
00:27:41.020 Yamamoto,
00:27:41.720 I go back
00:27:42.140 to him
00:27:42.440 because we
00:27:42.840 have been
00:27:43.180 to
00:27:43.540 Nagaoka,
00:27:44.500 which is
00:27:44.900 his
00:27:45.560 hometown and
00:27:46.380 we've been
00:27:46.840 to places
00:27:47.980 where we've
00:27:48.820 interviewed his
00:27:49.840 grandson.
00:27:51.320 He was the
00:27:52.040 only one who
00:27:52.680 really had a
00:27:53.280 clear understanding
00:27:54.340 of the
00:27:54.920 industrial might
00:27:55.980 of the
00:27:56.320 United States
00:27:57.220 and that
00:27:59.080 you had to
00:27:59.760 knock it all
00:28:00.380 off at once
00:28:01.240 if you wanted
00:28:02.220 to sever the
00:28:03.600 head of the
00:28:04.140 snake.
00:28:05.160 And they
00:28:05.420 accomplished
00:28:06.020 two of the
00:28:06.740 three goals.
00:28:08.520 And that
00:28:09.360 third part of
00:28:10.180 the goal,
00:28:10.780 which is the
00:28:11.300 aircraft carriers
00:28:12.280 and not
00:28:12.860 attacking the
00:28:13.520 oil refineries
00:28:14.540 at Pearl
00:28:15.080 Harbor,
00:28:15.760 was a
00:28:17.200 major,
00:28:17.980 major mistake
00:28:18.900 on the
00:28:20.040 part of the
00:28:20.500 Japanese.
00:28:21.460 And Yamamoto
00:28:22.220 was a
00:28:22.820 realist.
00:28:23.980 And he
00:28:24.400 was also
00:28:24.940 one of those
00:28:25.400 people who
00:28:25.860 said,
00:28:26.180 you know,
00:28:26.360 we have
00:28:26.700 about six
00:28:27.360 months to
00:28:27.880 run rampant
00:28:28.720 in the
00:28:29.160 Pacific before
00:28:30.020 the United
00:28:30.540 States
00:28:30.920 industrial
00:28:31.540 might
00:28:32.000 catches up
00:28:32.940 with us.
00:28:34.240 And so,
00:28:35.680 but the
00:28:36.100 army didn't
00:28:36.600 want to
00:28:36.880 hear that.
00:28:37.480 Tojo and
00:28:38.120 the others
00:28:38.520 didn't want
00:28:39.060 to hear
00:28:39.380 that.
00:28:40.440 But he
00:28:40.860 was a
00:28:41.540 realist.
00:28:42.600 And to
00:28:43.180 hear guys
00:28:43.740 like Don
00:28:44.160 Stratton,
00:28:44.700 who passed
00:28:45.120 away a
00:28:45.600 couple of
00:28:45.880 years ago,
00:28:46.580 and Luke
00:28:46.900 Contor,
00:28:47.420 who's one
00:28:47.980 of only
00:28:48.340 two survivors
00:28:49.860 still alive
00:28:50.780 from the
00:28:51.200 USS Arizona
00:28:52.260 in that
00:28:52.800 piece you
00:28:53.260 just ran,
00:28:54.420 to hear
00:28:55.000 them describe
00:28:55.760 what it
00:28:56.400 was like,
00:28:57.480 to me,
00:28:58.260 it's just
00:28:59.740 incredible.
00:29:00.820 Because they
00:29:01.360 were a witness
00:29:01.880 to history.
00:29:03.260 The worst
00:29:03.680 thing the
00:29:04.120 Japanese could
00:29:04.920 have done
00:29:05.420 was launch
00:29:05.940 a sneak
00:29:06.300 attack.
00:29:07.180 They could
00:29:07.560 have notified
00:29:08.140 us beforehand
00:29:09.040 that we were
00:29:09.800 going to
00:29:10.320 attack.
00:29:10.720 But Americans
00:29:11.540 don't.
00:29:12.000 Was that
00:29:12.280 done?
00:29:13.220 Was that
00:29:13.540 done?
00:29:13.900 I mean,
00:29:14.120 you know,
00:29:14.620 was that
00:29:15.420 done?
00:29:15.760 Was that
00:29:15.940 how it
00:29:17.000 used to
00:29:17.180 be done?
00:29:17.680 Like an
00:29:17.960 attack is
00:29:18.340 coming?
00:29:19.500 Yeah,
00:29:19.800 I mean,
00:29:20.260 because there
00:29:22.040 are so many
00:29:22.500 issues with
00:29:23.040 the Japanese
00:29:23.540 with transmissions
00:29:24.420 and everything
00:29:24.900 else on
00:29:25.400 December 7th,
00:29:26.180 1941,
00:29:27.060 their goal
00:29:28.160 was to
00:29:28.740 announce to
00:29:29.380 us that
00:29:30.300 they were
00:29:30.640 going to
00:29:31.140 attack Pearl
00:29:31.780 Harbor.
00:29:32.340 But because
00:29:33.100 of delays
00:29:33.620 in Washington
00:29:34.380 and transcribing
00:29:36.200 documents and
00:29:37.360 telegrams and
00:29:39.220 everything else,
00:29:39.920 it became a
00:29:41.560 surprise attack.
00:29:42.780 And for the
00:29:43.280 record,
00:29:44.080 the number of
00:29:45.040 military personnel
00:29:45.820 killed at
00:29:47.980 Pearl Harbor
00:29:48.900 was 2,335.
00:29:52.400 That actually
00:29:52.980 includes 68
00:29:54.820 civilians, I
00:29:55.540 think.
00:29:56.820 So, yeah,
00:29:57.240 I guess the
00:29:58.060 total is 2,403
00:30:00.200 people dead.
00:30:01.620 I mean,
00:30:02.360 1,177 from
00:30:04.520 the USS Arizona,
00:30:05.740 which is just
00:30:06.300 stunning.
00:30:06.920 If you go out
00:30:08.340 there now,
00:30:08.760 you can see
00:30:09.160 the memorial
00:30:10.160 to the USS
00:30:10.900 Arizona.
00:30:11.500 The other
00:30:11.780 ships, almost
00:30:12.320 all of them
00:30:12.840 were repaired
00:30:13.960 and sent back
00:30:15.060 out into
00:30:15.480 service.
00:30:16.180 The only other
00:30:16.740 two that
00:30:17.220 weren't, besides
00:30:18.060 the Arizona,
00:30:18.680 were just too
00:30:19.280 old and too
00:30:20.000 out of commission
00:30:21.240 to really care
00:30:21.980 about.
00:30:23.320 But the
00:30:24.060 Arizona is the
00:30:24.780 one that took
00:30:25.180 the brunt of
00:30:25.840 it.
00:30:25.980 And I will
00:30:26.260 tell you,
00:30:26.960 a couple years
00:30:27.300 ago, I
00:30:27.540 interviewed Jim
00:30:28.600 Downing, who
00:30:29.140 I saw in
00:30:29.820 your piece,
00:30:31.360 who was such a
00:30:32.180 special man,
00:30:33.740 such a special
00:30:34.560 man.
00:30:34.700 So I flew
00:30:35.140 out and I
00:30:35.640 met him in
00:30:36.040 California with
00:30:36.560 his family.
00:30:37.720 He wasn't on
00:30:38.380 the actual ship
00:30:39.720 when it got
00:30:40.080 hit, but then
00:30:40.600 he ran there
00:30:41.280 and held the
00:30:42.960 bodies of many
00:30:43.800 men who were
00:30:44.260 dying and said
00:30:45.820 prayers to them
00:30:46.460 and continued to
00:30:47.080 do so.
00:30:48.300 We have a
00:30:48.880 soundbite,
00:30:49.300 actually, from
00:30:49.720 Jim on the
00:30:50.360 role of God
00:30:50.960 for him during
00:30:52.380 the attack.
00:30:52.900 I'll play it
00:30:53.200 now.
00:30:53.500 It's SOT
00:30:53.880 12.
00:30:55.660 What role did
00:30:56.580 God play for
00:30:57.360 you that
00:30:58.100 fateful day?
00:30:59.220 I thought I
00:31:00.340 was going to
00:31:00.740 be blown up.
00:31:01.540 And my
00:31:04.160 conversation
00:31:04.860 with God
00:31:05.440 is, I'll
00:31:06.640 be with you
00:31:07.140 in a minute.
00:31:08.940 But a minute
00:31:10.180 went by for
00:31:11.000 about 30
00:31:11.640 minutes and I
00:31:12.500 wasn't taken.
00:31:14.260 But I
00:31:14.620 experienced the
00:31:15.520 greatest peace
00:31:16.500 I've ever had
00:31:17.860 in my life,
00:31:19.180 knowing that
00:31:20.000 God's in
00:31:20.740 charge.
00:31:22.520 He was 104
00:31:23.700 during that
00:31:24.740 interview.
00:31:25.920 And the
00:31:26.300 loveliest thing
00:31:26.940 happened to
00:31:27.420 him.
00:31:28.460 We talked
00:31:28.920 about God,
00:31:29.540 my connection
00:31:30.000 to him,
00:31:30.340 his connection.
00:31:31.760 And Jim
00:31:32.500 wrote me the
00:31:33.440 most thoughtful
00:31:34.040 letter after
00:31:35.060 that interview,
00:31:36.500 thanking me.
00:31:37.120 Of course,
00:31:37.500 it was I who
00:31:38.560 needed to thank
00:31:39.020 him.
00:31:39.620 He wrote me
00:31:40.100 this long letter
00:31:40.580 thanking me and
00:31:41.260 encouraging me to
00:31:42.600 do a couple of
00:31:43.060 things to renew
00:31:43.900 my relationship
00:31:44.560 with my faith
00:31:45.280 and so on.
00:31:45.860 I wrote back
00:31:46.320 to him.
00:31:46.580 And a pen
00:31:46.980 pal relationship
00:31:47.820 developed.
00:31:49.680 He would die
00:31:50.480 not long
00:31:51.120 thereafter in
00:31:51.800 2018.
00:31:53.200 But what a
00:31:53.720 special,
00:31:54.300 special dear
00:31:54.880 man.
00:31:56.560 Jim was in
00:31:58.080 the mail office
00:31:59.120 and the post
00:31:59.680 office on the
00:32:00.500 USS West,
00:32:01.520 West Virginia.
00:32:02.720 So he read a
00:32:04.280 lot of the
00:32:04.740 letters that
00:32:05.560 were sent
00:32:06.560 home.
00:32:07.880 And the West
00:32:08.740 Virginia was
00:32:09.360 attacked on
00:32:10.020 December 7th,
00:32:10.900 1941.
00:32:12.980 And to me,
00:32:14.020 so he got to
00:32:14.860 know personally
00:32:15.580 the stories of
00:32:16.720 the men on
00:32:17.260 that battleship.
00:32:19.380 And there's
00:32:20.460 been a lot
00:32:21.080 written about
00:32:22.220 Jim.
00:32:22.740 And Jim,
00:32:23.240 to me,
00:32:23.580 represents the
00:32:24.340 best of
00:32:25.420 America.
00:32:25.940 America.
00:32:26.760 And,
00:32:27.340 you know,
00:32:29.020 I think you
00:32:29.440 were very
00:32:29.820 fortunate to
00:32:30.680 know somebody
00:32:31.280 like him.
00:32:32.700 And I
00:32:33.160 think if we
00:32:34.480 could somehow
00:32:35.180 get back
00:32:36.800 to the
00:32:40.940 mindset of
00:32:41.740 men like
00:32:42.380 Jim,
00:32:43.720 we'd be such
00:32:44.420 a better
00:32:44.740 country for
00:32:46.000 that.
00:32:47.220 And he was
00:32:48.200 a hero,
00:32:48.640 but he didn't
00:32:49.480 think himself
00:32:50.160 of a hero,
00:32:51.320 as himself
00:32:52.120 as a hero.
00:32:53.260 And he
00:32:54.000 read the
00:32:54.480 letters home
00:32:55.300 and he
00:32:55.780 was kind
00:32:56.280 of connected
00:32:56.700 to everybody
00:32:57.540 on the
00:32:58.300 USS West
00:32:59.180 Virginia.
00:33:00.800 And the
00:33:02.100 Pearl Harbor
00:33:02.980 was such a
00:33:04.360 turning point
00:33:06.080 in the history
00:33:06.620 of this world
00:33:07.540 that he
00:33:09.000 was on
00:33:10.060 that battleship
00:33:10.860 and was
00:33:11.200 reading the
00:33:11.740 personal letters
00:33:12.600 home of the
00:33:13.600 people on
00:33:14.120 that battleship.
00:33:15.140 And to me,
00:33:15.640 he's one of
00:33:16.820 those people
00:33:17.300 I always
00:33:17.740 admired and
00:33:18.900 thought,
00:33:19.540 wow,
00:33:19.820 here's a guy
00:33:20.440 who knew
00:33:20.820 the inner
00:33:21.280 thinking,
00:33:22.120 of the
00:33:22.960 people on
00:33:23.440 the battleship
00:33:24.180 and how
00:33:24.900 they were
00:33:25.280 scared and
00:33:26.480 how they
00:33:26.860 were looking
00:33:27.320 forward to
00:33:27.860 their own
00:33:28.260 futures of
00:33:29.640 being doctors
00:33:30.660 and lawyers
00:33:31.560 and maybe
00:33:32.340 curing cancer
00:33:33.420 or Alzheimer's
00:33:34.800 or dementia.
00:33:35.600 I mean,
00:33:35.780 they had so
00:33:36.140 many,
00:33:36.700 they had so
00:33:37.160 much potential
00:33:38.080 the men on
00:33:39.360 at West
00:33:39.700 Virginia and
00:33:40.520 Arizona and
00:33:41.680 Oklahoma and
00:33:42.840 Maryland and
00:33:43.640 Nevada and
00:33:44.220 everybody else.
00:33:44.920 I think what
00:33:45.940 could they have
00:33:46.520 done post-war
00:33:47.760 that it would
00:33:48.580 have changed
00:33:49.040 the world?
00:33:50.220 And Jim is
00:33:50.640 one of those
00:33:51.140 guys.
00:33:52.120 That's the
00:33:52.580 thing is
00:33:53.200 there were
00:33:54.900 almost 3,000
00:33:56.560 Jim Downings
00:33:57.180 killed that
00:33:57.700 day.
00:33:58.580 They were all
00:33:59.700 men like that.
00:34:00.600 They were built
00:34:01.040 differently back
00:34:01.720 then.
00:34:02.060 It's like the
00:34:02.480 quality of
00:34:03.300 person that
00:34:03.960 we lost in
00:34:05.240 each one of
00:34:05.860 those guys is
00:34:06.680 just, it's
00:34:07.620 hard to match.
00:34:08.520 It makes you
00:34:09.140 miss them all
00:34:09.680 the more and
00:34:10.080 it makes you
00:34:10.440 all the angrier.
00:34:11.840 Though, by the
00:34:12.400 way, Jim was
00:34:13.440 not angry.
00:34:14.040 Of course, he
00:34:14.480 was full of
00:34:15.300 grace.
00:34:16.080 I did ask him
00:34:16.880 a question.
00:34:17.820 Here's a follow-up
00:34:18.660 between the two
00:34:19.400 of us.
00:34:19.900 This is
00:34:20.160 SOT 13.
00:34:22.380 You seem like
00:34:23.320 you're a happy
00:34:23.720 person.
00:34:24.360 Are you?
00:34:25.280 I am very
00:34:26.300 happy.
00:34:27.120 I'm a realist.
00:34:28.760 I can't do
00:34:29.580 anything about
00:34:30.400 what happened
00:34:31.440 yesterday.
00:34:33.420 I can't do
00:34:34.420 much about
00:34:34.920 what happens
00:34:35.340 tomorrow.
00:34:36.860 Living today
00:34:37.860 is so much
00:34:38.740 fun.
00:34:39.520 So, I live it
00:34:40.540 up every day.
00:34:41.280 I love
00:34:43.220 that.
00:34:44.460 We all
00:34:45.120 need a little
00:34:45.760 more Jim
00:34:46.280 Downing in
00:34:46.820 our lives.
00:34:48.000 He's one of
00:34:48.760 those guys,
00:34:49.320 Megan, who
00:34:49.760 understands that
00:34:51.220 he represents
00:34:52.040 the guys who
00:34:53.020 were buried in
00:34:53.840 cemeteries in
00:34:55.640 Hawaii at the
00:34:56.720 Punchbowl or
00:34:57.600 Normandy or
00:34:58.660 Manila or
00:34:59.600 Holland or
00:35:00.380 Belgium or
00:35:01.560 other places
00:35:02.280 that he
00:35:03.220 survived and
00:35:04.240 was able to
00:35:04.940 carry on with
00:35:05.780 his life, but
00:35:07.240 that he also
00:35:08.040 carries the
00:35:08.860 burden of being
00:35:09.660 a survivor.
00:35:11.280 That's a tough
00:35:12.260 burden for
00:35:13.720 these guys.
00:35:15.060 Why did I
00:35:15.880 survive when
00:35:16.560 the guy on
00:35:17.080 the left of
00:35:17.560 me died and
00:35:18.260 the guy on
00:35:18.760 the right of
00:35:19.300 me died?
00:35:20.660 What is my
00:35:21.740 mission in
00:35:22.520 life?
00:35:23.060 My mission
00:35:23.620 in life is
00:35:24.480 to carry on
00:35:26.540 to represent
00:35:27.220 the qualities
00:35:28.020 that my
00:35:28.700 buddies who
00:35:29.940 died had.
00:35:33.380 I think a
00:35:34.380 lot of the
00:35:34.780 times, I
00:35:35.600 joke with
00:35:36.220 people, I
00:35:36.800 say, when
00:35:37.420 you're in
00:35:37.820 Normandy and
00:35:38.480 you're jumping
00:35:38.940 into a
00:35:39.380 foxhole,
00:35:40.700 you're not
00:35:41.200 asking if
00:35:42.220 that guy's
00:35:42.680 a Republican
00:35:43.400 or a
00:35:44.100 Democrat.
00:35:44.440 You're just
00:35:45.080 jumping in
00:35:45.540 that foxhole
00:35:46.280 knowing that
00:35:46.900 that guy's
00:35:47.300 an American
00:35:47.900 and that
00:35:48.940 that guy is
00:35:49.580 going to
00:35:49.980 help you
00:35:50.680 survive and
00:35:51.720 you're going
00:35:52.160 to help
00:35:52.660 him survive.
00:35:53.900 So why
00:35:54.760 can't we
00:35:55.360 get back
00:35:56.080 to that
00:35:56.640 time where
00:35:58.660 we're looking
00:35:59.280 at it as
00:36:00.280 America first?
00:36:02.180 America is
00:36:03.780 not a party,
00:36:05.420 it's an
00:36:06.360 idea, it's
00:36:07.640 an evolution
00:36:08.800 of what
00:36:09.860 the Founding
00:36:10.460 Fathers
00:36:10.900 discussed.
00:36:15.200 The day
00:36:16.080 after Pearl
00:36:16.680 Harbor, on
00:36:18.280 December 8th,
00:36:20.100 1941, the
00:36:21.380 President of
00:36:22.020 the United
00:36:22.340 States, FDR,
00:36:24.160 addressed the
00:36:24.700 nation in a
00:36:25.500 speech that
00:36:26.020 would become
00:36:26.620 known for
00:36:28.140 a century
00:36:29.100 plus.
00:36:30.080 Here's a bit
00:36:30.480 of that.
00:36:30.760 December
00:36:31.880 7th, 1941,
00:36:36.400 a date
00:36:38.120 which will
00:36:38.620 live in
00:36:40.560 infamy.
00:36:42.540 The United
00:36:43.340 States of
00:36:44.020 America was
00:36:45.920 suddenly and
00:36:46.700 deliberately
00:36:47.380 attacked by
00:36:49.560 naval and
00:36:50.200 air forces
00:36:51.020 of the
00:36:52.000 Empire of
00:36:53.220 Japan.
00:36:55.660 I mean,
00:36:56.560 that's some
00:36:56.940 80 years
00:36:57.580 ago and
00:36:58.260 people still
00:36:58.800 know that
00:36:59.180 phrase, a
00:37:00.060 day that
00:37:00.440 will live
00:37:00.880 in infamy.
00:37:02.120 I can only
00:37:02.720 imagine what
00:37:03.780 that did to
00:37:04.680 the United
00:37:05.000 States at
00:37:05.780 the time.
00:37:06.320 His address
00:37:07.160 rousing the
00:37:08.280 same president
00:37:08.880 who'd been
00:37:09.400 with the
00:37:10.280 country and
00:37:10.680 we're not
00:37:10.940 going to get
00:37:11.220 into this.
00:37:11.860 The 88%
00:37:12.600 saying we're
00:37:13.100 not going to
00:37:13.440 get into
00:37:13.720 this.
00:37:14.260 And boy,
00:37:15.000 as they
00:37:15.540 say, what
00:37:16.300 a difference
00:37:16.700 a day
00:37:16.960 makes.
00:37:18.720 We rallied
00:37:19.400 behind the
00:37:20.340 president as
00:37:21.300 we rallied
00:37:22.060 behind W
00:37:23.000 on September
00:37:25.040 11, 2001.
00:37:26.920 And it just
00:37:27.520 seems as
00:37:28.160 though what I
00:37:28.860 learned the
00:37:29.400 most from
00:37:29.960 World War
00:37:30.460 II is that
00:37:31.400 we're like
00:37:32.460 an old
00:37:32.900 Irish family
00:37:34.620 where there
00:37:35.440 are like
00:37:35.700 seven brothers
00:37:36.500 and all we
00:37:37.140 do is beat
00:37:37.740 up on each
00:37:38.300 other.
00:37:39.020 But if God
00:37:39.480 forbid someone
00:37:40.320 from outside
00:37:41.100 the family
00:37:41.740 beats up on
00:37:42.660 one of the
00:37:43.380 brothers, we
00:37:44.800 all to come
00:37:45.580 together and
00:37:46.460 we respond.
00:37:48.800 And that
00:37:49.620 means it's
00:37:50.820 like, why
00:37:51.560 are we so
00:37:52.180 divided now
00:37:53.460 when we
00:37:54.460 could all
00:37:54.860 just find
00:37:55.520 a medium
00:37:57.020 like Eisenhower
00:37:58.200 talked about
00:37:58.940 as a
00:37:59.300 president and
00:38:00.440 come together
00:38:01.180 and figure
00:38:02.240 out what's
00:38:02.700 best for
00:38:03.260 America,
00:38:04.180 not what's
00:38:05.400 best for
00:38:06.060 the Republican
00:38:06.960 Party or
00:38:08.780 it's best for
00:38:09.680 the Democratic
00:38:11.020 Party or the
00:38:12.460 Independent
00:38:12.900 Party.
00:38:13.580 What is best
00:38:14.840 for America?
00:38:16.120 Why does it
00:38:16.680 take us being
00:38:17.540 attacked to
00:38:18.440 come together
00:38:19.100 as a nation?
00:38:20.020 In Roosevelt's
00:38:21.180 speech, I mean,
00:38:21.640 they detested
00:38:22.940 Roosevelt.
00:38:23.680 The Republicans
00:38:24.280 detested
00:38:25.160 Roosevelt.
00:38:26.040 A lot of
00:38:26.600 the country
00:38:27.040 detested
00:38:28.100 Roosevelt
00:38:28.760 because of
00:38:30.240 the New
00:38:30.580 Deal and
00:38:31.200 because of
00:38:31.620 everything else
00:38:32.320 he was pushing.
00:38:34.120 And a lot
00:38:34.500 of the country
00:38:35.060 despised W.
00:38:36.560 Bush because
00:38:37.260 of what he
00:38:37.780 was pushing.
00:38:38.460 But all
00:38:38.860 of a sudden,
00:38:40.020 because America
00:38:41.880 was attacked,
00:38:43.620 all of a sudden
00:38:44.220 we came together
00:38:45.180 and said,
00:38:45.740 here is our
00:38:46.340 common goal.
00:38:47.960 Our common
00:38:48.580 goal is to
00:38:49.160 do what's
00:38:49.560 best for
00:38:50.160 America.
00:38:50.760 And I
00:38:51.760 always find
00:38:52.160 that fascinating.
00:38:55.280 You know,
00:38:55.500 I have to say
00:38:55.960 though, I feel
00:38:56.400 lucky to
00:38:56.920 remember those
00:38:57.620 times.
00:38:58.160 I feel lucky
00:38:58.780 to be one
00:38:59.380 of the
00:38:59.580 citizens who
00:39:00.140 felt that
00:39:00.760 and remembers
00:39:01.700 that America
00:39:02.940 first feeling.
00:39:03.960 Like, this
00:39:04.240 is, we
00:39:05.220 love our
00:39:05.800 country and
00:39:06.180 we love
00:39:06.520 each other
00:39:06.940 and you
00:39:07.360 mess with
00:39:07.940 the family.
00:39:08.960 You know,
00:39:09.160 you're going
00:39:09.440 to pay.
00:39:10.400 You're going
00:39:10.660 to pay.
00:39:11.260 Well, back
00:39:12.300 to World War
00:39:12.780 II, pay
00:39:13.260 they did.
00:39:14.060 We and
00:39:14.980 Great Britain
00:39:15.660 declared war
00:39:16.420 on Japan.
00:39:18.340 Hitler
00:39:18.780 decided to
00:39:19.520 join in
00:39:20.120 and declared
00:39:20.680 war on
00:39:21.120 us and
00:39:22.300 it was
00:39:22.740 off to
00:39:23.340 the races.
00:39:24.080 He
00:39:24.480 believed
00:39:25.080 inaccurately
00:39:26.240 that we
00:39:26.760 would be
00:39:27.020 too
00:39:27.180 distracted
00:39:27.560 with the
00:39:27.860 Japanese
00:39:28.260 to fight
00:39:29.780 him.
00:39:30.300 And he,
00:39:30.760 again, unlike
00:39:31.660 the Japanese
00:39:32.580 leader who
00:39:33.020 you mentioned,
00:39:34.040 Hitler
00:39:34.360 underestimated
00:39:36.200 us in a way
00:39:37.380 that would be
00:39:37.780 profound.
00:39:38.320 He didn't
00:39:38.640 think that we
00:39:39.100 had the
00:39:39.320 resolve.
00:39:39.700 He didn't
00:39:39.860 think we
00:39:40.080 had the
00:39:40.320 military and
00:39:40.800 he didn't
00:39:41.040 think that
00:39:41.440 despite our
00:39:42.080 booming
00:39:42.440 economy, we
00:39:43.500 had the
00:39:43.760 resources to
00:39:44.400 fight on
00:39:45.020 two fronts
00:39:45.440 and he
00:39:46.220 was wrong.
00:39:47.400 He was
00:39:47.540 wrong.
00:39:47.860 Most of
00:39:48.960 these
00:39:49.180 people, the
00:39:49.680 Japanese and
00:39:50.300 Germans, looked
00:39:50.960 at the
00:39:51.220 Americans as
00:39:51.920 soft, that
00:39:53.280 they didn't
00:39:53.660 want war.
00:39:54.540 They didn't
00:39:54.860 want to fight
00:39:55.520 in a war and
00:39:56.720 that they
00:39:57.020 would not
00:39:57.820 use all of
00:39:59.360 their resources
00:40:00.220 and initiative
00:40:01.080 and everything
00:40:01.560 else to fight
00:40:02.260 in a war.
00:40:03.180 And they
00:40:03.360 were wrong.
00:40:03.880 The Japanese
00:40:04.320 were wrong.
00:40:05.020 The Germans
00:40:05.440 were wrong.
00:40:06.820 And they
00:40:07.500 paid the
00:40:07.880 price for
00:40:08.360 that.
00:40:08.600 And so I
00:40:09.820 always look at
00:40:10.380 it as
00:40:10.600 interesting is
00:40:11.420 that they
00:40:12.200 always
00:40:12.420 underestimated
00:40:13.520 the United
00:40:14.100 States and
00:40:14.740 people always
00:40:16.280 underestimate the
00:40:18.040 United States.
00:40:18.960 But Hitler's
00:40:19.480 two main
00:40:20.460 errors in
00:40:21.920 World War
00:40:22.420 II were
00:40:22.960 declaring war
00:40:25.200 on the
00:40:25.680 Soviet Union
00:40:26.380 and declaring
00:40:26.940 war on the
00:40:27.560 United States.
00:40:30.180 The British
00:40:31.540 were major
00:40:32.160 players, of
00:40:32.920 course, as
00:40:33.340 well, and
00:40:34.580 were in a
00:40:35.360 precarious
00:40:35.780 position for
00:40:36.400 quite some
00:40:36.740 time during
00:40:37.180 the war,
00:40:37.500 not knowing
00:40:38.000 whether they
00:40:38.460 were going
00:40:38.640 to face
00:40:38.960 the same
00:40:39.720 fate as
00:40:40.640 France.
00:40:41.880 Winston
00:40:42.120 Churchill was
00:40:42.820 the prime
00:40:43.180 minister and
00:40:44.340 in probably
00:40:45.860 the best
00:40:46.340 known speech
00:40:47.520 ever, I
00:40:48.720 mean, it's
00:40:48.960 got to be
00:40:49.280 at least
00:40:49.660 one of
00:40:50.820 them, rallied
00:40:53.180 his country
00:40:53.980 to the cause,
00:40:54.780 but also with
00:40:55.620 a note of
00:40:56.000 caution about
00:40:56.880 what the
00:40:58.440 enemy that
00:40:59.280 they faced.
00:41:00.580 Here's
00:41:00.780 Winston
00:41:01.100 Churchill
00:41:01.640 addressing
00:41:02.100 the House
00:41:02.500 of Commons
00:41:03.000 June 4,
00:41:04.360 1940.
00:41:05.700 We will
00:41:06.100 fight in
00:41:06.620 France.
00:41:08.000 We shall
00:41:08.460 fight on
00:41:09.000 the seas
00:41:09.500 and oceans.
00:41:11.280 We shall
00:41:11.720 fight with
00:41:12.780 growing confidence
00:41:13.720 and growing
00:41:14.520 strength in
00:41:15.280 the air.
00:41:17.220 We shall
00:41:17.660 defend our
00:41:18.320 island,
00:41:19.220 whatever the
00:41:19.840 cost may
00:41:20.380 be.
00:41:21.300 We shall
00:41:21.660 fight on
00:41:22.180 the beaches.
00:41:23.560 We shall
00:41:23.880 fight on
00:41:24.400 the landing
00:41:24.860 grounds.
00:41:26.340 We shall
00:41:26.640 fight in
00:41:27.120 the fields
00:41:27.780 and in
00:41:28.860 the streets.
00:41:29.960 We shall
00:41:30.300 fight in
00:41:30.800 the hills.
00:41:32.340 We shall
00:41:32.740 never surrender.
00:41:33.680 And if,
00:41:35.780 which I do
00:41:36.500 not for a
00:41:37.100 moment believe,
00:41:39.000 this island or
00:41:40.120 a large part
00:41:40.920 of it were
00:41:41.840 subjugated and
00:41:42.980 starving, then
00:41:44.660 our empire,
00:41:45.960 beyond the
00:41:46.640 seas, armed
00:41:48.480 and guarded by
00:41:49.560 the British
00:41:50.040 fleet, would
00:41:51.380 carry on the
00:41:52.260 struggle until
00:41:53.760 in God's good
00:41:54.800 time, the
00:41:56.160 new world,
00:41:57.520 with all its
00:41:58.160 power and
00:41:58.800 might, steps
00:41:59.960 forth to the
00:42:00.740 rescue and
00:42:01.840 the liberation
00:42:02.540 of the old
00:42:03.680 world.
00:42:05.380 That was
00:42:06.020 June 4th,
00:42:07.080 1940, to the
00:42:08.040 House of
00:42:08.340 Commons.
00:42:08.860 The thing
00:42:09.240 about Winston
00:42:09.700 Churchill was,
00:42:10.420 I just recently
00:42:10.960 read a biography
00:42:11.540 on him, if
00:42:12.780 there was one
00:42:13.320 thing he was
00:42:13.840 great at, it
00:42:14.380 was wordsmithing.
00:42:15.700 And if you
00:42:16.720 could take that
00:42:17.260 to the next
00:42:17.720 level with
00:42:18.140 Winston Churchill,
00:42:18.940 it was
00:42:19.200 wordsmithing
00:42:19.860 when it came
00:42:20.380 to war, which
00:42:21.180 was his
00:42:21.520 particular area
00:42:22.520 of expertise.
00:42:23.920 It was a
00:42:24.200 skill he'd
00:42:24.620 worked on his
00:42:25.140 entire life.
00:42:27.000 He was built
00:42:27.880 for that
00:42:28.540 moment and he
00:42:30.480 was ready for
00:42:31.140 it when it
00:42:31.520 came.
00:42:31.900 That was before
00:42:32.820 they attacked
00:42:33.300 us at
00:42:33.620 Pearl Harbor.
00:42:34.240 Great Britain
00:42:34.640 was in it.
00:42:35.220 They were
00:42:35.440 dealing with
00:42:35.940 Hitler.
00:42:36.460 They were
00:42:36.720 dealing with
00:42:37.120 everything and
00:42:37.560 he was the
00:42:38.500 man who got
00:42:39.200 Great Britain
00:42:39.660 through it,
00:42:40.480 notwithstanding
00:42:40.820 the fact that
00:42:41.260 they would
00:42:41.460 throw him out
00:42:41.920 of office as
00:42:42.480 soon as they
00:42:42.880 won the war.
00:42:44.760 There's that
00:42:45.340 classic scene
00:42:46.140 from the
00:42:47.460 King's Speech
00:42:48.140 where they're
00:42:50.560 following the
00:42:51.040 British story
00:42:51.640 during World
00:42:52.180 War II and
00:42:52.960 the King is
00:42:54.620 watching Adolf
00:42:55.560 Hitler speak and
00:42:57.580 the little girl
00:42:58.620 who is the
00:42:59.540 future Queen of
00:43:00.320 England, Queen
00:43:00.780 Elizabeth, as a
00:43:01.960 little girl, looks
00:43:02.500 at her father and
00:43:03.080 says, what is
00:43:03.620 he saying?
00:43:04.420 What is he
00:43:04.780 saying, Dad?
00:43:05.780 Masses of
00:43:06.260 uniformed men
00:43:06.960 stupefying to
00:43:07.780 the eye and
00:43:08.240 incredible to
00:43:08.860 the imagination
00:43:09.500 have stood in
00:43:10.640 spellbound audience
00:43:11.560 of the Fuhrer.
00:43:12.380 This is a guy with
00:43:38.080 a speech impediment
00:43:38.760 who's observing how
00:43:39.660 effective a
00:43:40.260 communicator Hitler
00:43:41.080 was.
00:43:42.100 There's a reason
00:43:42.940 so many Germans
00:43:44.440 followed this
00:43:45.380 lunatic down
00:43:46.940 the incredible
00:43:48.060 murderous hole
00:43:49.660 that they did.
00:43:50.800 Yeah, and we've
00:43:52.140 interviewed German
00:43:53.060 soldiers and
00:43:54.060 those German
00:43:54.500 soldiers have
00:43:55.200 told us that
00:43:56.440 Hitler delivered
00:43:57.880 us from the
00:43:58.640 Treaty of Versailles.
00:43:59.860 Our economy
00:44:00.580 was devastated.
00:44:02.300 Our military
00:44:03.080 did not exist.
00:44:04.540 We had no
00:44:05.140 morale.
00:44:05.760 By the time
00:44:07.020 Hitler delivered
00:44:08.200 his oratory,
00:44:10.040 his ability to
00:44:11.540 motivate us,
00:44:13.660 he had
00:44:14.560 controlled the
00:44:15.180 media.
00:44:16.340 He had
00:44:16.700 controlled everything
00:44:17.700 he needed to
00:44:18.800 control in
00:44:20.160 order to be in
00:44:21.180 charge of that
00:44:21.940 country.
00:44:23.040 So it's
00:44:24.940 almost like an
00:44:25.960 apology when we've
00:44:27.280 interviewed German
00:44:28.200 veterans.
00:44:29.580 And they're not
00:44:30.100 SS.
00:44:30.520 They're not
00:44:31.160 fanatical.
00:44:32.500 They're not
00:44:32.880 the guys on
00:44:33.720 the cusp of
00:44:35.080 the concentration
00:44:36.360 camps and
00:44:37.280 everything else.
00:44:37.960 These are just
00:44:38.580 general German
00:44:40.300 soldiers.
00:44:41.820 They said he
00:44:42.620 motivated us
00:44:43.740 enough to
00:44:45.280 believe in
00:44:46.500 him.
00:44:47.200 His oratory
00:44:48.260 motivated us
00:44:49.720 enough to
00:44:50.340 believe in him.
00:44:51.180 And he also
00:44:52.060 controlled the
00:44:52.860 media at that
00:44:53.780 time.
00:44:54.760 And so the
00:44:55.360 media message
00:44:56.240 was his
00:44:57.020 message.
00:44:58.260 And by the
00:44:59.340 time they
00:44:59.900 discovered,
00:45:00.520 or they
00:45:00.980 found out
00:45:01.480 about the
00:45:01.840 concentration
00:45:02.360 camps, and
00:45:03.640 they found
00:45:04.140 out about
00:45:04.580 the Jews,
00:45:05.560 and they
00:45:05.800 found out
00:45:06.400 about the
00:45:07.420 obsession
00:45:09.280 with controlling
00:45:10.220 more territory,
00:45:11.520 whether it be
00:45:11.900 Czechoslovakia or
00:45:13.220 the Soviet
00:45:13.700 Union, it
00:45:15.240 was too late.
00:45:16.980 It was too
00:45:17.420 late for them
00:45:17.860 to do
00:45:18.220 anything.
00:45:19.020 There would
00:45:19.360 always be a
00:45:20.200 resistance
00:45:20.740 within the
00:45:22.420 community,
00:45:23.160 but the
00:45:23.900 resistance would
00:45:24.580 never be strong
00:45:25.260 enough to
00:45:25.720 overthrow what
00:45:26.580 had already
00:45:27.320 been done.
00:45:31.520 Let's talk
00:45:32.400 about it,
00:45:32.900 because the
00:45:34.400 numbers are
00:45:35.040 just stunning.
00:45:35.980 June 6,
00:45:36.720 1944, it
00:45:37.700 was a
00:45:37.900 Tuesday.
00:45:38.840 More than
00:45:39.080 156,000
00:45:40.700 American,
00:45:41.480 British, and
00:45:42.040 Canadian
00:45:42.460 troops stormed
00:45:43.980 50 miles of
00:45:44.760 Normandy's
00:45:45.340 fiercely defended
00:45:46.420 beaches in
00:45:47.500 northern France.
00:45:49.020 And if you
00:45:49.540 look back at
00:45:50.420 how the
00:45:50.700 battle was
00:45:52.300 fought with
00:45:53.600 the men
00:45:56.660 running out
00:45:57.380 of the
00:45:57.560 ships onto
00:45:58.340 beaches that
00:45:59.800 were riddled
00:46:00.260 with mines,
00:46:01.440 taking fire
00:46:02.340 from above,
00:46:03.840 you can't
00:46:04.320 help it as
00:46:04.840 a layperson
00:46:05.560 but to feel
00:46:06.320 like they
00:46:06.740 were sacrificed.
00:46:08.700 There was
00:46:08.920 how on earth
00:46:10.280 could we not
00:46:11.540 lose some
00:46:12.380 50% of our
00:46:13.800 forces undergoing
00:46:15.640 that kind of
00:46:16.560 an assault,
00:46:16.960 which we knew
00:46:17.580 was going to
00:46:18.060 happen.
00:46:18.600 We knew it
00:46:19.140 was going to
00:46:19.320 happen, and
00:46:19.580 we had laid
00:46:19.940 traps so they
00:46:20.480 would think
00:46:20.960 that we
00:46:21.220 weren't going
00:46:21.540 to storm
00:46:21.820 Normandy and
00:46:22.320 so on.
00:46:22.620 They fell
00:46:23.620 for our
00:46:23.920 traps, but
00:46:24.360 they were
00:46:24.580 also prepared
00:46:25.160 at Normandy
00:46:25.660 as I
00:46:25.920 understand it.
00:46:27.180 I just
00:46:27.500 wonder, as
00:46:28.440 a historian,
00:46:29.660 when you
00:46:29.840 look at
00:46:30.120 that, did
00:46:30.480 we know
00:46:30.920 the extent
00:46:31.580 of the
00:46:31.800 casualties
00:46:32.180 we were
00:46:32.540 likely to
00:46:33.560 take storming
00:46:34.540 those beaches?
00:46:36.100 We always
00:46:36.480 believed as
00:46:37.100 a country
00:46:37.540 we were
00:46:38.020 going to
00:46:38.480 expect more
00:46:40.520 casualties
00:46:41.200 than we
00:46:41.720 actually attained
00:46:45.040 on that
00:46:45.940 day.
00:46:46.980 The
00:46:47.220 paratroopers,
00:46:48.000 the addition
00:46:48.380 of the
00:46:48.700 paratroopers,
00:46:49.540 the 82nd
00:46:50.060 Airborne and
00:46:50.560 the 101st
00:46:51.220 Airborne,
00:46:51.680 was something
00:46:54.180 that was
00:46:54.600 important to
00:46:55.680 Eisenhower,
00:46:56.780 not so much
00:46:57.640 as the
00:46:58.760 British,
00:46:59.860 but we
00:47:00.940 sustained so
00:47:02.580 much less
00:47:03.640 casualties than
00:47:04.740 we expected
00:47:05.680 that day.
00:47:06.420 Eisenhower had
00:47:07.200 written a note
00:47:08.160 taking total
00:47:09.520 blame for the
00:47:10.520 failure of
00:47:11.880 D-Day.
00:47:12.660 Can you imagine
00:47:13.320 that one person
00:47:14.300 writing a note
00:47:15.440 saying,
00:47:15.880 I have
00:47:16.500 accepted
00:47:17.200 the failure
00:47:19.360 of the
00:47:19.940 landings
00:47:20.720 on the
00:47:21.240 coast of
00:47:22.540 Normandy.
00:47:24.700 And he
00:47:25.260 did that.
00:47:25.940 He wrote
00:47:26.320 two notes
00:47:27.040 and one
00:47:28.220 of them
00:47:28.600 was because
00:47:29.940 he did not
00:47:30.660 know which
00:47:31.200 way the
00:47:31.620 battle would
00:47:32.560 go.
00:47:33.860 And Normandy
00:47:34.880 was a
00:47:35.380 defining moment
00:47:36.320 in the
00:47:36.780 history of
00:47:37.740 World War
00:47:38.280 II.
00:47:39.140 And all
00:47:39.700 of the
00:47:39.980 plans that
00:47:40.720 were laid
00:47:41.260 out,
00:47:42.380 and we
00:47:43.320 talk about
00:47:44.140 this a lot
00:47:44.780 and it's
00:47:45.440 interesting
00:47:45.840 because we
00:47:46.240 talk about
00:47:46.660 this with
00:47:47.060 corporations
00:47:47.740 as well,
00:47:49.660 big corporation,
00:47:51.320 that, you
00:47:52.340 know, every
00:47:53.680 plan looks
00:47:54.440 great on
00:47:55.140 paper until
00:47:56.500 that first
00:47:57.120 shot is
00:47:58.320 fired.
00:47:59.160 And that
00:47:59.500 is a quote
00:47:59.940 from General
00:48:01.280 Patton.
00:48:02.160 Every plan
00:48:02.960 looks good
00:48:03.580 until the
00:48:04.080 first fire,
00:48:05.800 you know,
00:48:06.360 first grand,
00:48:07.300 M1 grand
00:48:08.100 is fired,
00:48:08.820 and then all
00:48:09.440 plans go to
00:48:10.260 hell.
00:48:11.080 And then
00:48:11.500 it's the
00:48:11.840 initiative of
00:48:12.940 the Americans
00:48:13.560 at that
00:48:14.160 point.
00:48:14.620 And I
00:48:14.780 think it
00:48:14.980 was the
00:48:15.220 initiative of
00:48:15.800 the Americans
00:48:16.280 at that
00:48:16.700 point compared
00:48:17.280 to the
00:48:17.660 Germans that
00:48:18.760 was the
00:48:19.240 true ultimate
00:48:19.940 success of
00:48:21.080 D-Day in
00:48:22.100 terms of
00:48:22.720 knowing the
00:48:23.460 plans of
00:48:24.180 the divisions
00:48:24.720 around you,
00:48:25.600 the companies
00:48:26.100 around you,
00:48:27.500 knowing the
00:48:28.020 plans of
00:48:28.660 everybody around
00:48:30.160 you.
00:48:30.900 So if
00:48:31.180 something went
00:48:31.720 wrong, you
00:48:32.740 had the
00:48:33.180 training to
00:48:34.060 pick up the
00:48:35.040 rifle and
00:48:36.540 move forward,
00:48:37.580 whereas the
00:48:38.160 Germans were
00:48:38.760 reliant on
00:48:39.980 Hitler and
00:48:41.860 von Roodstadt
00:48:42.620 and reliant
00:48:44.200 on Rommel's
00:48:45.200 orders and
00:48:45.880 things like
00:48:46.360 that, it
00:48:47.120 was initiative
00:48:48.080 that won
00:48:49.100 D-Day for
00:48:49.700 the Americans
00:48:50.360 as opposed to
00:48:51.640 what the
00:48:52.040 Germans were
00:48:52.940 defending.
00:48:54.840 How much
00:48:55.080 prep did we
00:48:55.760 put into
00:48:56.620 that effort
00:48:57.340 before we
00:48:57.780 actually launched
00:48:58.320 the attack?
00:48:58.960 Tons, tons
00:49:00.020 of prep, tons
00:49:00.860 of maps.
00:49:02.560 Everything,
00:49:03.220 again, looked
00:49:04.060 great on
00:49:04.880 paper.
00:49:05.960 And, you
00:49:06.380 know, this is
00:49:06.760 where we're
00:49:07.120 going to land.
00:49:07.720 This is where
00:49:08.140 the 1st
00:49:08.620 infantry is going
00:49:09.360 to land.
00:49:09.800 This is where
00:49:10.260 the 29th
00:49:11.400 infantry is going
00:49:12.060 to land.
00:49:12.460 This is where
00:49:12.880 the 82nd
00:49:13.600 airborne is
00:49:14.180 going to
00:49:14.380 land.
00:49:14.660 This is where
00:49:15.040 the 101st
00:49:15.800 is going
00:49:16.080 to land.
00:49:16.800 This is where
00:49:17.320 the British
00:49:17.720 are going
00:49:18.020 to land.
00:49:18.480 This is where
00:49:18.880 the Canadians
00:49:19.440 are going
00:49:19.780 to land.
00:49:20.200 This is where
00:49:20.660 the French
00:49:21.500 are going
00:49:21.780 to land.
00:49:22.720 Everything
00:49:23.180 went to
00:49:23.700 hell in a
00:49:24.240 handbasket
00:49:24.940 as soon
00:49:25.980 as D-Day
00:49:27.700 began.
00:49:29.180 But the
00:49:29.500 thing is,
00:49:30.340 is that the
00:49:31.060 Americans and
00:49:32.380 the allies
00:49:33.240 were all
00:49:34.640 so connected
00:49:35.700 with the
00:49:36.360 plans of
00:49:37.160 D-Day that
00:49:37.980 they knew
00:49:38.800 that if
00:49:39.680 something
00:49:40.180 failed in
00:49:40.960 this area
00:49:41.660 that we
00:49:42.180 be able
00:49:42.900 to accommodate
00:49:44.000 it in
00:49:44.620 this area.
00:49:45.920 The Germans
00:49:46.200 also had the
00:49:46.760 disadvantage of
00:49:47.520 Hitler having
00:49:48.300 decided he would
00:49:48.920 be commander
00:49:49.480 in chief and
00:49:50.160 he was a
00:49:50.460 terrible military
00:49:51.220 commander.
00:49:52.060 He was taking a
00:49:52.800 nap.
00:49:53.200 He was taking a
00:49:54.680 nap.
00:49:54.980 He was sleeping
00:49:55.620 and they were
00:49:56.220 waiting for him
00:49:56.820 to wake up
00:49:57.480 before they
00:49:58.440 waited for him
00:49:59.880 to make the
00:50:00.520 decision whether
00:50:01.280 to move the
00:50:01.940 tanks forward
00:50:02.820 towards the
00:50:03.760 beaches of
00:50:04.260 Normandy and
00:50:04.860 everything else.
00:50:05.580 Whereas the
00:50:06.400 Americans are
00:50:07.240 saying,
00:50:07.740 okay,
00:50:07.900 this isn't
00:50:08.480 working,
00:50:09.740 but the
00:50:10.180 captains and
00:50:11.040 lieutenants and
00:50:12.100 the corporals
00:50:13.280 and the
00:50:15.300 colonels and
00:50:16.300 the privates
00:50:17.040 are taking the
00:50:17.820 initiative.
00:50:18.460 And that's
00:50:18.700 what's so great
00:50:19.300 about America
00:50:20.060 is that we
00:50:21.660 recognize that
00:50:22.700 if something's
00:50:23.280 not working,
00:50:24.820 we take the
00:50:25.540 initiative to
00:50:26.200 make sure it
00:50:26.980 works.
00:50:27.480 We lead.
00:50:27.840 We lead.
00:50:28.700 We lead
00:50:29.180 ourselves.
00:50:30.420 The toughest
00:50:31.780 fighting was
00:50:32.540 said to be on
00:50:32.960 Omaha Beach.
00:50:34.040 First waves of
00:50:34.600 American fighters
00:50:35.240 were cut down
00:50:35.840 in droves by
00:50:37.180 the German
00:50:37.640 machine gun
00:50:38.320 fire as
00:50:39.480 they scrambled
00:50:39.940 across the
00:50:40.580 mine-riddled
00:50:41.600 beach.
00:50:42.720 But U.S.
00:50:43.200 forces persisted
00:50:44.540 all day,
00:50:45.880 pushing forward
00:50:46.460 to a fortified
00:50:47.200 seawall, up
00:50:48.820 steep bluffs to
00:50:50.420 take out the
00:50:50.880 Nazi artillery by
00:50:53.420 nightfall.
00:50:54.420 And they say
00:50:55.700 all told,
00:50:56.320 around 2,400
00:50:57.000 American troops
00:50:57.760 were killed,
00:50:58.460 wounded, or
00:50:58.800 unaccounted for
00:50:59.440 at Omaha
00:51:00.140 Beach.
00:51:01.040 The Canadians
00:51:01.720 were over at
00:51:02.460 Juneau Beach
00:51:03.120 having an
00:51:04.380 equally, if not
00:51:05.120 even tougher
00:51:05.680 time.
00:51:08.220 You have a
00:51:09.840 documentary on
00:51:10.820 D-Day as
00:51:11.720 well, and it
00:51:13.400 has an
00:51:14.020 extraordinary
00:51:14.620 segment of
00:51:16.160 survivors talking
00:51:17.600 about that
00:51:18.020 moment.
00:51:18.220 This moment of
00:51:19.740 storming the
00:51:20.360 beach at
00:51:20.680 Normandy, it's
00:51:21.540 a phrase now
00:51:22.600 that people use
00:51:23.840 to try to
00:51:24.280 describe courage
00:51:25.440 in a few
00:51:26.000 words or less,
00:51:27.160 but you think
00:51:27.960 about having to
00:51:28.960 be one of
00:51:29.880 those guys and
00:51:31.180 actually do it.
00:51:32.860 Understanding,
00:51:33.560 it wasn't a
00:51:34.060 mystery to
00:51:34.480 them, the
00:51:35.020 mines and
00:51:35.740 the machine
00:51:36.080 gun fire
00:51:36.560 that was
00:51:36.880 about to
00:51:37.200 come their
00:51:37.500 way, and
00:51:38.560 here is a
00:51:39.740 couple minutes
00:51:40.280 from Tim's
00:51:41.500 documentary on
00:51:42.380 what that was
00:51:43.220 like.
00:51:43.560 As I was going
00:51:45.860 into the beach, I
00:51:47.560 could hear the
00:51:48.040 bullets hitting on
00:51:48.800 the side of the
00:51:49.440 ship, on the
00:51:50.400 side of my
00:51:50.880 boat, and then
00:51:52.540 that's when I
00:51:53.140 realized, I said,
00:51:54.120 well, this isn't
00:51:54.720 going to be a
00:51:55.240 piece of cake.
00:51:56.300 This is for
00:51:57.060 real.
00:51:57.340 I looked into the
00:52:02.360 well of the
00:52:02.760 boat, and there
00:52:03.520 was 35 soldiers
00:52:04.640 in there, and I
00:52:05.240 don't think there
00:52:05.680 was an atheist
00:52:06.300 in there, because
00:52:07.020 every one of us
00:52:07.840 was making a sign
00:52:09.320 of the cross as
00:52:10.020 we were going
00:52:10.560 in, and I
00:52:14.920 happened to
00:52:15.340 look.
00:52:22.560 I looked to
00:52:23.380 the right, and
00:52:24.760 I seen a boat
00:52:25.520 hit, and then
00:52:28.920 that's when I
00:52:29.600 realized what we
00:52:31.140 were going
00:52:31.600 into.
00:52:32.980 Our job was
00:52:34.100 to roll up
00:52:36.160 these obstacles.
00:52:38.740 They had what
00:52:39.580 they call
00:52:39.960 hedgehogs, and
00:52:41.840 then they had
00:52:42.260 these telephone
00:52:43.340 poles with a
00:52:44.760 ramp.
00:52:45.340 And on top
00:52:46.340 of the telephone
00:52:47.820 pole was a
00:52:48.440 mine.
00:52:49.280 That was
00:52:49.580 for when
00:52:51.040 the tide came
00:52:51.880 in, the boats
00:52:52.980 would just
00:52:53.320 slide up there
00:52:53.980 and the mine
00:52:55.140 would explode.
00:52:57.120 And our job
00:52:57.920 was to blow
00:52:59.720 up 50-odd
00:53:00.700 gaps so the
00:53:02.760 infantry could
00:53:03.520 land.
00:53:15.340 I carried a
00:53:22.360 rifle, a
00:53:24.420 wet belt with
00:53:25.380 canteen and
00:53:26.660 ammunition and a
00:53:27.560 rifle, and I
00:53:29.260 forgot how many
00:53:29.880 pounds of
00:53:30.620 explosives I had
00:53:32.240 on my back.
00:53:33.900 I believe they
00:53:34.500 called it
00:53:34.980 tertetal.
00:53:35.660 and as I got
00:53:39.620 to the ramp
00:53:40.260 of the small
00:53:41.400 boat that
00:53:41.900 was in to
00:53:43.100 land, just as
00:53:46.520 I jumped into
00:53:47.240 the water, there
00:53:48.360 was this
00:53:48.740 explosion.
00:53:51.780 And while I was
00:53:52.540 underwater, maybe
00:53:53.360 a couple of
00:53:54.440 seconds, someone
00:53:55.520 pulled me out
00:53:56.940 and I couldn't
00:54:01.840 find anything.
00:54:10.820 I couldn't find
00:54:11.880 any of the crew
00:54:12.640 that I was
00:54:13.200 attached to.
00:54:15.400 I found out
00:54:16.120 they were all
00:54:20.120 killed.
00:54:26.940 I was
00:54:27.660 only one
00:54:28.240 left.
00:54:30.360 Oh, wow.
00:54:31.620 American hero, and
00:54:32.800 God bless you,
00:54:33.720 Tim, for
00:54:34.120 interviewing these
00:54:35.160 guys and getting
00:54:36.000 their stories on
00:54:38.260 camera.
00:54:38.980 That was Day of
00:54:39.600 Days by Tim
00:54:41.420 Gray.
00:54:41.860 You should
00:54:42.220 definitely watch
00:54:42.960 that one, too.
00:54:44.900 They're just
00:54:45.640 humans, you
00:54:46.380 know?
00:54:46.640 They really, they
00:54:47.780 seem superhuman,
00:54:49.460 but they're just
00:54:50.180 men, and they
00:54:51.220 were young men
00:54:52.700 asked to do the
00:54:53.900 most extraordinary
00:54:54.700 things, and they
00:54:55.780 did it without
00:54:56.620 complaint, and
00:54:57.540 with valor.
00:54:59.480 Ernie Corvesi, who
00:55:00.760 you just heard
00:55:01.520 from, I said,
00:55:02.300 you know, what
00:55:02.620 did you do after
00:55:03.500 the war?
00:55:04.080 He said, I went
00:55:04.660 back to high
00:55:05.260 school.
00:55:06.400 I mean, can you
00:55:06.880 imagine that, going
00:55:08.500 through the fact
00:55:09.500 that you're a naval
00:55:10.340 combat demolition
00:55:11.580 unit guy, like
00:55:12.480 today they're
00:55:13.140 called frogmen or
00:55:14.320 Navy SEALs, and
00:55:16.000 seeing all of your
00:55:16.780 guys killed, and
00:55:18.560 then he went on to
00:55:19.260 the Philippines.
00:55:20.160 I said, what'd
00:55:20.580 you do after World
00:55:21.260 War II?
00:55:21.920 He said, I went
00:55:22.460 back to high
00:55:23.000 school, and I
00:55:23.900 said, you know,
00:55:24.580 when I was in
00:55:25.100 high school, Megan,
00:55:25.980 I would think I
00:55:26.500 was still sucking
00:55:27.440 my thumb.
00:55:29.000 You know, I
00:55:29.680 looked at that
00:55:30.300 guy, and I'm
00:55:30.780 like, thinking
00:55:31.360 myself, what an
00:55:33.320 incredible American
00:55:34.460 you are, to be
00:55:36.040 able to accomplish
00:55:37.000 that, and then go
00:55:39.480 back to high
00:55:40.140 school and finish
00:55:40.860 high school.
00:55:41.800 And Richard
00:55:42.200 Fazio, the guy
00:55:43.160 behind him who
00:55:44.080 lived the first
00:55:44.760 half hour of
00:55:45.580 saving Private
00:55:46.280 Ryan, and Richard's
00:55:48.420 still alive.
00:55:49.020 Ernie passed away
00:55:49.820 this year,
00:55:50.680 unfortunately.
00:55:52.340 But I look at
00:55:53.920 them, and I
00:55:54.880 talk to young
00:55:56.180 people today who
00:55:57.140 are 17 or 18
00:55:58.400 years old, and I
00:55:59.260 go, you know, this
00:56:00.180 is what you're
00:56:00.640 capable of.
00:56:01.920 I said, whether you
00:56:02.720 know it or not,
00:56:04.280 you're capable of
00:56:05.600 this.
00:56:06.500 You're capable of
00:56:07.680 being the next
00:56:08.440 greatest generation.
00:56:10.680 You know, and they
00:56:12.280 look at me like I'm
00:56:13.180 an alien from
00:56:15.000 lost in space or
00:56:16.160 something like that.
00:56:17.280 And I said, these
00:56:18.220 guys didn't think they
00:56:19.060 were capable of doing
00:56:20.200 that themselves at
00:56:21.600 17 or 18, but they
00:56:23.840 did it.
00:56:24.800 Well, think of the
00:56:25.340 sad obsession now
00:56:26.640 with identity and,
00:56:28.460 you know, skin
00:56:29.720 color and gender
00:56:30.880 and patriarchy.
00:56:33.160 It's like, oh, my
00:56:33.880 God, you could be
00:56:35.040 devoting your energies
00:56:36.240 to something so much
00:56:37.800 bigger than just you
00:56:39.460 and these these
00:56:40.740 immutable
00:56:41.420 characteristics that
00:56:42.520 we've decided to
00:56:43.320 obsess over right now.
00:56:45.100 Think of what you
00:56:45.780 could accomplish if
00:56:47.140 you would take all of
00:56:48.180 that time and energy
00:56:49.620 and devote it to
00:56:51.080 something greater
00:56:51.920 than yourself, if
00:56:53.760 not a war
00:56:54.620 innovation, solve
00:56:57.320 the problem of the
00:56:58.480 closure of those
00:56:59.580 steel mines and the
00:57:00.680 people looking for a
00:57:01.860 new career or
00:57:02.660 identity.
00:57:03.500 Find a way to help
00:57:05.180 America find its
00:57:06.280 new footing in the
00:57:08.060 age of electronics
00:57:09.380 and the supercomputers
00:57:10.440 and so on.
00:57:10.900 Like, that's what we
00:57:12.080 need all the energies
00:57:12.840 devoted to, not
00:57:13.960 navel gazing,
00:57:16.140 selfies, and
00:57:17.680 hysterical focus on
00:57:19.220 things over which
00:57:19.940 we will never have
00:57:20.820 any control.
00:57:22.640 Yeah, people base
00:57:23.560 their self-worth
00:57:24.600 today on how many
00:57:25.860 likes they get, and
00:57:27.580 that generation did
00:57:28.660 not.
00:57:29.340 They based their life
00:57:30.260 on coming out of
00:57:31.080 the Depression and
00:57:32.620 surviving the
00:57:33.840 Depression when their
00:57:34.780 parents went from
00:57:36.240 lawyer to selling
00:57:37.620 apples, and they
00:57:38.580 fought World War II
00:57:39.700 as a war, and they
00:57:41.300 fought it as a job,
00:57:42.780 and they came home
00:57:43.960 and they raised their
00:57:44.860 kids on the values
00:57:46.600 that they learned
00:57:47.460 during the war, and
00:57:49.040 the attributes that
00:57:50.660 they brought home,
00:57:51.860 and there's just,
00:57:52.660 there's too much,
00:57:53.860 there's too much
00:57:54.720 that's going by the
00:57:56.100 wayside to make
00:57:57.940 America a great
00:57:59.140 country.
00:58:00.220 There are too many,
00:58:01.240 you know, there's
00:58:01.960 too much divisiveness,
00:58:03.720 and this is what
00:58:04.520 these guys fought
00:58:05.320 about.
00:58:06.680 You know, they
00:58:07.420 fought about, they
00:58:08.880 fought against
00:58:09.520 Mussolini, they
00:58:10.380 fought against
00:58:10.980 Hitler, they fought
00:58:12.400 against all these
00:58:13.180 things that were
00:58:14.240 trying to tear
00:58:15.000 America apart, and
00:58:17.360 I think of when I
00:58:18.940 walk through the
00:58:19.600 cemetery in
00:58:20.700 Normandy, I look at
00:58:21.660 the names from
00:58:22.400 Connecticut and
00:58:23.060 Montana and
00:58:23.880 California and
00:58:25.360 other places, and I
00:58:26.360 said, you know,
00:58:26.800 this kid who was
00:58:28.620 18 or 19 could
00:58:30.840 have cured autism
00:58:32.260 or cancer or
00:58:33.300 dementia or
00:58:34.060 Alzheimer's or
00:58:35.700 all of these things
00:58:36.880 that we're battling
00:58:37.680 today if he had
00:58:38.820 the chance, if he
00:58:39.640 wasn't killed on
00:58:41.400 June 6th or June
00:58:42.700 15th or something
00:58:44.400 like that, and I
00:58:45.780 think to myself,
00:58:46.680 boy, oh boy, you
00:58:47.660 know, what a
00:58:48.160 wasted opportunity
00:58:49.340 that this young
00:58:51.320 man buried in the
00:58:53.480 cemetery under this
00:58:54.620 White Cross or
00:58:55.580 Star of David
00:58:57.020 could have changed
00:58:58.420 the world, but
00:58:59.320 instead, you know,
00:59:00.320 was killed on
00:59:01.060 June 6th, 1944,
00:59:02.480 and I just think,
00:59:05.760 what if?
00:59:06.880 What if?
00:59:07.940 What would this
00:59:08.620 country be?
00:59:09.980 And I look at
00:59:11.360 that, I've been to
00:59:12.000 cemeteries all over
00:59:13.080 the world in
00:59:13.760 Manila where
00:59:14.900 there are 35,000
00:59:16.660 missing in action
00:59:18.060 buried, you know,
00:59:19.380 on the wall of
00:59:20.120 the missing there
00:59:20.880 or the punch
00:59:21.400 ball in Hawaii
00:59:22.580 or Holland or
00:59:24.380 Belgium, and I
00:59:25.040 said, geez, what
00:59:25.940 is their, what
00:59:27.120 would have been
00:59:27.660 their destiny?
00:59:29.640 And I think we
00:59:30.280 think that today
00:59:31.120 with soldiers who
00:59:32.360 were killed in
00:59:32.820 Afghanistan or
00:59:33.740 Iraq or other
00:59:35.460 places, their
00:59:36.560 families feel as
00:59:37.920 though what would
00:59:39.200 have been their
00:59:40.680 destiny?
00:59:41.320 What would they
00:59:42.240 have grown to
00:59:43.100 do?
00:59:44.120 Those poor
00:59:44.860 families, though,
00:59:45.580 have a different,
00:59:46.860 such a different
00:59:47.600 outcome, you know?
00:59:48.840 At least we got to
00:59:50.520 declare victory in
00:59:51.540 World War II, and
00:59:52.360 there was zero doubt
00:59:53.440 about whether, who
00:59:55.220 were the bad guys, who
00:59:56.140 were the good guys, and
00:59:56.900 whether it was worth
00:59:57.680 it.
00:59:58.580 Yeah, we don't know
00:59:59.580 that today, and
01:00:00.480 today these soldiers
01:00:01.460 go through a
01:00:02.240 situation where when
01:00:03.940 they're fighting, they
01:00:04.900 don't know who, I
01:00:06.480 mean, in World War II,
01:00:07.440 the Germans wore
01:00:08.260 helmets where we could
01:00:09.340 identify them.
01:00:10.440 The Japanese wore
01:00:11.520 helmets and uniforms
01:00:12.900 where we could
01:00:13.920 identify them.
01:00:15.140 And today in Iraq and
01:00:16.360 Afghanistan and other
01:00:17.460 countries, we don't
01:00:18.620 know if that 12-year-old
01:00:20.420 is the enemy or not.
01:00:23.120 And that adds an
01:00:24.040 entire layer of
01:00:25.420 stress to these men
01:00:26.680 and women who are
01:00:27.340 fighting that I just
01:00:28.800 can't imagine.
01:00:30.180 Yeah.
01:00:31.160 Can't imagine.
01:00:31.940 Well, you were not
01:00:33.820 the only one floored
01:00:35.260 by the sacrifices made
01:00:37.260 by our troops.
01:00:38.020 You had mentioned
01:00:39.320 Rommel, the German
01:00:41.380 Field Marshal
01:00:42.480 Erwin Rommel.
01:00:43.360 Well, you've got a
01:00:44.780 soundbite from his
01:00:47.380 son, Manfred Rommel,
01:00:49.340 and his dad had left
01:00:51.400 the front lines to
01:00:52.320 attend his wife's
01:00:53.040 50th birthday party
01:00:54.180 on D-Day, and you
01:00:56.720 actually got sound
01:00:57.600 from his son, which
01:00:58.260 is pretty extraordinary.
01:00:59.380 Listen to how he
01:01:00.700 reacted.
01:01:01.440 It's not 21.
01:01:01.860 He was very surprised
01:01:05.240 because he relied on
01:01:08.660 the expert view of
01:01:11.380 the German Kriegsmarine
01:01:13.320 that nobody could land
01:01:16.440 under such weather
01:01:18.200 conditions.
01:01:20.660 It was a very courageous
01:01:22.120 decision of General
01:01:23.440 Eisenhower and a very
01:01:25.380 successful.
01:01:25.920 My father was away
01:01:28.420 from the theater
01:01:31.000 and some others
01:01:33.160 as well.
01:01:34.340 He said,
01:01:35.340 this is
01:01:36.820 very painful
01:01:38.680 that they are
01:01:40.600 landing while
01:01:41.240 I'm not there.
01:01:43.300 The British and
01:01:44.220 Americans were more
01:01:45.240 courageous than the
01:01:47.080 Germans concerning
01:01:47.940 the better.
01:01:48.920 Put that in a
01:01:49.760 context, it's a little
01:01:50.320 tough to understand
01:01:51.200 for the listening
01:01:52.260 audience, Tim.
01:01:53.140 What was he saying
01:01:54.080 there?
01:01:55.120 Well, his father
01:01:56.180 had gone home
01:01:57.340 to Germany
01:01:58.260 because he did
01:01:59.500 not feel as
01:02:00.260 though that the
01:02:00.940 Allies would be
01:02:01.860 landing under such
01:02:03.160 weather conditions
01:02:04.520 as were, you
01:02:07.500 know, as were
01:02:08.500 the case on June
01:02:09.740 6, 1944.
01:02:10.880 He believed that
01:02:11.520 the Allies would
01:02:12.260 land in better
01:02:12.960 weather conditions.
01:02:14.100 So Manfred
01:02:14.960 Rommel's father
01:02:17.060 had gone home
01:02:18.100 for his wife
01:02:18.760 Lucy, his
01:02:20.300 wife Lucy's
01:02:21.660 50th birthday
01:02:22.520 and bought her
01:02:23.440 shoes and
01:02:24.000 Paris.
01:02:25.060 So Manfred
01:02:25.580 was home
01:02:26.440 as the
01:02:27.340 13, 14
01:02:28.320 year old
01:02:29.080 who witnessed
01:02:30.440 his father
01:02:31.060 getting the
01:02:31.800 call back
01:02:32.460 in Hurling
01:02:33.020 in Germany
01:02:33.640 that the
01:02:34.680 Allied invasion
01:02:35.600 had begun
01:02:36.260 in Normandy.
01:02:37.920 And Erwin
01:02:39.140 Rommel's
01:02:39.660 headquarters
01:02:40.140 at Le Roche
01:02:41.040 Guillaume,
01:02:41.880 which is
01:02:42.240 outside of
01:02:42.820 Paris, was
01:02:44.200 unoccupied
01:02:45.480 by Rommel
01:02:46.560 on D-Day.
01:02:47.520 Rommel should
01:02:48.040 have been there
01:02:48.760 on D-Day
01:02:49.320 to direct
01:02:50.300 the forces,
01:02:51.140 to direct
01:02:51.600 the German
01:02:52.040 forces.
01:02:52.580 And here
01:02:53.560 he is
01:02:53.900 in Germany
01:02:54.500 because he
01:02:55.060 did not
01:02:55.460 think that
01:02:55.880 the Allies
01:02:56.380 would land
01:02:56.940 under such
01:02:57.540 weather conditions,
01:02:58.600 whereas Eisenhower
01:02:59.840 had said,
01:03:01.040 the conditions
01:03:01.540 are marginal,
01:03:02.700 but will go.
01:03:04.940 And so Manfred
01:03:05.840 was home
01:03:06.580 watching his
01:03:07.860 father's reaction,
01:03:09.600 getting the
01:03:10.140 telephone call
01:03:11.120 back in
01:03:12.320 Hurling,
01:03:12.800 Germany,
01:03:13.280 that the Allies
01:03:14.580 had landed
01:03:15.180 in Normandy,
01:03:16.220 and here he is
01:03:16.860 in Germany.
01:03:18.280 And Manfred
01:03:18.760 articulated that.
01:03:21.520 Manfred Rommel
01:03:22.180 was an outstanding
01:03:23.020 human being.
01:03:24.240 He was the
01:03:24.700 mayor of
01:03:25.100 Stuttgart,
01:03:25.620 Germany,
01:03:25.960 for 23 years.
01:03:27.560 He also
01:03:28.080 became very
01:03:28.640 good friends
01:03:29.140 with the
01:03:30.180 family of
01:03:30.680 General Montgomery
01:03:31.460 after the war.
01:03:32.760 And he was a
01:03:33.280 humanitarian,
01:03:34.480 but he was
01:03:34.980 also witness
01:03:35.980 to a
01:03:37.100 momentous time
01:03:38.080 in history
01:03:38.580 when his
01:03:38.980 father got a
01:03:39.540 phone call
01:03:39.960 in Germany
01:03:40.500 that the
01:03:40.980 Allies were
01:03:41.640 landing on
01:03:42.420 D-Day
01:03:42.780 in France.
01:03:44.920 And Manfred
01:03:46.200 was also
01:03:46.720 there when
01:03:47.120 his father
01:03:47.480 was taken
01:03:47.940 away to
01:03:49.260 be forced
01:03:50.460 to commit
01:03:50.820 suicide
01:03:51.520 by Hitler
01:03:53.440 because of
01:03:55.020 the failures
01:03:55.680 of Normandy
01:03:56.580 and because
01:03:57.360 Rommel had
01:03:59.320 been an
01:03:59.840 outspoken
01:04:00.360 critic of
01:04:01.320 Hitler
01:04:02.320 during World
01:04:03.020 War II.
01:04:04.280 So Manfred
01:04:04.780 Rommel,
01:04:05.680 who passed
01:04:06.320 away several
01:04:06.800 years ago,
01:04:07.720 gave us this
01:04:08.460 perspective of
01:04:09.500 what it was
01:04:09.920 like to be
01:04:10.760 a 13 or
01:04:11.800 14-year-old
01:04:12.480 in the
01:04:12.740 German Army,
01:04:13.520 but to
01:04:13.820 witness his
01:04:14.540 father's
01:04:15.060 reaction to
01:04:16.320 these
01:04:16.560 momentous
01:04:17.220 events.
01:04:17.860 Extraordinary.
01:04:18.480 And him
01:04:18.720 relaying his
01:04:20.140 father saying
01:04:20.860 the Americans
01:04:21.440 and the
01:04:21.860 Canadians,
01:04:22.540 the Brits,
01:04:22.920 they were
01:04:23.200 just more
01:04:23.640 courageous.
01:04:24.600 That's
01:04:24.860 extraordinary.
01:04:26.340 Your jaw
01:04:26.640 must have
01:04:27.120 dropped when
01:04:27.940 you got that
01:04:28.440 soundbite.
01:04:29.900 Well,
01:04:30.120 it did.
01:04:30.780 It was one
01:04:31.200 of those
01:04:31.540 things where
01:04:32.500 as a
01:04:32.900 filmmaker,
01:04:33.640 you say
01:04:34.380 there are
01:04:35.040 certain
01:04:35.400 people you
01:04:35.980 want to
01:04:36.540 interview who
01:04:37.860 had a first
01:04:38.520 row seat to
01:04:39.440 World War II.
01:04:40.700 And Manfred
01:04:41.100 Rommel was
01:04:41.780 one of those
01:04:42.400 people.
01:04:43.440 And after
01:04:43.980 he passed
01:04:44.520 away,
01:04:45.580 we were
01:04:46.680 very devastated
01:04:47.560 in his
01:04:48.040 passing,
01:04:48.600 but he was
01:04:48.960 a benevolent
01:04:49.700 and he was
01:04:50.200 a kind
01:04:50.900 mayor in
01:04:52.520 Stuttgart,
01:04:53.080 Jimny.
01:04:53.440 But he was
01:04:53.860 also an
01:04:55.200 observer to
01:04:55.900 some of the
01:04:56.300 most momentous
01:04:57.340 events in
01:04:58.420 World War II.
01:05:00.000 And to have
01:05:01.500 him in some
01:05:02.120 of our films
01:05:02.900 was just one
01:05:03.800 of those
01:05:04.100 things where
01:05:04.700 it's just
01:05:05.580 dumb luck
01:05:06.480 that we got
01:05:07.640 him when he
01:05:07.980 was alive.
01:05:08.740 And
01:05:09.520 filmmakers
01:05:10.240 are always
01:05:12.240 dumb luck
01:05:14.000 is always
01:05:14.420 part of
01:05:14.840 being a
01:05:15.200 good
01:05:15.420 filmmaker,
01:05:16.180 whether you're
01:05:16.480 Ken Burns
01:05:17.000 or anybody
01:05:17.980 else.
01:05:18.740 But to
01:05:19.060 have his
01:05:19.500 perspective
01:05:20.060 on that
01:05:22.960 was incredible.
01:05:25.180 And he
01:05:26.180 was firmly
01:05:26.820 in the
01:05:27.240 belief that
01:05:27.880 the Allies
01:05:28.320 would not
01:05:28.860 land in
01:05:29.600 bad weather
01:05:30.220 on June
01:05:30.640 6,
01:05:31.040 1944.
01:05:32.000 And that's
01:05:32.260 exactly what
01:05:32.920 Eisenhower
01:05:33.420 did.
01:05:33.720 Within a
01:05:35.920 year,
01:05:36.620 Hitler would
01:05:37.060 surrender.
01:05:37.940 The Japanese
01:05:38.520 would be
01:05:38.820 another story.
01:05:39.940 It would
01:05:40.420 take two
01:05:41.080 atom bombs
01:05:42.120 to make
01:05:43.140 them finally
01:05:43.860 surrender.
01:05:46.020 And I
01:05:48.060 want to
01:05:48.340 get to
01:05:49.040 the USS
01:05:49.640 Missouri,
01:05:50.820 which was
01:05:51.480 the ship
01:05:52.460 on which
01:05:52.820 the surrender
01:05:53.240 papers were
01:05:53.780 signed.
01:05:54.440 And just
01:05:54.780 an aside
01:05:56.180 as to
01:05:57.220 John McCain,
01:05:58.660 Senator John
01:05:59.260 McCain's
01:05:59.900 grandfather,
01:06:01.740 who was
01:06:02.340 on the
01:06:03.040 ship
01:06:03.360 on the
01:06:03.720 ship
01:06:04.160 reluctantly.
01:06:04.860 He had
01:06:05.380 wanted to
01:06:05.760 get back
01:06:06.160 home.
01:06:06.680 He knew
01:06:06.940 they won.
01:06:08.280 He was
01:06:09.240 ready to
01:06:09.640 get back
01:06:10.000 home to
01:06:10.380 his family.
01:06:11.100 And tell
01:06:11.680 us what
01:06:12.480 happened.
01:06:14.180 Well,
01:06:14.780 you know,
01:06:15.040 it was just
01:06:15.380 a situation
01:06:16.080 where we
01:06:16.680 had dropped
01:06:17.080 two bombs
01:06:17.720 on Japan
01:06:18.280 and the
01:06:20.620 Japanese
01:06:21.020 military,
01:06:22.120 the army
01:06:22.540 especially,
01:06:23.360 still did
01:06:24.000 not want
01:06:24.460 to surrender.
01:06:25.140 So we
01:06:25.400 dropped
01:06:25.700 bombs on
01:06:26.220 Hiroshima
01:06:26.720 and Nagasaki
01:06:28.700 and the
01:06:29.140 Japanese
01:06:29.560 army did
01:06:30.480 not want
01:06:31.560 to surrender
01:06:32.020 even after
01:06:32.640 two atomic
01:06:33.280 bombs.
01:06:33.720 which is
01:06:34.800 absolutely
01:06:35.300 nuts.
01:06:36.420 But then
01:06:36.740 the emperor
01:06:38.000 Hirohito
01:06:38.660 decided
01:06:39.760 enough is
01:06:40.860 enough.
01:06:41.340 So when
01:06:41.680 Hirohito
01:06:42.260 decides
01:06:43.280 enough is
01:06:44.120 enough,
01:06:44.460 the Japanese
01:06:44.900 military,
01:06:45.620 the army,
01:06:46.080 decides they
01:06:46.600 want to
01:06:47.560 assassinate
01:06:48.360 Hirohito.
01:06:50.560 So we
01:06:53.140 had planned
01:06:53.700 to invade
01:06:54.960 Japan in
01:06:55.660 November of
01:06:56.340 that year of
01:06:56.920 1945 and the
01:06:57.980 casualties would
01:06:58.780 have been in
01:06:59.280 the millions
01:06:59.740 and Japan
01:07:00.220 probably would
01:07:01.520 have been wiped
01:07:02.220 off the face
01:07:02.900 off the face
01:07:02.920 of the earth.
01:07:04.080 So it
01:07:04.320 goes to
01:07:04.680 show you
01:07:05.500 that when
01:07:06.500 the surrender
01:07:07.020 was officially
01:07:07.860 signed by
01:07:09.880 the Japanese,
01:07:10.760 Hirohito was
01:07:11.540 the emperor
01:07:12.660 and decided
01:07:13.400 enough was
01:07:14.000 enough.
01:07:14.360 The Japanese
01:07:14.800 military still,
01:07:17.140 after two
01:07:17.600 atomic bombs,
01:07:18.420 wanted to
01:07:18.840 continue the
01:07:19.420 fight.
01:07:20.600 So when
01:07:21.440 we knew
01:07:22.120 at that
01:07:22.580 point,
01:07:23.000 Truman knew
01:07:23.560 at that
01:07:23.960 point that
01:07:24.380 the Japanese
01:07:24.960 were willing
01:07:26.860 to defend
01:07:27.560 their homeland
01:07:28.060 to the
01:07:28.540 last,
01:07:29.620 whether that
01:07:30.160 be children
01:07:30.820 with spears
01:07:31.900 and women
01:07:33.020 and men
01:07:33.900 and everybody
01:07:34.340 else with
01:07:35.020 everything else,
01:07:36.860 he decided
01:07:37.640 we would
01:07:38.120 drop two
01:07:38.540 atomic bombs.
01:07:40.120 And those
01:07:41.560 who served
01:07:42.040 in the Pacific
01:07:42.660 totally agreed.
01:07:44.300 And those
01:07:44.740 who had
01:07:45.000 served in
01:07:45.460 Europe
01:07:45.840 totally agreed.
01:07:47.440 We've never
01:07:48.040 come across
01:07:48.700 a World War
01:07:49.320 II veteran
01:07:49.780 who said
01:07:50.560 that we
01:07:51.500 should not
01:07:52.060 have dropped
01:07:52.640 the atomic
01:07:53.160 bombs on
01:07:53.900 Japan.
01:07:54.740 Now we're
01:07:55.120 looking at
01:07:55.840 this at a
01:07:56.520 20th century
01:07:57.540 lens.
01:07:58.140 We're not
01:07:58.580 looking at
01:07:59.160 this at a
01:07:59.720 21st century
01:08:01.160 lens.
01:08:01.780 Atomic bombs
01:08:02.380 today are
01:08:03.460 devastating.
01:08:04.200 We do not
01:08:04.680 want them.
01:08:05.160 We do not
01:08:05.620 want Russia
01:08:06.360 to drop
01:08:07.720 an atomic
01:08:08.260 bomb on
01:08:09.080 the Ukraine.
01:08:09.720 We feel
01:08:10.720 as though
01:08:11.140 that would
01:08:11.720 be just,
01:08:12.940 you know.
01:08:13.400 But in
01:08:13.780 1945,
01:08:15.480 in the
01:08:15.880 lens that
01:08:16.620 we're looking
01:08:17.160 at in the
01:08:17.680 21st,
01:08:18.500 in the
01:08:18.800 20th
01:08:19.200 century,
01:08:20.200 that was
01:08:21.100 the appropriate
01:08:21.760 thing to do
01:08:22.740 to save
01:08:23.300 lives.
01:08:24.640 So the
01:08:26.020 surrender in
01:08:26.640 Tokyo Bay,
01:08:27.540 on the
01:08:28.600 USS Missouri,
01:08:29.900 was attended
01:08:30.400 by the
01:08:31.560 Navy and
01:08:32.060 Marines and
01:08:32.720 the Japanese,
01:08:33.560 and they
01:08:33.740 finally decided
01:08:34.440 to surrender.
01:08:35.680 But at
01:08:36.000 that point,
01:08:36.520 the Japanese
01:08:37.020 army still
01:08:37.940 did not
01:08:38.320 want to
01:08:38.720 surrender.
01:08:39.540 So that
01:08:40.020 tells you
01:08:40.460 the fanaticism
01:08:41.460 of what
01:08:42.500 the Americans
01:08:43.180 were going
01:08:43.700 to face
01:08:44.220 or the
01:08:44.520 allies,
01:08:45.500 the Russians,
01:08:46.320 everybody else
01:08:46.880 were going
01:08:47.260 to face if
01:08:47.860 they invaded
01:08:48.380 Japan in
01:08:49.000 1945,
01:08:49.940 November of
01:08:50.480 1945.
01:08:52.080 So Japan
01:08:52.700 would have
01:08:53.040 been wiped
01:08:53.480 off the face
01:08:54.060 of the
01:08:54.280 earth.
01:08:54.620 We would
01:08:54.860 have suffered
01:08:55.260 another million
01:08:56.020 plus casualties.
01:08:56.920 We'd
01:08:57.380 already
01:08:57.600 printed
01:08:57.960 another
01:08:58.360 million
01:08:58.740 purple
01:08:59.140 hearts
01:08:59.580 in
01:09:00.160 anticipation
01:09:00.600 of the
01:09:01.420 fight in
01:09:01.860 Japan.
01:09:02.840 So Truman
01:09:03.260 decided
01:09:03.840 enough is
01:09:04.400 enough.
01:09:04.780 This world
01:09:05.420 war needs
01:09:06.140 to end.
01:09:07.300 And it
01:09:07.760 eventually
01:09:08.140 did end,
01:09:08.920 but only
01:09:09.280 because Emperor
01:09:10.500 Hirohito
01:09:11.140 decided that
01:09:12.180 enough was
01:09:12.860 enough and
01:09:13.360 that the
01:09:13.660 Japanese
01:09:14.140 were defeated.
01:09:15.840 and even
01:09:17.260 then Japanese
01:09:18.060 did not
01:09:18.560 apologize
01:09:19.080 and have
01:09:19.660 never
01:09:19.900 apologized
01:09:20.440 for Pearl
01:09:22.120 Harbor or
01:09:23.200 starting World
01:09:24.140 War II in
01:09:24.680 the Pacific.
01:09:25.840 And that
01:09:26.040 has always
01:09:26.320 been a
01:09:26.620 sticking point
01:09:27.160 for the
01:09:27.460 United States
01:09:28.140 that Japan
01:09:28.740 has never
01:09:29.200 apologized
01:09:29.680 for that.
01:09:31.980 And Japan
01:09:32.940 always felt
01:09:33.500 that the war
01:09:34.100 in the Pacific
01:09:34.600 was legitimate
01:09:35.360 and that it
01:09:37.200 was caused
01:09:37.720 by the oil
01:09:38.580 embargo and
01:09:39.740 the embargo
01:09:40.560 of natural
01:09:41.140 resources and
01:09:42.060 that they
01:09:42.300 were forced
01:09:42.880 to do
01:09:43.700 what they
01:09:44.060 did.
01:09:44.760 So Japan
01:09:45.100 has never
01:09:45.540 officially
01:09:46.100 apologized
01:09:46.820 for Pearl
01:09:47.300 Harbor or
01:09:47.860 starting World
01:09:48.560 War II in
01:09:49.080 the Pacific.
01:09:49.680 And that's
01:09:49.960 always been
01:09:50.300 a little
01:09:50.640 sticking point
01:09:51.540 with Pacific
01:09:52.600 veterans.
01:09:53.300 I know one
01:09:53.700 veteran who
01:09:54.440 was at home
01:09:55.740 one day and
01:09:56.740 Megan, his
01:09:57.400 son came home
01:09:58.420 with a Honda
01:09:59.500 motorcycle and
01:10:01.000 his son was
01:10:01.500 washing his
01:10:02.000 hands in the
01:10:02.600 kitchen sink
01:10:03.120 and looked
01:10:03.440 outside and
01:10:04.040 his dad,
01:10:05.140 who was a
01:10:06.040 survivor of
01:10:06.940 Pearl Harbor
01:10:07.500 at Schofield
01:10:09.100 Barracks,
01:10:09.760 was pouring
01:10:10.340 gasoline on
01:10:11.760 this Honda
01:10:12.160 motorcycle and
01:10:12.920 about ready
01:10:14.020 to light it
01:10:15.140 on fire.
01:10:15.980 And his
01:10:16.140 son came
01:10:16.480 running out
01:10:16.960 and said,
01:10:17.220 what are you
01:10:17.540 doing?
01:10:18.860 And he
01:10:19.480 said, I'm
01:10:20.380 not going to
01:10:21.380 let you
01:10:21.640 drive this
01:10:22.220 Japanese
01:10:23.320 motorcycle.
01:10:25.160 And his
01:10:25.780 son said,
01:10:26.180 why not?
01:10:26.640 And his
01:10:26.960 dad had to
01:10:27.520 explain to
01:10:28.080 him why.
01:10:29.300 And those
01:10:30.460 feelings still
01:10:31.220 linger with
01:10:32.040 veterans of
01:10:32.880 the Pacific
01:10:33.340 War.
01:10:34.320 And I tell
01:10:34.740 people today
01:10:35.480 that the
01:10:36.300 Pacific War and
01:10:37.100 the European
01:10:37.500 War were two
01:10:38.220 different wars.
01:10:39.480 They were two
01:10:40.200 specific wars.
01:10:41.720 They were
01:10:41.920 totally different
01:10:43.940 wars.
01:10:45.060 The savagery of
01:10:46.060 the Pacific
01:10:46.500 War was no
01:10:47.540 comparison to
01:10:48.460 what was going
01:10:49.100 on in Europe.
01:10:51.440 And the
01:10:52.260 Geneva Convention
01:10:53.080 was not
01:10:53.540 observed by the
01:10:54.240 Japanese.
01:10:55.060 And they
01:10:55.320 treated prisoners
01:10:56.380 as cowards.
01:10:57.360 And the fight
01:10:57.720 in the Pacific,
01:10:58.760 beginning with
01:10:59.280 Guadalcanal and
01:11:00.620 moving on to
01:11:01.240 the other
01:11:01.560 islands, was a
01:11:02.320 totally different
01:11:02.920 war.
01:11:03.780 And the
01:11:04.080 veterans in
01:11:04.560 Europe had
01:11:04.940 such a
01:11:05.260 respect for
01:11:05.940 the veterans
01:11:06.400 who fought in
01:11:06.920 the Pacific
01:11:07.340 because there
01:11:08.020 were no
01:11:08.460 rules in the
01:11:09.780 Pacific War.
01:11:10.660 It was a
01:11:11.020 free-for-all.
01:11:11.720 It was just
01:11:13.420 a total,
01:11:14.900 absolutely
01:11:15.600 bloody free-for-all
01:11:18.000 compared to
01:11:18.640 what was going
01:11:19.260 on in
01:11:20.300 Europe.
01:11:23.980 We've only
01:11:24.800 touched briefly
01:11:25.540 on the
01:11:25.880 Holocaust and
01:11:26.540 what happened
01:11:27.040 there.
01:11:27.980 Hitler's atrocities
01:11:29.020 were discovered
01:11:29.600 in full.
01:11:31.000 He took his
01:11:31.880 own life on
01:11:32.840 April 30,
01:11:33.580 1945, about
01:11:35.740 a week before
01:11:36.880 his country
01:11:37.560 surrendered, as
01:11:38.620 I pointed out.
01:11:39.840 Japan would
01:11:40.580 come later.
01:11:41.700 The story
01:11:42.080 about the
01:11:42.380 Missouri that
01:11:42.800 I thought was
01:11:43.200 kind of
01:11:43.460 interesting, just
01:11:43.940 because people
01:11:44.460 know the
01:11:44.840 name John
01:11:45.280 McCain, so
01:11:45.840 it's a modern
01:11:47.120 day reference
01:11:47.800 that they can
01:11:48.460 relate to, is
01:11:49.880 his granddad was
01:11:50.720 on the Missouri
01:11:51.260 when the
01:11:52.060 surrender papers
01:11:52.740 were signed.
01:11:54.740 He didn't want
01:11:55.400 to be there.
01:11:55.900 He wanted to
01:11:56.280 go home to
01:11:56.680 his wife.
01:11:57.400 His commanding
01:11:58.860 officer said,
01:11:59.420 you will stay
01:11:59.840 here because
01:12:00.260 you are critical
01:12:00.980 to all of
01:12:01.860 this.
01:12:02.040 We want you
01:12:02.300 to be there.
01:12:03.060 So he
01:12:03.400 stayed.
01:12:04.380 He went
01:12:04.980 home to his
01:12:05.660 wife.
01:12:06.920 And this is,
01:12:07.580 again, John
01:12:07.940 McCain's
01:12:08.300 granddad.
01:12:08.760 And I
01:12:10.800 think it
01:12:11.080 was four
01:12:11.560 days later
01:12:12.200 while celebrating
01:12:13.380 his coming
01:12:14.320 home party
01:12:14.980 with his
01:12:15.420 wife, he
01:12:16.500 dropped dead
01:12:17.060 of a heart
01:12:17.460 attack, a
01:12:18.760 death that
01:12:19.100 was on the
01:12:19.500 front page of
01:12:20.180 the paper.
01:12:20.680 That's how
01:12:20.920 important he
01:12:21.380 was to us.
01:12:22.520 And it
01:12:22.980 explains so
01:12:23.460 much about
01:12:23.780 how John
01:12:24.220 McCain wound
01:12:24.820 up in
01:12:25.120 military service
01:12:25.900 and he,
01:12:26.300 of course,
01:12:27.020 would be
01:12:27.480 tortured and
01:12:28.260 endured terrible
01:12:29.180 things.
01:12:29.540 And just
01:12:30.420 his legacy
01:12:32.180 and his
01:12:33.340 family's
01:12:33.840 legacy of
01:12:34.840 sacrifice for
01:12:35.680 country.
01:12:36.280 It was only,
01:12:36.800 I think,
01:12:37.000 61.
01:12:37.860 It was a
01:12:38.200 young man,
01:12:39.140 but just the
01:12:39.900 stresses of
01:12:40.500 the war would
01:12:41.260 take lives
01:12:41.860 well beyond
01:12:42.540 the end
01:12:43.140 date of
01:12:43.800 the surrender.
01:12:45.580 Yeah, I
01:12:45.760 just had the
01:12:46.240 opportunity about
01:12:47.140 a month ago to
01:12:47.840 visit John
01:12:48.360 McCain's grave
01:12:49.020 at the Naval
01:12:49.760 Academy in
01:12:50.800 Annapolis and
01:12:51.960 also Steve
01:12:53.580 Belichick, who
01:12:54.460 was the father
01:12:55.100 of Bill
01:12:55.400 Belichick, and
01:12:56.900 others at the
01:12:58.060 Naval Academy.
01:12:58.720 And there
01:12:59.380 are others
01:12:59.800 who were
01:13:00.100 buried at
01:13:00.680 Arlington
01:13:01.160 who are in
01:13:03.000 the same
01:13:03.400 boat, just
01:13:05.320 men who
01:13:06.640 served.
01:13:08.080 And our
01:13:08.660 mission as a
01:13:09.360 foundation is
01:13:10.200 that we never
01:13:10.780 forget that
01:13:12.080 generation.
01:13:13.380 And unfortunately,
01:13:14.280 it takes
01:13:14.740 December 7th or
01:13:15.960 September 11th
01:13:17.120 for us to
01:13:17.900 all of a
01:13:18.260 sudden discover
01:13:18.880 the American
01:13:19.480 flag.
01:13:20.540 And I wish
01:13:21.000 it wasn't
01:13:21.400 that way,
01:13:22.540 but history
01:13:23.080 shows us
01:13:24.460 that unfortunately
01:13:25.240 the only times
01:13:26.160 that we come
01:13:26.660 together as a
01:13:27.340 country is
01:13:28.480 during those
01:13:29.220 times we were
01:13:29.740 attacked.
01:13:30.360 But we do
01:13:31.080 have the
01:13:31.580 potential, and
01:13:33.100 I underline
01:13:33.720 that word
01:13:34.260 potential, to
01:13:35.100 come together
01:13:35.680 for causes
01:13:36.400 that can help
01:13:37.140 America as a
01:13:38.900 whole.
01:13:39.540 I would love
01:13:40.300 to think that
01:13:40.880 we'll do it.
01:13:41.520 I mean, the
01:13:41.740 problem is now
01:13:42.620 even hanging
01:13:43.620 the flag is
01:13:44.380 considered a
01:13:44.900 partisan act.
01:13:45.620 I mean, even
01:13:45.980 now, according to
01:13:46.880 the New York
01:13:47.220 Times, if you put
01:13:48.280 the flag out in
01:13:48.860 front of your
01:13:49.160 house, it means
01:13:49.600 you're a
01:13:49.960 Republican, which
01:13:50.660 is absurd.
01:13:51.380 That's absurd.
01:13:52.080 There are still
01:13:52.460 a lot of Democrats
01:13:53.100 who love the
01:13:53.620 flag, but it's
01:13:55.040 being made into a
01:13:57.020 partisan.
01:13:57.320 It is.
01:13:58.520 Can I just
01:13:59.660 spend a minute
01:14:00.200 on this, and
01:14:00.720 I'll wrap it
01:14:01.320 up.
01:14:01.560 But I read a
01:14:02.900 story about how
01:14:04.640 back to Pearl
01:14:05.800 Harbor, the guys
01:14:07.800 who are on the
01:14:08.380 ships who are
01:14:09.500 dying now, who
01:14:10.960 survived and are
01:14:11.700 dying now, if
01:14:12.900 they so desire,
01:14:14.260 they can have
01:14:14.760 their ashes
01:14:15.360 placed on the
01:14:18.020 ships?
01:14:19.180 Yeah.
01:14:19.300 If you were on
01:14:21.360 the USS Arizona
01:14:22.820 and you were
01:14:24.560 on the Arizona
01:14:25.460 on December
01:14:26.160 7th, 1941, you
01:14:28.620 can have your
01:14:29.400 urn brought
01:14:30.020 back to the
01:14:30.640 battleship and
01:14:31.500 interred and
01:14:32.160 turret number
01:14:32.720 four.
01:14:34.440 And that's the
01:14:35.340 only situation.
01:14:37.020 If you were on
01:14:37.860 the Arizona, let's
01:14:38.720 say you spent the
01:14:39.340 night in Honolulu
01:14:40.300 on the night of
01:14:41.040 December 7th, you're
01:14:42.020 not eligible.
01:14:43.120 But if you were
01:14:43.920 on the Arizona on
01:14:45.080 December 7th, 1941,
01:14:46.520 and you would
01:14:48.820 like to go and
01:14:49.620 rejoin your
01:14:51.240 crewmates, the
01:14:53.460 folks at Pearl
01:14:54.280 Harbor and the
01:14:54.900 United States Navy
01:14:55.600 will make that
01:14:56.180 happen.
01:14:56.600 So your urn will
01:14:57.540 be taken by
01:14:58.220 divers down to
01:14:59.800 turret number
01:15:00.300 four and placed
01:15:01.760 among the 42
01:15:03.320 or so urns who
01:15:05.540 have been placed
01:15:07.400 in turret number
01:15:08.020 four since this
01:15:09.120 all started in
01:15:09.980 the early 1980s.
01:15:12.220 If you're a
01:15:12.980 Pearl Harbor
01:15:13.360 survivor and you
01:15:14.520 want your ashes
01:15:15.280 brought back to
01:15:16.060 Pearl Harbor,
01:15:16.520 they can be
01:15:17.000 spread in the
01:15:17.920 harbor as well
01:15:19.200 or brought back
01:15:20.020 to the USS
01:15:20.680 Utah, which was
01:15:21.680 a battleship
01:15:22.380 also at Pearl
01:15:23.540 Harbor.
01:15:24.380 It was not an
01:15:25.260 active battleship.
01:15:27.220 But it's
01:15:28.060 interesting because
01:15:28.900 we've attended
01:15:29.580 some of these
01:15:30.240 ceremonies where
01:15:31.280 the sons or
01:15:33.040 daughters or
01:15:33.800 grandchildren of
01:15:35.260 these survivors
01:15:35.940 have had their
01:15:36.700 urns returned
01:15:37.780 to the crew.
01:15:40.680 So there are
01:15:41.560 about 900 plus
01:15:42.960 who are still
01:15:44.220 entombed on the
01:15:45.080 USS Arizona,
01:15:46.140 who never
01:15:46.620 left the
01:15:47.040 battleship after
01:15:47.900 December 7th,
01:15:48.880 1941 of the
01:15:50.200 1177 who
01:15:51.560 died.
01:15:53.360 And at some
01:15:54.500 point in their
01:15:55.060 life, they decide
01:15:56.420 that they want to
01:15:58.140 rejoin their
01:15:58.660 crewmates.
01:16:00.100 And one guy,
01:16:01.360 Raymond Harry,
01:16:02.240 who is from the
01:16:02.920 state of Rhode
01:16:03.400 Island, never
01:16:04.620 talked about the
01:16:06.080 USS Arizona after
01:16:07.940 Pearl Harbor.
01:16:09.820 He never
01:16:10.340 mentioned the
01:16:11.280 fact that he
01:16:12.460 had a strong
01:16:13.380 connection, but
01:16:14.640 on his death
01:16:15.220 bed, he
01:16:15.680 decided that he
01:16:17.400 wanted to
01:16:17.900 rejoin his
01:16:18.540 crewmates.
01:16:19.880 So it was
01:16:20.280 left up to his
01:16:21.020 granddaughter to
01:16:22.280 carry the urn back
01:16:23.520 through New Jersey
01:16:24.720 and Dallas and
01:16:25.980 Honolulu and to
01:16:28.200 have divers at
01:16:29.540 the USS Arizona
01:16:30.720 in a ceremony,
01:16:32.700 take his urn and
01:16:33.920 bring his urn back
01:16:35.000 to turret number
01:16:35.880 four on the
01:16:36.600 Arizona and put it
01:16:37.700 in there with
01:16:38.180 about 42 other
01:16:39.120 urns.
01:16:40.460 And to me,
01:16:41.300 it's probably one
01:16:42.060 of those most
01:16:42.720 amazing things I've
01:16:43.780 ever witnessed is a
01:16:45.040 man who never,
01:16:46.220 ever talked about
01:16:47.240 Pearl Harbor, who
01:16:48.560 never, ever wanted
01:16:49.520 to go back to
01:16:50.680 visit Pearl Harbor
01:16:51.880 post-World War II,
01:16:53.700 was offered the
01:16:54.480 chance to go back
01:16:55.460 and see the
01:16:56.380 memorial that was
01:16:57.560 built and to
01:16:59.600 see the oil that
01:17:01.340 was leaking from
01:17:02.340 the battleship, to
01:17:03.300 smell the oil that
01:17:04.740 was leaking from
01:17:05.360 the battleship.
01:17:06.040 He never wanted
01:17:06.660 anything to do
01:17:07.340 with it, never
01:17:07.720 wanted to talk
01:17:08.340 about it.
01:17:08.780 But on his
01:17:09.720 deathbed, he
01:17:10.420 decided, I want
01:17:11.240 to rejoin my
01:17:11.920 crewmates.
01:17:13.420 The Navy
01:17:13.720 diver, who is
01:17:15.340 responsible for
01:17:15.940 lowering the
01:17:16.340 remains in, said
01:17:17.820 as follows in
01:17:18.360 one report,
01:17:19.620 quote, it's a
01:17:20.540 large hole, we
01:17:21.540 place the urn
01:17:22.160 through, and
01:17:23.240 then you can
01:17:23.640 kind of feel
01:17:24.720 it release.
01:17:26.180 I tell the
01:17:26.660 family, when I
01:17:27.620 feel that pull,
01:17:29.160 it's the ship
01:17:29.820 accepting back
01:17:30.800 one of its
01:17:31.320 own.
01:17:31.980 Oh, my
01:17:32.960 goodness.
01:17:33.940 I mean, it's
01:17:34.780 to be on the
01:17:35.760 Arizona Memorial
01:17:36.760 when that flag is
01:17:38.140 presented to a
01:17:38.960 granddaughter, and
01:17:40.340 then to watch
01:17:40.980 the divers bring
01:17:42.040 the urn down to
01:17:43.200 turret number four
01:17:44.380 and placed in with
01:17:45.500 the rest of the
01:17:46.100 guys who wanted to
01:17:47.040 go back after.
01:17:48.760 I mean, that to
01:17:49.620 me tells me that
01:17:50.600 the defining moment
01:17:51.740 of their lives
01:17:52.720 happened when they
01:17:53.600 were 17 or 18
01:17:54.820 years old.
01:17:55.940 The defining moment
01:17:56.980 of their life
01:17:57.600 didn't happen when
01:17:58.560 they were 40 or
01:17:59.560 50 or 60 or
01:18:01.140 30.
01:18:01.960 It happened when
01:18:03.000 they were a
01:18:03.600 teenager.
01:18:04.120 It happened when
01:18:05.800 they were 18 or
01:18:06.840 20 years old.
01:18:09.080 And that to me is
01:18:10.740 an incredible thing
01:18:11.540 to have the
01:18:11.980 defining moment of
01:18:12.980 your life happen
01:18:13.940 when you were a
01:18:14.760 teenager and to
01:18:16.060 know that anything
01:18:17.060 else you did in the
01:18:17.980 rest of your life
01:18:18.840 would be insignificant
01:18:19.940 to what happened
01:18:21.860 during your time in
01:18:22.920 World War II.
01:18:23.840 And a lot of these
01:18:24.420 guys took such
01:18:25.900 risks after the
01:18:27.200 war.
01:18:27.580 They started their
01:18:28.280 own businesses.
01:18:29.180 They became cab
01:18:29.960 drivers or plumbers
01:18:31.260 or Jack Taylor
01:18:32.580 founded Enterprise
01:18:33.740 Rent-A-Car or
01:18:35.180 the men who came
01:18:36.140 back founded
01:18:36.680 U-Haul because
01:18:38.460 they had been
01:18:39.080 through the worst
01:18:39.900 of their life.
01:18:40.680 They had been
01:18:40.960 through the ultimate
01:18:41.720 risk in their
01:18:42.840 life that anything
01:18:43.820 else after that
01:18:44.960 was just gravy.
01:18:47.640 And I find that
01:18:48.980 fascinating.
01:18:50.380 They never
01:18:50.960 accept the word
01:18:53.100 hero.
01:18:54.320 Oh no,
01:18:55.080 they'll kick you.
01:18:55.940 They'll kick you
01:18:56.580 in the knee.
01:18:57.880 They won't allow
01:18:58.720 it.
01:18:58.940 You've documented
01:18:59.620 that as well.
01:19:00.760 And this is one
01:19:01.800 of the sound
01:19:02.160 bites that jumped
01:19:02.700 out at us.
01:19:04.040 So beautiful
01:19:04.880 from, this is
01:19:05.780 again from your
01:19:06.300 second piece on
01:19:08.000 D-Day,
01:19:08.820 Remembered,
01:19:09.600 Sat 22.
01:19:12.300 I'm not the
01:19:13.100 hero.
01:19:13.800 I'm not the
01:19:14.360 hero.
01:19:16.600 I'm just a
01:19:17.340 survivor.
01:19:18.280 The heroes,
01:19:19.020 most of the
01:19:19.540 heroes over there
01:19:20.780 under the white
01:19:21.460 crosses that you
01:19:22.380 all know about.
01:19:23.600 And their
01:19:23.960 mothers and their
01:19:24.800 fathers and their
01:19:25.640 brothers and their
01:19:26.320 sisters and even
01:19:27.300 their children and
01:19:28.100 some of those
01:19:28.560 people.
01:19:29.380 Those are the
01:19:30.060 heroes and the
01:19:30.740 war.
01:19:31.900 We're the
01:19:32.460 survivors now.
01:19:33.780 And I'm glad you
01:19:34.400 feel that way.
01:19:35.420 And I hope you
01:19:36.440 always do because
01:19:37.560 democracy and
01:19:38.600 liberty are too
01:19:41.140 precious.
01:19:41.940 And until I
01:19:43.240 came over here,
01:19:44.320 I didn't realize
01:19:45.480 how precious it
01:19:46.280 was.
01:19:48.200 Yeah.
01:19:48.580 Yeah, that was
01:19:49.240 Chris Heisler.
01:19:50.060 Chris was in the
01:19:50.680 507th Parachute
01:19:52.220 Infantry Regiment.
01:19:53.220 He was landed on
01:19:54.720 D-Day and was
01:19:55.360 taken prisoner on
01:19:56.480 June 7th, 1944.
01:19:58.320 And if you call
01:20:02.380 these men
01:20:03.020 heroes, they
01:20:05.220 will cut you
01:20:05.880 off right away.
01:20:07.340 And they will
01:20:07.840 say the heroes
01:20:08.580 are buried in
01:20:09.340 these cemeteries.
01:20:10.760 And there's that
01:20:12.300 survivor's guilt, I
01:20:13.480 think, that any
01:20:14.040 veteran faces, that
01:20:15.200 why the guy in the
01:20:16.460 left of me was
01:20:17.120 killed and why the
01:20:17.900 guy in the right of
01:20:18.640 me was killed and
01:20:19.980 why I was spared.
01:20:21.700 And that generation
01:20:22.600 is really in tune
01:20:24.320 with that.
01:20:24.940 And so when I
01:20:27.560 make the mistake
01:20:28.740 every blue moon
01:20:30.160 of saying, you
01:20:30.760 know, hey, you're
01:20:31.280 a real hero, I
01:20:32.660 know, and then I
01:20:33.520 brace for the kick
01:20:34.380 in the knee and
01:20:35.680 I say, these guys
01:20:37.400 are going to beat
01:20:37.880 me up because
01:20:38.620 they're always, to
01:20:39.660 a man or a
01:20:41.160 woman, they're
01:20:41.560 going to say that
01:20:42.160 the heroes are
01:20:42.940 buried in the
01:20:43.520 American cemeteries.
01:20:44.780 And I say, God,
01:20:45.500 how humble is
01:20:46.320 that?
01:20:47.900 Before we go, I'm
01:20:48.440 going to end it on
01:20:48.980 this.
01:20:50.440 On D-Day, FDR,
01:20:52.740 who was president,
01:20:53.380 he died in
01:20:53.860 office, that's
01:20:54.280 why Truman took
01:20:54.920 over by the time
01:20:55.580 we dropped the
01:20:56.060 bomb, offered
01:20:58.300 remarks to the
01:20:58.900 country, which
01:20:59.360 was aware that
01:21:00.960 this battle was
01:21:01.900 underway and
01:21:02.860 concerned for
01:21:04.520 their loved ones
01:21:05.240 who were over
01:21:05.640 there fighting
01:21:06.100 this treacherous
01:21:07.260 fight.
01:21:08.280 And in part, he
01:21:09.720 offered the
01:21:10.380 following prayer.
01:21:11.540 Listen.
01:21:12.680 Almighty God,
01:21:14.880 our sons,
01:21:16.720 pride of our
01:21:17.600 nation, this
01:21:19.540 day have set
01:21:20.480 upon a mighty
01:21:21.520 endeavor, a
01:21:23.480 struggle to
01:21:24.040 preserve our
01:21:24.860 republic, our
01:21:26.980 religion, and
01:21:28.540 our civilization, and
01:21:31.060 to set free a
01:21:32.440 suffering humanity.
01:21:35.680 Lead them
01:21:36.400 straight and
01:21:37.320 cruel.
01:21:39.500 Give strength to
01:21:40.500 their arms, stoutness
01:21:42.260 to their hearts,
01:21:44.260 steadfastness in
01:21:45.720 their faith.
01:21:46.440 they will need
01:21:49.080 thy blessings.
01:21:50.840 Their road will
01:21:51.840 be long and
01:21:52.960 hard.
01:21:54.980 For the enemy
01:21:55.960 is strong.
01:21:57.180 He may hurl back
01:21:58.220 our forces.
01:22:00.420 Success may not
01:22:01.840 come with
01:22:02.840 rushing speed,
01:22:04.640 but we shall
01:22:05.800 return again
01:22:07.240 and again.
01:22:09.340 And we know
01:22:10.360 that by thy
01:22:11.280 grace and by
01:22:13.220 the righteousness
01:22:13.840 of our
01:22:14.420 cause, our
01:22:16.000 sons will
01:22:17.200 triumph.
01:22:19.120 Wow.
01:22:20.240 Those words
01:22:21.220 from FDR, a
01:22:22.580 mighty endeavor, a
01:22:23.720 struggle to
01:22:24.300 preserve our
01:22:24.880 republic, our
01:22:25.620 religion, and
01:22:26.860 our civilization, and
01:22:28.060 to set free a
01:22:28.880 suffering humanity.
01:22:30.540 Our sons will
01:22:31.660 triumph.
01:22:32.600 And they did.
01:22:33.380 They did triumph.
01:22:34.480 And they have the
01:22:35.440 gratitude of
01:22:36.920 generations after
01:22:38.480 generations here
01:22:39.700 in America and
01:22:40.220 beyond.
01:22:41.000 Tim, thank you
01:22:41.660 so much.
01:22:42.200 It's been a
01:22:42.720 pleasure getting
01:22:43.460 to meet you and
01:22:44.100 getting to watch
01:22:44.940 your work.
01:22:46.120 Keep it up.
01:22:47.000 All the best to
01:22:47.540 you.
01:22:48.280 Thank you, Megan.
01:22:48.980 It's been great to
01:22:49.960 watch your career as
01:22:50.820 well and keep up
01:22:51.560 your great work as
01:22:52.320 well.
01:22:53.320 God bless America.
01:22:55.000 Yes, definitely.
01:22:57.220 From World War II,
01:22:58.760 back in time to
01:22:59.820 World War I.
01:23:00.920 Tomorrow, we go
01:23:02.480 back to the First
01:23:03.300 World War, the
01:23:04.400 Great War, as it
01:23:05.440 was known, with a
01:23:06.260 historian.
01:23:07.420 And guess what?
01:23:09.140 Doug Brunt, who
01:23:10.200 is also a
01:23:11.080 historian.
01:23:11.560 Yes, my
01:23:12.280 husband, will
01:23:13.100 join the party
01:23:13.800 when we go to
01:23:15.020 World War I
01:23:15.980 tomorrow.
01:23:19.260 Thanks for
01:23:19.920 listening to the
01:23:20.480 Megan Kelly Show.
01:23:21.500 No BS, no
01:23:22.560 agenda, and no
01:23:23.800 fear.