host: if you want to continue watching the ceremony in normandy for the 80th anniversary of d-day you can head over to c-span2 for live coverage. we are marking the anniversary on the washington journal by spending the next three hours focusing on the june 6 19 -- 1944 landing and hearing from you about what this means for you and your family. we want to hear about --

phone lines are split regionally to call him this morning. eastern or central time zones it 202-748-8000. mountain or pacific it is 202-748-8001. we are keeping a special line open specifically for world war ii veterans and their families, that number is 202-748-8002. some of those veterans they at the normandy cemetery in france. speak in this hour at that ceremony. we will take you there when he does. our all day coverage of d-day continues after this program at 10:00 a.m. eastern. the ceremony on the national mall in washington dc at the national world war ii memorial at 11:00 a.m. eastern today. you can watch the ceremony taking place from southwest virginia in bedford virginia at

the national d-day memorial. that event at 11:00 a.m. eastern. historic programming throughout the day on c-span and also a conference a few weeks ago about the 80th anniversary of d-day talking about various aspects of the battle, of planning and you can watch that this afternoon here on c-span. beginning the day the best way we know how hearing from you. go ahead and start calling in. we want to hear your family stories about d-day. headlines this morning, the front page of the washington times newspaper. all eyes are on the d-day heroes. president biden, french president emmanuel macron and a slew of other world leaders along with the dwindling few of the soldiers, sailors and airmen who listen to eisenhower's address that day will assemble again on the north atlantic beaches of normandy to commemorate what remains the

largest amphibious operation in history. it notes the german chancellor olaf scholz will be among the dignitaries, the russian president vladimir putin, whose country's forces helped bring down hitler's forces was not invited this year. the official delegation will have their centerstage. the story belongs to those in uniform and took on the daunting challenges of that day 80 years ago. we want to hear from you this morning. here the phone lines for you to call in. 202-748-8000 in the eastern central time zones. 202-748-8001 in the mountain or pacific time zones and its 202-748-8002. if you are a world war ii veteran or a family member of the veteran we want to hear your stories. this is the 80th anniversary of d-day, it was 40 years ago. that another american president spoke, president ronald reagan on

june 6 1984 and this is what he said to the veterans assembled in front of him that day. [video clip] >> we stand on a lonely windswept point in the northern shore france, of the air is soft but 40 years ago at this moment the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. at dawn on the morning of the sixth of june 1944, 225 rangers jumped off the british landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion. to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. the allies have been told some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the allied advance. the rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers at the edge

of the cliff shooting down with machine guns and throwing grenades and the american rangers began to climb. they shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. when one ranger fell, another would take his place. when one rope was cut a ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. they climbed, shot back and held their position. one by one the rangers pulled themselves over the top and in seizing the firm land of the top they begin to seize back the continent of europe. 225 came here. after two days of fighting only 90 could still bear arms. behind me as a memorial that symbolizes the ranger -- rangers at the bottom of these cliffs and before me are the men who put them there. these are the boys of .20 --

pointe these of the men who took the cliffs. these are the champions who helped free a continent and these are the heroes who helped end a war. >> president reagan 40 years ago , that's a live shot of the national mall today. speaking about the part of the national world war ii memorial on d-day, president biden is set to speak in this hour at the normandy american cemetery in france and he'll be speaking were ronald reagan spoke 40 years ago tomorrow. he'll be speaking from there tomorrow through the seventh. again, live coverage of the ceremony there taking place right now on c-span two. here we are telling your desk hearing your family stories about the day. janice is up first out of tacoma

washington this morning. go ahead. caller: hello joe biden is a catholic because he -- he cross he is going against the law of god, he is promoting crime that is against the law of god, the bible is the truest law book in the world. host: we are talking of the 80th anniversary of d-day. do you want to speak on that as we show live pictures of the national mall this june 6? we are talking about d-day this morning, do you have any thoughts on d-day. caller: what is d-day? host: the 80th anniversary of the allied launch -- invasion in france in 1944. caller: i'm not good at that stuff.

host: we are hearing from you this morning about the anniversary again 80 years ago. here's the phone number for you to call in. 202-748-8000 in the eastern or central time zone. 202-748-8001 if you are in the mountain or pacific time zone and then holding aside a special line for world war ii veterans and their family members. 202-748-8002. we are looking for your text messages this morning. that number, 202-748-8003. you can also send a social media posts on our facebook page and on x formerly known as twitter. hear the comments this morning. biig atat the greatest genertracynsld asthank you for your service and god bless you all. this is jerome out of portland, maine. good morning. caller: good morning.

host: were talking about the 80th anniversary of d-day veterans 100 years old or older who are attending that ceremony. it's getting ready to get underway. on c-span two if you want to watch it in its entirety. the author of a new book about d-day when the sea came alive and oral history of d-day is the title of that book that just came out this week. he has a column in today's new york times about what one of those was talking about in the text message -- in their facebook post, of greatest generation. this is what darren writes in his piece today. president reagan's speech that we showed you celebrating the exploits of sergeant lomeli and his combat that began to properly honor and memorialize the fight of world war ii. follow-up work by writers like

doug brinkley and tom brokaw changed forever how history will view the sacrifices the living and the dead. mr. brokaw transformed by his journey at the 40th anniversary in 1984 through the cafes and villages of normandy speaking to veterans who reviewed -- return to view the beaches they had worked so hard to capture. saying i was deeply moved and grateful for what they had done what he wrote in his book the greatest generation. i realize they'd been all around me as i grown up that i failed to appreciate what they had been through and what they had accomplished. writing on why we must keep the memory of the day alive. this is kevin in missouri, good morning.caller: i wanted to say i'm thankful for all the people that were out there doing things on d-day. and i want to thank their servicemen. i have a cousin, my mom's

brother is a military person. i thank him for his service. thank you and everybody have a great 80th anniversary. thank you. host: this is sarah out of ashburn virginia. caller: good morning. it special to me. i had five brothers who were in the pacific on different ships going towards tokyo. and i had a brother who was in north africa. with the luck of god they all came home safe. but they served their country in the lasther just passed away last december the age of 99. he was the last one that was in the battle. of okinawa, all the battles in the pacific. and they all came home and we are grateful for that. i always love to see the

ceremonies to see what my brothers and my father, he was in world war i what they did for our country. thank you. host: before you go, do you think the exploits of your family members and what they did 80 years ago is properly member -- remember today. >> i don't know how proper it is, but i think it should be remembered, all the sacrifices that were made at home and abroad with the men and women who went and gave almost six years of their life. my brothers after the war was over and the japanese signed the agreement, my brothers did not come home until 1946. they were part of the cleanup also.

they gave up so much education family and friends, being away from their parents and they came home and you had the g.i. bill and were able to rebuild their lives. my brothers never talked about the war. it wasn't until later in life that they would ever discuss the battles that they were in in the pacific or the battle that my brother was in in north africa. they slowly came around to talking about it but they didn't even talk about it amongst their brothers. i have 10 brothers and all of them served honorably. in the navy, the coast guard and army. so we are very proud of them and we all should be proud of the sacrifices the$ay made for us for our democracy. which is under fire right now.

and i fear that some people don't realize the sacrifices that these men and women made. host: grace in georgia is next t line for family members of world war ii veterans. go ahead. caller: good morning. my father was in world war ii. he used to tell me about how he went on the beach in normandy to help save germany and he was a wonderful man. i think about him every day. he passed in 1990 but i grew up with him talking about the war all the time and he was a hero and i told everybody that he is a hero. thank you so much. host: did he ever tell you the

story of landing on the beach? caller: yes he did. he was an african-american and he told me that he was pushed out to die first but he did not die. he came back alive. he fought anyway no matter what. he loved what he was doing. i went to germany and lived there for three years and i saw everything over there. all the soldiers, the gravesites and everything in the german people really do love us, they love us for what we did. host: that's grace in georgia this morning. president biden has arrived in normandy france at the normandy american cemetery. first ladies there of the united states and france prayed this

ceremony getting ready to get underway. you can join us here on c-span as we hear your stories of those who served 80 years ago on the 80th anniversary of the d-day landing. this is stephen hanover, maryland. caller: good morning. i would like to give a shout out to to my father who was a tailgunner in a b-17. s 51st mission was two days after d-day. it was a bombing raid on munich. a lot of people think the standard was 50 missions. it became 50 missions and the 51st was done for the commander of the squadron. finding his record my mother is currently in a rest home. i don't know where the record is but it's a fascinating story. he was one of seven brothers who

went to the recruiter the day after pearl harbor, all but the oldest one went in. i do know uncle killed on the turner line. and i just wanted to give him a shout out. it was the greatest generation and rest in peace dad. >> the call from hanover maryland. a couple mentioning the name of their family members. this ceremony is taking place at the normandy american cemetery in france. here in washington dc on the national mall names are being read of those americans who died during the normandy campaign both at d-day and in the weeks afterwards. that taking place here in washington dc, we see images live there from the ceremony in france.

this is john in new york, you are next. caller: thank you for taking the call. earlier i was watching, it does bring tears to your eyes. i'm 70 and i've my uncles and relatives that participated in this and you never heard them talk too much about it. but they sacrificed their youth. 18. and they lost a lot of friends and it was sad. but i'm not in a talk about that and take credit for their service and their sacrifices. don't feel worthy of doing that. at the introduction of this program. i'm worried about the washington journal. the front page of this program when you opened up the videos you are showing and it wasn't

the veterans that were sitting in the second rose it was the front row of these people and i can't help but bring it up, but there were women and stuff like that, highly decorated but they looked awful young. i don't think they participated in d-day and i really wish you would open up the front page of your program here today showing the actual guys that were there and participants that stormed these beaches. i think this is what this program is about. it's not about politics, it's about who participated in this and these 98-year-old guys that went over there in wheelchairs and it wasn't the front row, these people and these -- these

-- they should have been in the beginning of your video. should've been on the front page and the front cover of this because that's what this is about. but thanks so much for taking my call. it's just -- it's just a suggestion. have a great day. host: what we are showing her the images of the ceremony that's been put together, and international ceremony taking place in france put together by various countries taking place at the normandy american cemetery. there's also another international ceremony taking place later today, that president biden will attend as well along with president macron on omaha beach and then the ceremony today at the national mall at the national world war ii memorial. front and center at all of these are the veterans, the survivors of world war ii and many of them

made the trip over to france today. one sad story out of the new york times today, and of the world war ii veterans who traveled over to the d-day 80th anniversary died this week at age 102. as he was over there a navy veteran who witnessed the raising of the flag at iwo jima died while traveling to france to participate in the commemorations. he died according to the president of honor flight rochester, the veterans organization you belong to. he was among the dwindling number of veterans pretty flew overseas with the group connected to the national world war ii museum and was on his way to celebrate the 80th anniversary and suffered a medical emergency well aboard a sailing ship sailing towards normandy where the celebration was being held and was airlifted to a hospital in germany and died there.

that story in the new york times this morning. keith out of wisconsin, good morning. caller: good morning john and to my fellow americans. i want to let you know about something that put d-day in good perspective of the events of what happened which started the night of june 5 with the paratroopers dropping into france and then d-day hitting the beaches. there's a book called the longest day by cornelius ryan. this book gives a first-hand experience about so many different exploits that people had from jumping out of those airplanes the night before to landing on the beaches. it was such a great book that hollywood made it into a movie. it's a fantastic movie, all kinds of movie stars were in it. but the book really goes into great detail of all the exports heroism by this greatest generation.

host: another book that just came out about d-day, the birth of the american superpower, he will be joining us in our next our of the washington journal to talk about that book specifically in the role the dwight played in the planning for not just the airborne landing, but everything leading up to it. so stick around for that discussion. george's neck set of philadelphia. good morning george. caller: yes sir, how are you doing. my question was where was the blacks on that day? all the people they show there were white. host: we had a caller earlier who said her father was afghan american and talked about his experience on d-day.

caller: i'm talking about where the president is located now. they show was white. host: this is dave in armstrong creek wisconsin. good morning. caller: my father was a world war ii veteran. he was in europe and he came in shortly after d-day. he was a combat medic and they went through france into germany and the whole extent of the war. and at the very end he was with -- being the medic he was with the group that liberated some of the prison camps and i know he said that was a really horrible experience. it really bothered him. my mother said he had pretty bad dreams about it.

i know he talked with me a lot about being pretty disgusted with people who glorified war. he said it was without really experiencing it, it was something anybody that talked about it without made it into it was such a heroic thing and everything. that was what was -- that that's not what it was about it all. it was about -- it was dirty. it was not like some of the things hollywood puts out i guess. anyway, that's all i've got. thanks to all the veterans out there and anybody that serving now. host: what was his name? caller: his name was don gangs ton. host: thank you for telling us

about don. the previous caller was talking about the role of african-americanhere's a story from the associated press. waverley woodson junior, a medic at the previous caller's father who was part of the only black combat unit to take part in the d-day invasion of france is posthumously honored and awarded the distinguished service cross in recognition of the heroism and determination he showed treating troops under heavy fire that day. it's the second highest honor that can be bestowed on a member of the army. awarded for external heroism the announcement made on monday of this week chris van hollen saying this is been a long time coming. his bravery on d-day was her relicccounts of what he did to save his fellow soldiers even though he was wounded. there is a picture of him there in his uniform in the background.

this is cody in maryland, good morning. caller: good morning john and my fellow americans. i want to tell you a brief story about my uncle, he was there on d-day as well and he was shot in the but and several years back i guess maybe 15 maybe even 20 years back i had my wife's stepfather here and he was a german soldier and my uncle was here as well sitting around a pool and they were telling stories to each other about their side of the war and i heard a lot of things on the german side, he mentioned about the shells being fired from the navy ships that he said were big as volkswagens.

he was in one of his pillboxes. host: he was on one of the normandy beaches? caller: my wife's stepfather yes. host: do you know what beach it was? caller: i think it was omaha. her stepfather, my uncle was the one who was shot. anyway, her stepfather wound up being a prisoner of war and was sent to england and he was there for maybe two years and came back and wound up working for the american government in germany. at the pool party, both of them

swapped stories. they ended up shaking hands and saluted one another. a soldier is a soldier no matter what. but thank god for the great generation that turned the world into a safer place now and hopefully we can get back to that time. host: did you recognize in the moment at that pool party what an extraordinary moment that was to watch, somebody who was landing on the beach and someone who is trying to fight off that landing talking together at a pool party? caller: yes. one of my big disappointments was not catching it on tape really. it would've made a good story. a lot of stories in that story. on both sides.

i'm just sorry i didn't catch that story. both of them are not here now and may all the soldiers rest in peace. i don't care where you're from. a soldier is a soldier. host: thanks for sharing your story. next in grand rapids, michigan. caller: dad was irish german and sent over to france and also to japan after that. he i believe tried to handle the pain over what he had witnessed by keeping to himself on it very much. but he did blame politicians and the bankers, the industrialist

the people who were on site and there's behind these wars and we have to be careful now that we don't let corrupt leadership from any party send our young people over there to fight again in useless slaughter like d-day was. just a slaughter. thank you. host: kelly in forest hills, new york. >> i want to send love to all veterans and their families on this d-day. i want to give a special shout out to my uncle frank thompson who passed away, he was one of the african-american soldiers who served during world war ii. he was stationed in germany and he served when the military was segregated, he was injured in germany and i want to acknowledge that a lot of the african-americans who served

with pride and patriotism but often came home and did not enjoy the same rights and privileges commiserate with their service. i want to acknowledge that but i want to give my love and respect to all families of veterans and all the veterans who served. thank you. >> a live shot of the national world war ii memorial almost dead center on the national mall if you walk it from the u.s. capitol to the lincoln memorial, going on right now is the reading of the names of those who died during the normandy campaign, buried at the normandy american cemetery. that event is happening now at the national mall -- at the national world war ii memorial, of the event itself taking place is happening at 10:00 a.m. and that's where we will go after this program. some numbers on abhe alluded 6 casualties

putting 4000 dead throughout the subsequent normandy campaign that continued through august of 1944. some of the numbers on d-day and normandy there john in alabama good morning. caller: good morning. ii. i'm 74 years old. i had a friend of mine, he was in the battle of the bulge. i'd like to comment on one of the callers he said a soldier is a soldier. these men risk their lives for this country and that's why we are able to have a democracy that we have today because of their bravery. i like to say hello to the john mccain family because he was a

hero also. and one of the things i'd like to say is these people here gave their lives, they were not suckers is one of the former president said, that's why we have democracy today in this country and we need to remember all of those things print thank you. host: is in north carolina, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. first of all of want to say i appreciate the coverage of d-day. it is so important that we remember what happened and that we remember why. freedom is not free. there are those who would take away freedom, who would impose their tyranny over us and what

happened in world war must be remembered, we must remember why hitler's rose, why people rose and how it has to be countered. the sacrifice of so many not just on d-day with out the entire war. must be honored. and we must take every step to help those who are still alive remember and help them and if we don't remember we are going to forget >> mike in tampa you are next. >> good morning john. >> i'm calling to tell you about my godmother and my mom's she was

born december 9, 1921. she joined the army -- the women's army corps in february of 43, left on the queen mary april of the following year. and in the v2 blitz, was placed into a room with an armed guard for a couple of months as she typed what became operation overlord. and after that, sometime around july or august of 1944 she and the secretarial staff landed on utah beach, waded ashore, were all wet, a came up and said where's all your stuff. they said it's back on the boat. he got a jeep, went back and

helped her find it. he later became her husband. it's just a fantastic story. she later even was recognized by president obama at the vfw many years later. just a fantastic story about an american woman. host: she sounds like an amazing woman. was she on the staff when she typed up operation overlord? tell me more about that. caller: she was selected, placed into a room. she knew she was doing something important, i don't know quite how she was selected but she was the only one and she did not tell her roommate, her friends she did not even tell her husband.

he died many years later and he never knew because she was sworn to secrecy for 50 years. she took that seriously. but later after that the general staff from all over the australians, the english, they would all come in and talk with her, she was able to prevent -- present the final product to eisenhower himself. you could do a whole show on her. just an amazing woman. host: thanks for telling us about her. joseph in maryland, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you john and i want to say

thank you to all the veterans, all those the earlier partic i want to highlight one important point about the world war, my father was one of the african soldiers cameroonian, they were all shipped to the warfront. my father told me a lot of stories about how they went to burma and that's where they fought the war. they came back home as well on vessels back to nigeria and they told me a lot of the soldiers participated, a lot of them died because of seasickness. it is important to also note this highlights the fact they

are not living in isolation. this is if you look at the holistic aspect of teamwork from all nations and participants, europeans and africans who contributed to help free the world, if you don't look at it that way, it's unfortunate at this age all these seeds important for the united states to also continue to help especially with what's going on in israel, what's going on in ukraine, there's a lot of people who think -- without helping other countries to become free. >> this is the editorial board of the wall street journal on

the meaning of d-day in modern times. they write in part this year's anniversary is meaningful for more than its famous history or the side of the last living veterans, it will mean much more to other free nations take it that day's lessons to heart amid growing threats from dictators around the world. the great sacrifices of d-day and those of world war ii are what is required when deterrence fails. wars are not merely tragic they write, represent a roof -- refusal of free society. england slept in the 1930's as churchill famously put it. so did the united states, saying the best way to honor the memory of d-day is to preserve the peace we must prepare for war. , the editorial board of the wall street journal. go ahead sean.

got a stick by your phone per this is ronald in oklahoma, good morning. caller: good morning john. can i make a quick suggestion. people who are calling in talking abut their family members and things like that. i know there's no public in a democrat lines but can you ask them who there can a vote for because then you'll get the true story. my father fought in world war ii to he was in the pacific, in the navy. he swabbed the decks, that's what he did. he was a great man though. and he served his four years and he got out. he died in 92 from cancer, but he was -- i'm a veteran myself. i served in the united states army in oklahoma, home of the

field artillery. in the air defense artillery. the real story is ask who they are to vote for. i'm voting for joe biden. thank you. host: this is skill in north carolina, good mngller: good morning john and to all the precious families who had loved ones who fought in world war ii. my dad and my uncle both fought in world war ii. both landed in france. my uncle first in the first wave, my father in the second. my uncle was in the ninth division. my dad was in the first division. what i think is significant might uncle was in the white division, my dad was in the black division. we were both african-american so i would like to speak briefly to the participation of african-american gis. my uncle was killed in a pillbox

by german grenade. my father lives, served four years, going from france -- he was in the quartermaster so course giving supplies and the segregated division they liberated paris and went on through germany through the battle of the bulge. my dad never talked to me about the war is most world war ii veterans did. the only thing he said to me was as we got into germany and they were liberating the concentration camps, you could smell death a mile away. what i'd like to mention also is arlington ceremony has about 250,000 souls buried there. in long island were my dad is buried at the military cemetery there are 200,000 souls, there were a million people called up to fight nazis and fascism.

what i would like to also say is the united states government took overall industry during that time and african-americans in the great migration went to chicago, detroit, cleveland. went out to california to work in the defense industries. women of course worked. and many women fulfilled government positions in washington dc like my mother because men were called over to fight. so the aspect of segregation once again my uncle was killed was considered white. my dad went into patton's army. it wasn't until 1948 that president truman desegregated the armed services and the admiral in 1975 addressed the issue of racism in the navy. he said this must end, this must stop.

my last comment is as we remember these brave souls who gave all i would just like to say history does repeat itself, the phrase being used is history doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes. we see in sudan where there may be the loss of 4 million people due to famine where is the african union? where is the united nations? where are countries stepping up to find aggression. thank god the nato nations even though ukraine is not a nato member that the nato nations are at least helping to counter the unprovoked war that vladimir putin is promulgating.

one last statement regarding present time, there's been a million russian men who left russia who of gone to poland and finland, to latvia. two other countries because they don't want to fight putin's war were 400,000 russians have been killed. so history does repeat itself. when are we go stop the wanton killing that's taking place even today. that's my comment, god bless the servicemen and women who helped and fascism for a moment. it is still raising its ugly head. host: on a day when omaha beach is so much remembered, the

bloodiest of the beaches the allies landed on. kevin in omaha, nebraska. caller: i'm just calling about my father, he was in the air force and he was stationed at the azores. he refueled the planes and told me they would come in one right after another and get refueled and go on to europe. that's my comment and i want to thank all the members of the service who serviced our country and thank you very much. i'm making it short and sweet have a good day. host: to linda in ohio, you are next. caller: i just wanted to call for my father as well. he was in the 751st tank battalion. he was the commander of that tank unit.

i just want to call to say thank you to all of them. they sacrificed a lot. host: where did they fight during the war? caller: they were in germany. what stories do you remember? caller: he did not say a lot about what went on. i think it was horrendous for them and he really did not talk a lot about it. just want to call and say thank you to all of them. >> what do you think you would be thinking about today on the 80th anniversary of d-day? caller: i think he would be proud of what they did. him and the men he fought beside with. they were just wonderful people. they made it through, his battalion for many years they got together and had reunions.

until they all were too old to do that. host: thanks for telling us about alfred adams. on the national mall right now near the national world war ii memorial as part of it. reading the names of those who died during a normandy desk during the normandy campaign. it's been ongoing for well over an hour for several more hours we will show you part of that ceremony.

host: speaking the n tt the national world war ii memorial, the full ceremony there and the larger ceremony, several dignitaries at 10:00 eastern. you can watch that live on c-span at 11:00 eastern as the ceremony in bedford virginia, that town in southwest virginia that lost so many on d-day. that's with the national d-day memorial heirs. that event will also be livestreamed on c-span. starting 8:00 p.m. eastern time we will re-air all of the ceremonies, the one that's happening right now in normandy france with president biden expected to speak fairly soon here. as well also the national mall

ceremony and the bedford virginia ceremony per you can watch it all on the air this evening. june 6 the 80th anniversary of d-day. stephen alabama, you are next. caller: good morning john. my dad served in world war ii he served in north africa and in france and germany. some of the callers that have called in i disagree with, one or two of them sound like they're more like propagandists or even from a script rather than somebody calling to give their sentiments on the war. the -- some of them i think a just war lovers or something or maybe they are part of the military-industrial complex. but my dad came back here with -- came back here severely traumatized -- well not severely. he made a great effort in the years following the war to live

a normal life. but he could not get away from the demons, they bothered him. the only relief he got was in a bottle. he was a severe alcoholic till the day he died. after that. and it affected our whole family. throughout my whole life. it still affected my brothers and sisters and everything. it's a great noble cause for someone to sacrifice or risk their life for their nation, i have nothing but great respect for every veteran and every person that has been in the military in the past and that is in the military now. i'm talking about people on the bottom, the people at the very top of the pentagon who understand what's going on and especially our political leadership or the establishment i should say. i have tremendous disdain for

most of them, not all of them but most of them. and what they are doing in the years preceding world war ii there were two great upheavals two great political struggles going on in germany. what was happening was the communist were trying to take over germany and their propaganda and columnists, their agent provocateurs, they were all very active and the nazi party was the one that came up to oppose the communists who it already taken over europe and killed millions of white people by getting them to fight each other. and unfortunately by the time d-day happened, germany was already a defeated nation. most of its cities had already been bombed into rubble.

men, women and children, white phosphorus firebombs blockbusters, i've read accounts. i've seen videos from that era. i've been exposed information people cannot get today. unfortunately our society is eating up the propaganda that's put out by the machine. there is one predominant thing that was the message of the nazis, the nazis in europe, in germany, the nazis in america at that time and that message was this. the one overriding message was they did not want their society they did not want their culture they did not want their government to be controlled by jews. >> this is robert in aurora, indiana. good morning. >> give my thanks to everyone

who served this country and died for this country. my uncle fought the battle of the bulge and they were very patriotic, when they got out of the service they were farm boys when they went in and when they got out they wanted to go together, they were getting out of the g.i. bill and our country turned them down. my father died at 55 and i think he died of a broken heart because he loved to far hard but on the side he just came in a lost man. my uncle he had problems when he saw a lot of his friends die in the battle of the bulge and he would talk about that a little bit. he would really go off and lose

it. we had one boy, he was the first one killed in our county here. i'll say god bless him, he was the first one to die for this country and the way this country is today i get so sick of hearing all of this -- just this hatred. how can we have hatred. these people who call in especially the democrats. i don't know why they think trump doesn't love this country when that man has taken everything from this country and still wants to serve. do these idiots see the man

wants to get this country -- host:president biden is expected to speak out in just a few minutes at the normandy cemetery. we will go there live, what he does. part of the ongoing ceremony happening this morning. it's afternoon time in normandy. later, an international ceremony taking place on omaha beach. president biden will be there as well. he is also going to be back in normandy tomorrow, speaking again in another speech that you can watch here on c-span. until he begins his address, we are taking your phone calls. this is michael in richmond indiana. good morning you are next. caller: yes, sir. i would like to remember my father-in-law, third battalion 18th infantry, was in the second

wave at 10:30. landon on -- landed on omaha beach. he survived the war. he went act to normandy in 2009. took three days to get him down to the beach where the first division memorial was. he was on the lci. the ramp got cut in half. he was a flamethrower man. dumped his flamethrower. made it to the beach. picked up the first in one that he could find on his way to the top of the bluff. one buddy on his left, one buddy on his right. they were both killed. them's the ones what's name is on the memorial where we took him down to the beach to see. one of the stories that he told me, he went through some cattails to avoid the trails with the mines. when he got to the top of the bluff, him and his buddies

there was a sniper shooting at him. host: michael, stick around. we are going to president biden but i want to get back to the rest of your story. stick around until after he finishes. [applause] pres. biden: the hour had nearly come. monday, june 5, 1944. the people third reich -- the evil third reich had devastated the world subjugating europe through brute force, lies, and the twisted ideology of racial superiority. millions of jews were in the holocaust. millions of others killed by bombs, bullets, bloody warfare. hitler's and those with him thought that democracies were weak. that the future belonged to

dictatorsast of normandy, the battle between freedom and tear and he would be joined here on that june morning. president macron secretary austen, secretary blinken, distinguished guests, and most of all our honored veterans who met that test the test of ages to that moment, 80 years ago. 80 years ago today. [applause] on behalf of the american people , as commander-in-chief, it is the highest honor to be able to salute you here in normandy once more. all of you, god loves you. [applause] winston churchill called what

happened here the greatest, most complicated operation ever. after years of planning, operation overlord was ready to launch just as soon a weather turned across the choppy english channel. the supreme commander of the allies, to dwight d. eisenhower, waited, the largest force of ever of its kind. naval craft of every description waited. the world, captive and free waited. finally, eisenhower's forecasters said there is a window in the weather. it would open briefly on tuesday, the sixth of june. the general weighed the options and gave the order dawn, the

allies would strike. a great crusade to free europe from tierney would begin. that night, general eisenhower drove to the english town of newberry to visit paratroopers from the 100 thirst airborne -- 101st airborne. men from all over america, it was estimated that 80% of them would be killed within hours. that was the estimate. but they were brave. they were resolute. they were ready. one soldier told general eisenhower, "don't worry, sir will the 101st is on the job everything will be taken care of her coat that's what he said. because of their courage and their resolve, the courage and the resolve of their allies, it was taken care of.

from the sea and from the sky 160,000 allied troops descended on normandy. many, to state the obvious never came home. many survived that longest day kept on fighting for months until victory was finally won. a few, a notable band of brothers, are here with us, today. kenneth smith is here. on that day under heavy artillery fire, he operated a rangefinder radar on the first american ship to arrive at the coast of normandy. providing direct gunfire support for the rangers scaling the cliffs in a daring mission to take out the german batteries . bob gibson is here. he landed on utah beach about 10 hours after the invasion began

bullets flying everywhere, tracers lighting up the sky. he drove the m4 tractor with antiaircraft gun mounted on top providing critical protection for the infantry against the german air force. on that day and for many days after, he continued. ben miller is here, a medic with the 82nd airborne. at 3 a.m. on june 6, he and 13 other medics flew over the channel in a rickety glider. his wings were ripped off by giant poles that the germans buried halfway in the ground to stop them from landing. they crashed, but they survived. they did their duty, dragging injured soldiers to safety. treating wounds. saving lives while the battle raged. every soldier who stormed the beach who dropped by parachute

or landed by glider, every sailor who manned the thousands of ships and landing craft every 88 -- aviator who destroyed german controlled airfields, bridges, and railroads, all were backed by other brave americans including hundreds of thousands of people of color and wounded who courageously served, despite the unjust limitations on what they could do for their nation. part of the red -- red ball express, truck convoy made of african-american drivers, they landed in normandy in the wake of d-day. they rushed supplies to the rapidly advancing front lines. woody woodhouse is here. members of the legendary tuskegee airmen who flew over 15,000 sortie gaze -- sorties during the war. marjory stoneman is here, became

an aircraft mechanic in the women's reserve, spent the war keeping american planes and pilots in the air. there is has always been the story of america. just walk the roads of the cemeteries that i have. 10,000 buried side-by-side. officers and enlisted. immigrants and nativeborn. different races, different faiths, but all americans. all served with honor when america and the world needed them most. millions back home did their part as well. from coast to coast, americans found countless ways to pitch in . they understood that our democracy is only as strong as all of us make it together. the men who fought here became heroes. not because they were the strongest, toughest, or fiercest, although they were,

but because they were given an audacious mission knowing every one of them knew the probability of dying was real. but they did it anyway. they knew beyond any doubt that there are things that are worth fighting and dying for. freedom is worth it. democracy is worth it. america is worth it, the world is worth it. then, now, and always. the war in europe didn't end for another 11 months but here the tide turned in our favor. here we proved the forces of liberty are stronger than the forces of conquest. here we proved that the ideals of our democracy are stronger than any army or combination of armies in the entire world. we proved something else here as

well. the unbreakable unity of the allies. here with us are the men who served alongside the americans that day. wearing different flags on their arms, fighting with the same courage, for the same purpose. what the allies did together 80 years ago far surpasses anything we could have done on our own. it was a powerful illustration about alliances real alliances that make us stronger. a lesson that i pray we americans never forget. together, we won the war. we rebuilt europe, including our former enemies. an investment in what became shared and a prosperous future. we established nato, the greatest military alliance in the world.

over time, you got it -- it is. [applause] over time we brought more nations into nato, the nato alliance including the newest members, finland and sweden. [applause] today nato stands at two country strong and is more united than ever, even more prepared to keep the peace, to turn aggression to defend freedom all around the world. america is invested in our alliances. we forged new ones. not simply out of altruism, but our own self-interest as well. america has a unique ability to bring countries together. it is an undeniable source of our strength and power.

isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago and it is not the answer today. [applause] we know the dark forces that these heroes fought against 80 years ago. they never fade. aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and control, to change borders by force, perennial. the struggle between dictatorship and freedom is unending. here in europe, we see a stark example. ukraine has been invite -- invaded by a tyrant bent on domination. ukrainians are fighting with extraordinary courage, suffering great losses, but never backing down. [applause]

they have suffered tremendous losses to russia. the numbers are staggering. 350,000 russian troops dead or wounded. nearly one million people have left russia because they can no longer see a future in russia. the united states, nato, and a coalition of over 50 countries standing strong with ukraine. we will not walk away. [applause] because if we do, ukraine will be subjugated. the neighbors of ukraine will be threatened. all of europe will be threatened. make no mistake the autocrats of the world are watching closely to see what happens in ukraine. to see if we let this illegal aggression go unchecked. we cannot let that happen.

to surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators, it is simply unthinkable. [applause] were we to do that, it means we forgotten what happened here on these hallowed beaches. make no mistake, we will not bow down, we will not forget. let me end with this. history tells us that freedom is not free. if you want to know the price of freedom, come here to normandy. come to normandy and look. go to the other cemeteries in europe, where our fallen heroes rest. go back home to arlington cemetery. tomorrow i will pay respects their. go there as well and remember the price of unchecked here any is the blood of the young and the brave. they are generation, there hour

of trial, the allied forces did their duty. now the question for us is -- in our hour of trial, will we do ours? living in a time when democracy is more at risk across the world then any point since the end of world war ii, since these beaches were stormed in 1944. now, we have to ask ourselves will we stand against tierney people and the crushing brutality of the iron fist? or will we stand for freedom defend democracy, and stand together? my answer is yes and it only can be yes. [applause] are not far off from the time when the last living voices of those who fought and bled on d-day will no longer be with us, so we have a special obligation. we cannot allow what happened here to be lost in the silence of the years to come. you must remember it, honor it,

and live it. we must remember the fact that they were heroes here that day does not absolving us from what we have to do today. democracy is never guaranteed. every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it. that is the test of the ages. the memory of those who fought here, died here, literally save the world here, let be worthy of their sacrificed. let us be the generation when history is written about our time in 10 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now, it will be said that whenmoment, we stood strong, our alliances were made stronger. we saved democracy in our time as well. thank you very much and may god bless you all and protect our troops. thank you. [applause]

host: that was president ayden at the normandy cemetery in france, the 80th anniversary ceremony taking place right now. later this afternoon, president biden is headed to omaha beach for the international ceremony ceremonies throughout the day. you can watch the full coverage of these ceremonies here on c-span. at 8 p.m. eastern we will re-air all of them for you in order so that you can watch them with us together. now joining us on c-span, here on "washington journal," out of new york is michel paradis, the author of the new book, "the light of battle: eisenhower, d-day and the birth of the american superpower." that book just released.

we want to ask you what his day was like, 80 years ago. how did he spend his d-day? guest: worrying is the short answer. he didn't speak -- sleep that night, best we can tell. he stayed up all night chain-smoking, filling ashtray after ashtray, reading western novels. that was how he cleared his mind when he needed to think, needed to be able to focus. starting early in the morning at 6:30 reports started coming in. they were almost all positive. slowly but surely, he got more and more information and he spent the day trying to find out basically what was going on. i think the most stressful part of that day was that the news from omaha beach was long in coming. he got an early report from a famous american aviator by the name of jimmy doolittle, who had personally boarded an airplane

and flown to normandy just to see the invasion himself firsthand. running into jimmy doolittle, he was told that everything was looking great, though omaha was a bit touch and go. it wasn't until 6:00 at night that he got the first information about omaha and heard what a potentially disastrous situation it had become. he then rushed to the headquarters of bernard montgomery, the british general with responsibility for ground forces, trey could move the omaha landing british sectors further east. at that point there was a question about whether omaha beach had to be abandoned. ultimately the british general on the ground, miles dempsey reported back that there was too much congestion in the british sector. bringing the americans to this side will make them easier pickings for the germans by creating congestion on the

the order went back down to fifth corps and the leaders there who were responsible for omaha beach to stick it out, to keep fighting. ultimately, the following day general montgomery order the other contingent that had landed on utah beach successfully to turn east to take some of the pressure off of omaha beach. within a few days, they had linked up, and the rest, as they say, is history. it was an exhausting day where eisenhower didn't sleep for the better part of 48 hours. host: stressful, exhausting, a day of worrying, but the worrying did not come across in the message that the general sent to all of his troops to begin d-day. we want to show our viewers what came from the allied expeditionary force, that message to the troops as they embark. -- embarked.

[video clip] >> soldiers, same -- sailors airmen, you are embarking on the great crusade for which we have driven these many months. the eyes of the world are upon you. the hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. in company with our brave allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the german war machine, the elimination of nazi tierney over the oppressed people of europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. your task will not be easy. your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped, battle hardened. he will fight savagely. this is the year 1944. much has happened since the nazi try amps up 41 we have inflicted on the germans great defeat in open battle, man-to-man. the air offensive has reduced

their straight -- their efforts in the air and on the ground. our homefront has given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war and placed at our disposal great reserves of fighting men. the tide has turned. the freemen of the world are marching together to victory. i have for confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. we will accept nothing less than full victory.let us beseech the blessing of almighty god on this host: -- god on this great and noble undertaking. host: that was dwight d. eisenhower, his voice, his message to the troops that day. michel paradis, he said the tide had turned in that message. what of dwight eisenhower in turning the tide before june 6?

guest: it was indispensable. as much as he spent the day worried sick, he never let on. he always projected optimism always projected resolve. he knew that his worries were his own and that probably the most important and he could do as a leader, particularly as a military leader in the face of such great danger was to project optimism, to make the men under his command feel the full weight of what they were doing and the cause that they were a part of to feel that victory was not only worth it, but certain, so that they could do the impossible the following day. his role, you know, begins in basically december of 1943 when quite unexpectedly, president roosevelt chooses him to lead the allied invasion of normandy. over the next six months almost

every difficult decision that one can imagine in the world is put to him. everything from difficult relations with our allies, like the french and the british to even the threat of nuclear weapons. there was a belief or a risk that eisenhower was privately secretly briefed on the nazis having been developing nuclear weapons and might use them on d-day. in addition to being told about that, he was told the information was highly secret. that there was nothing he could do about it and he probably shouldn't tell anyone about it either. that was the weight after weight on his shoulders, getting all of the airmen, soldiers, pointed in the same direction at the same time. the largest, potentially most complex operations and diplomatic in human history keeping the allies together. one final point that comes

across in his statement and in almost every statement that he makes about the invasion, it's never about him as a leader and never about the united states. if you listen carefully, it was the united nations, the name the allies had given themselves for it became1 national organization -- became the international organization we know today. that was part of his unique contribution. he was one of those people in an era where there was no shortage of giant egos. to say the lead was victory and he was simply an instrument of the goal. it was never about him. it was about freeing europe from nazi tierney. freeing the lives of the young men that he was personally sending across the englishhost: all of it detailed in michel paradis's new book, "the

light of battle: eisenhower, d-day, and the birth of the american superpower host: from the book "the light of battle." phone lines split eastern time zone, (202) 748-8000, mountain or pacific, (202) 748-8001, and a special line for world war ii veterans and their families, (202) 748-8002 is that number. our guest will be with us for the next 40 minutes or so taking her calls. calls already for you, michel paradis. this is edward out of paris ohio. edward, good morning. guest: hello.

-- caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to call and -- calling -- call in on the military people. i served in 1970. my dad joined the army as soon as he turns 18 in 1944. he was in the last course mounted cavalry regiment in the u.s. military. he served in the occupation of japan after the war. i just want to say that if anybody is familiar with the organization known as the brownshirts that hitler's had -- that hitler's had when he -- that hitler had when he took power, i don't want to get too political, but icd brownshirts

in our republican representatives and senators that go to the aid of donald trump. host: that was edward in ohio, talking about his family, members serving in the cavalry through the marine corps and in japan. michel paradis, to bring it back to d-day, in terms of this military operation the largest in history, what was dwight eisenhower working off of that day? what was the next biggest military landing in military history that he had to look back to to try to figure out how to do what he helped lead that day? guest: really, he had a history of failure to look back too. the largest amphibious invasion ever attempted up to that point had been genghis khan and his effort to invade japan.

in japanese lower, it was repelled by a divine -- kamikaze, the divine wind. the next closest example was the british and australian and kiwi invasion attempt against the peninsula of gallipoli in 1915. that operation was seen as incredibly novel, dashing, and daring at the time. a way of avoiding the gratuitous madness and violence of the western front by essentially using seapower against madness and violence of the western front by essentially using seapower against land so that the british could force the darnell straits to knock the turkish out of the war and change the momentum of what at the time had been called the great war.

the british anticipated taking the entire peninsula in a day and having maybe at most a few thousand casualties. in reality, they lost tens of thousands of men over the course of nine bitter months of fighting and retreated ignominiously in january of 1916. that operation did two things that resonated mightily in the lead up to d-day. first, it set a historical precedent for the foolishness of trying to mount an amphibious invasion, invasion from sea to land against a heavily debated sure. -- defended sure. -- shore. your previous caller had said that his father had served in the last mounted cavalry unit in the army. the conventional wisdom was that

attempting to attack a defended beach was as outmoded as the mounted cavalry charge when you are dealing with weapons like machine guns. the second age or of the gallipoli failure was the end of the political career of its architect, the first sea lord of the admiralty at the time, by the name of winston churchill. he was forced to resign in disgrace. political career after that floundered a great deal. not only did he return to power as prime minister in 1940, and enough technologically had changed so that the allies thought it was worth attempting another what at the time had seemed impossible. even, i should say, up until d-day itself, it still seemed greatly improbable. eisenhower's own chief of staff

projected that only a few weeks before the invasion they only had a 50-50 chance for success. you don't have to be a mathematician to know that 50-50 is a 50% chance of disastrous failure. this was one of the most complex largest, and intricate military operations in all of human history, but also one of the riskiest. as brutal as it turned out to be, it was nothing like the worst fears of people like winston churchill, who never came around to the d-day invasion really, precisely because of the gallipoli invasion in his earnest fear that the channel tides would be running red with allied blood, as he would say. host: not to spoil your book, though it is only in the first couple of pages, the gallipoli operation is so much on the minds of the planere you begin your new book, "the light of battle: eisenhower, d-day, and

the birth of the american superpower." michel paradis with us, taking your phone calls. this is robert in shelbyville indiana. good morning. caller: thank you. thank you, michel paradis, for the words in your new book. i will have to get my wife bookstore owner, to get it in. just a comment, my dadgunner in the 142nd gunnery battalion in world war ii. they started in liverpool, england, and wound up in southeastern germany. that was at the end of the war. many of those men and women were big fans of ike they were fans of eisenhower. many of them voted for him andso, my f, he was a gunnery

battalion person. he came back and he worked in the steel mills in gary, indiana. he retired from there. i wear my dad's dog tags to this day. i know many veterans and families, in the world war ii veterans dogtags there is a notch at the end. i found out that that was my father's i-tooth, if he had lost the tags in battle they would have identified him by that. i work in the retired v.a. programs and i want to see a good word for the v.a. homeless programs and for the national cemetery service that they have. my uncle is buried, and my mom, at one of the national cemeteries that the v.a. has. i will say that i was out there

in 2004, dedication, tom brokaw said that the founder of our nation, george washington, in the preserver of our union abraham lincoln, is the rightful place for the generation that saved the world from tyranny. i want to say thank you to john and thank you to you on your book. i look forward to reading it. god bless that he gave veterans, world war ii, korea, all servicemember veterans, thank you. host: thank you, rob. michel paradis, a lot to pick up on. guest: if you can get his information to c-span, i would be more than happy to sign a bunch of books to send to his bookstore. i really appreciate that and i really appreciate independent bookstores most of all. but i think the other point of his that really resonated with me was the fact that between the washington monument and the

lincoln memorial memorial is the world war ii memorial. i want to emphasize that it is not the eisenhower memorial. eisenhower would not have had it any other way. even with this incredible victory at hand, which had been so improbable and shed years off his life probably. by the time d-day launched, senhower was smoking about three packs of cigarettes per day. he always, always make sure that when talking about it, that it was the young men being sent across the shore. it was what we could do together that was ultimately what made the effort so great and successful. it wasn't about him. as many of your listeners probably know, in fact, the night that he gives the order to launch the invasion, it's about 5:30 in the morning, he has been

up for days at that point. he's sending this, you know, vast war machine out across the english channel into the teeth of one of the worst storms that southern england had experienced at that time of year. based upon the advice of his meteorologists, there would be this gap in the storm to make the invasion possible. the first thing that he does in that moment, once he is essentially done as a commander right, once he is giving the order and there is left but to wait -- nothing left but to wait, he writes a short press release, really, just a short statement that anticipates, is to be released if the invasion in fact fails. it's very short but what is remarkable -- host: i can read it for the

viewers in its entirety. very short, as you said. he writes, sfo time and place was based that devotion and bravery could do. if any blame or fault is attached to the attempt, it's mine alone. there's a picture of the message for our viewers there. guest: if you look at the original message, there are crossings out and if you spend an inordinate a meta time like i did trying to figure out what he was trying to say when he stopped and crossed something out, it's making an excuse, making it about him, trying to justify his decision to launch the invasion when he did. each time, he sort of catches himself doing that. he crosses it out and it concludes as he does simply by saying that if there is any blame, it's mine, and all credit goes to those who risked their lives for the cause of freedom. host: cheryl, flora, good

morning. you are on with michel paradis. caller: good morning. this is from the perspective of the little girl who heard her phone ringing, her dad answered let out and live, another -- let out a expletive another x would have, then a lot of "yes yes," calling my mother to make coffee. my dad was assigned to transporting troops. we lived between two air force bases. sometimes he was going. when the kids were little, we took out the wagons and we collected grease, fat, tinfoil, and cans for the war effort. we were all very frightened.

things were short. we were all rationed on milk, flour, anything that they used for the war effort. we grew massive victory gardens. the women canned, pickled preserved food. gave out to other people. chickens and rabbits in the backyard for food. we would go together and we would buy holding beef, holding pork -- whole beef and pork. we had a neighborhood for food freezer lockers and we would have that and if we were lucky we could have game birds and like deer, have those and therefore food. host: was that phone call about d-day? that the landings had happened? caller: everybody would just

panicked. --. some woman always had brandy to take to the house where the telegram lady went. even the kids would huddle around. when our skirts got too short, we would put in would huddle around. would huddle around. for a child, it was very, very frightening, because we really did not know what was going on. host: michel paradis carol showing the home front side of that. when it came to eisenhower on the tip of the spear of this, how much did he think about the invasion, when the invasion would be, and pressure from the home front of when to plan the

invasion and how much to tell people about the buildup that was happening on a grand scale in england? host: one of the biggest influences on eisenhower from the home front something that we also forget, it was an election year. franklin roosevelt was up for reelection and 44, seeking a second unprecedented now fourth term. there were a lot of concerns about whether roosevelt would even survive the following year of the presidency and we know that soon after beginning his fourth term, he did not. one of the big problems that eisenhower has to deal with is a war that is not popular in 1944. we remember it with a much rosier lens than people thought of it at the time. in the united states, the war in

europe was ultimately a political liability or us. to the extent that any american war should be fought, it should be in the pacific against japan and that ventures in europe were either a waste or basically us trying to pump up the british empire which few americans at a time had much super before. -- much sympathy for. among his many concerns were that he might not have the resources to launch a successful invasion because the political wind back home was against him. he knew, and i think that roosevelt knew it as well, had the d-day invasion failed, it's not likely -- it's likely the united states would have pulled out of europe were substantially diminished in its investment with consequences we can only imagine in science fiction, just because of the politics of the time that we have now forgotten

domestic politics i should say. host: the book again, "the light of battle," a new book about eisenhower, d-day, the planning, the organization. holding that all of these stories are available in this new book. vance, bridgewater, new jersey. caller: as a newly arrived young refugee, i had a prance to meet president eisenhower before he died. i asked him how america could make such a massive effort as d-day and be so successful and still allow the soviets to do everything they did. like to know if you discuss that in your book or if you have anything about that, if you can manchin the answer he gave me -- mention the answer he gave me. host: i want to hear that

answer. the first, michel, go ahead. guest: sure. hindsight makes the past look unrecognizable sometimes. in 1944, the united states and soviet union were allies. to be frank about it, one of the big efforts of eisenhower was to ally the united states much more closely with the soviet union in looking forward to the postwar world is coming, where the old european empires potentially at that point even including the british empire -- we know that it quickly unraveled in the immediate aftermath of the war -- but that all of the old european empires were bound to collapse and that roosevelt was not only accepting of that, he deeply encouraged it, because he believed fundamentally in democracy and human rights, making it a central pillar of

american policy. as a consequence, he saw the soviets as a crucial wartime ally and developed for lack of a better word a warm, surprisingly warm relationship with what roosevelt called uncle joe joseph stalin. was that the limitations of his own imagination over who stalin was? or was it the hard eyed calculation of a lifelong politician about the nature of the world to come? i didn't write a book about roosevelt, i will not try to put him on the couch here. eisenhower was also, you have to remember that relationships with the soviets in 44 and 45 are quite warm with the united states. the soviets actually award eisenhower the top military metal that can be given to a foreigner at the time in the soviet union, which eisenhower

always joked was his favorite because it allowed him to ride the moscow subway for free. at a personal level, he had never traveled to russia until the very end of the war. he was intrigued by it, as i think many americans at the time were. ultimately visiting moscow in 40 five, bringing his son along vetted as an international hero at the time. this was also before the start of the cold war and before the nature of soviet intentions were i think fully apparent except to those who had long harbored hostility and suspicions of the soviet union, except for winston churchill, who never liked stalin, to be clear. i'm not saying that by way of excuse but the world, it's always easier to know how things

should be going in the past when we know how they turn out but at the time the world had been turned upside down by old empires that had viciously started the most brutal and lethal war and a human history. at that point, the soviets had fought bitterly against the germans, pinned down anywhere from 75% to 90% of the where mocked -- wehrmacht in eastern europe. one of thethe allies saw was that the soviets might stop fighting and one of the major reasons for the d-day invasion was the allies understood it was important to open a western front, to take the pressure off the soviets so that the red army didn't collapse -- it was taking astronomical casualties compared to the german army, even though it was on the offensive. it was at great costs. just as much of a concern was stalin seeing the allies fail in the normandy invasion and simply

pursuing what stalin viewed and most people viewed as peripheral operations in the mediterranean, the british preferred strategy would have given the russians every incentive to cut a deal with nazi germany to divide essentially the european continent between fascism in the west and communism in the east and i don't think anyone wanted that result. the politics can be complicated, but i would be fascinated to hear the eisenhower retrospective view on this question. host: i'm very sorry to say that dan hung up the phone. guest: i bet it was different from his view and 44. because he learned. i don't mean that to be cynical but he was fundamentally someone who brought very few preconceptions to the world and very much had the flexibility of mind crucial to his success as a leader and a politician. he learned from mistakes, he

learned from new information and i think it is to his great credit rather than being cynical about it. host: plenty of other callers for you, this is joann waiting on the line for family members of world war ii veterans. go ahead, joann. caller: this is joanne brooks in moore mont, california. i want to say that i really commend all these people who have fought in all wars to keep peace and tranquility. it's tough. like they say, freedom is not free. it will never be free. we know that from my husband's family and mine all the way back to world war i. he no longer, of course, none of them are living now, but my aunt was helen olson and helen olson she came over. she was in london. she came over on the -- at the

end of the war from england on the queen mary. i met my husband in 1944. he was a pilot. being a pilot, of course, now that the war is coming down a little bit, they didn't need the pilots anymore. but i'm very glad that they are ok and came back. i've also had on my father's side, i had an uncle, nephew they were all in world war ii. like right now i have 18 grandkids, 26 great grandkids, and one great great grandchild. that father is in the navy now in florida. where his ship goes, we are not allowed to know.

his partner, so they had this baby, she's also in the navy. and then now my great-granddaughter, she is in japan in the air force, in her young 20's. she made staff sergeant. that is almost unheard about. host: a military family. thank you for telling us about them joann. michel paradis, i wanted you to pick up on one point. she talked about not being able to know where one of her family members were out on a ship. the secrecy surrounding june 6, 1944 and the lengths to which they went to keep this giant operation secret. guest: yeah. in so many different ways. speaking of not knowing where your relatives are, they put a total ban on the mail and telephonic communication, though

that was rare at the time. in the weeks up to the d-day invasion, the ban on information extended to diplomatic information, sending the british government of the wall, to be frank about it. but then there were also secrets around the covert action with the french resistance, which was very ultimately quite effective in slowing an dis-organizing the german counter strike against normandy. then there was an entire let's say fake operation known as operation fortitude, and allied deploy to convince the germans that the main invasion, the real invasion was going to happen seven hot -- several hundred miles east of the peninsula of calais. the lengths to which the allies went to pull this off are extraordinary and worthy of sort of the greatest hollywood

directors. fake radio traffic from fake trips, fake paratroopers, fake radios. most essentially and effectively, there was an entire fake command structure put in charge that was headed by a famous american general headed by george patton. host: georgie, as eisenhower called him. guest: that's right, georgie patton, who is and was a very controversial figure, but most powerfully for the purposes of eisenhower, the one man who lived in adolf hitler's drug-induced dreams. the germans actually failed to mount a full counter attack against the normandy beaches because they remained convinced that the bulk of the allied invasion led by patton was still pointing tonoter for. as long as he was indico do

as a battlefield commander in charge of a brigade. host: mount ville, tennessee, gary you are next. caller: thank you, john. michel, can't wait to get your book. like a fool, i had a book years ago that i loaned to someone and never saw again, but it was first-hand accounts of all the people that were in the european theater. one story that you made me think about, talking about ike up all night, the navy was feeding the marines steak and eggs the morning they left. some of the sergeants ran in and said you can't feed these guys this kind of food, we've got to cut them open and operate on them. the answer was, "leave it be, it is their last meal."

they all knew this. i mean, ike being a soldier his whole life, i can just imagine what he went through. i just thought that was one of the most interesting things i had ever heard about that day. i did have a great uncle in the other family, nobody knows this he fell on the beach that day. but i can't wait to get your book. host: gary, thank you for sharing those stories. michel paradis? guest: yeah, you know what of one of the things about eisenhower, the old cliché, his old political slogan was "i like ike," and there was a reason people liked ike, it r, cffhe lls, fr for people from kansas, or abilene, where he was from. he always made a point of going to the mess hall, where they

were getting their food, because he knew that was the day today kind of stuff that mattered most. he was always worried about, what is the quality of their boots and shoes? what is the quality of their socks, right? literally all the way to the ground. he was = genuinel concerned about these young men. part of that was his nature, as tough-minded as he was and is reeling as he was -- willing as he was to send minute to high risk situations, where death was a high possibility if not an inevitability, he also knew what that meant in a real way, felt it in his bones. and, you know, when president biden was speaking a little while ago about eisenhower visiting the 101st airborne, you know one part of that story -- host: rete pe' ' tnths oen s, orious deaths, like, these will be violent, sad tragedies of literally every other hand he shook. host: michel paradis is the

author of "the light of battle: eisenhower, d-day and the birth of the american superpower." carla is in colorado. good morning. thanks for waiting. caller: hi. well actually i wanted to brag a little bit about my mother and my uncle. my mother, carol carson, she was one of the women who worked in the motor pool, and while the men was fighting overseas, she was fixing vehicles and driving disabled vehicles back from the docks, some with no breaks -- brakes. michael merlin missed d-day because he had a medical situation, but he joined the air force after d-day in on the b-17, marlon anderson. and i just want to younger

generation to understand that freedom is not free, and we need to study our history, because if we let russia and vladimir putin get away with what he's doing in ukraine, it will not be good for the rest of the world and freedom. host: thank you for sharing those stories. michel paradis? guest: i could not agree more. i got a chance to listen to a little bit of what president biden said and i caught the one line that i thought resonated quite well with me is that, you know the cost is tyranny. we think of tierney as something we may have to begrudgingly permit or ignore, but the line he said is the cost of ty ranny is the blood of young men, and that is the lesson of world war ii, and i hope it is a lesson we continue to keep to heart today. host: gloria in tennessee, good morning. caller: good morning. are you with us? caller: i am. host: go ahead.

caller: it's ok. host: go with your question or comment, gloria, you are on with michelle verdi. -- michelle parity. -- michel paradis. i wanted to say how proud i am of my family. my family on both sides, my mom's and my dad's, have proudly served in every branch of the military. world war ii, england scotland, germany, suffered from alcoholism. when he came back, all he did was cry and wonder, how many babies did he look? i would go up and hug him and say, look at how many lives you saved.

my uncle junior, he was in the navy, and the only way i knew that was because my mamaw -- when i was a little bit younger i got into her chest, and i was reading the letters from uncle junior. they always started "somewhere in the south pacific," "dear mom, i miss you, i love you. the food is ok, but it's not as good as yours. can't wait to leg at home and have some of your cooking." -- can't wait until i get home and have some of your cooking." every member came home alive, and i'm so grateful. obi on my mom's side was in the marines, uncle mac was a paratrooper, 82nd airborne. and i'm just so proud of my family and so ashamed of what is happening in our world today.

have we lost the american spirit? i know that everywhere, there's always good and bad and a mix of both, but i also know the good always defeats people. host: gloria, thank you for the call from tennessee. michel paradis? guest: if you don't mind my reading one bit, it is a reflection eisenhower gave on that trip he had made with the 101st airborne on the night before d-day. it gets, i think the two competing or interlocking scenes that a lot of the callers have been talking about. "war is a renunciation and a denial of human brotherhood, but in an assembly area before dawn assaults come on a ready line of a forward airfield, there was no thought of a man's and decedents, cree, or rig it was enough that he was american, spirit willing, and he was enough to place the cause

about himself." -- above himself." eisenhower was a complicated president, and i'm not here to tell you about saint eisenhower, of course, but i think it is because he knew in his bones that, you know war is, in a sense. it is violence, and it is violence on a grand scale. while it does certainly bring the best out of people, when they are working together, particularly when they are working with a just cause, but also comes at an extraordinary cost not just at our own lives and lives of our own men, as he was a come of of the lives of the other side as well i don't think he was entirely insensitive to that, either. the annihilation of french civilians, the bombing campaign in advance of normandy was a

necessary evil, and anyone who takes joy in the violence of war does not really understand it. but there is something about that opportunity that it gives us to really prove what we are made of, to fight for a common cause, and to really show that we believe all these pretty things that we often see but are very rarely put to the test such as democracy, human rights, and, you know, personal freedom that it provides this crucible in which our own beliefs are often tested. host: michel paradis, you mentioned that the national world war ii memorial is not the eisenhower memorial, but i want to end with your thoughts on the eisenhower memorial. there was one established. it opened in 2020, a little bit south of the main part of the national mall. it is the newest memorial on the national mall proper. what do you think he would have

thought of this memorial that sits at the foot of capitol hill? guest: i'm not going to pretend to speak for him. 't do a séance for him. if i had to guess, he would be like "oh, why would you go and do that?" he was fundamentally a modest person, probably some of that was more put on because of his sense of style, but i think he was genuinely embarrassed any someone tried to make too big of a deal about him. memorial despite what i guess woould be his reaction, i don't think it was an accident that it just will not, 2021 was when it opened, because, for a long time, certainly given the politics of the day, eisenhower was seen as this fairly sort of be mayonnaise on white bread type figure who spent most of his time not really engaged. one of the great things about

being in a story and as you can unpack what is hidden in a time, for a number of reasons, secret letters, diaries, actual medications with each other. and historians, presidential historians have seriously reconfigured their view of eisenhower. as soon as he left office, he was ranked 32 at that time out of 38, don't quote me exactly on the numbers, but he is in the bottom orderm quarter of presidents. at the time the memorial open, i think he was number five. that is because we have this view of charismatic leaders, whether john kennedy or winston churchill, who we think of as great leaders, but when it comes down to genuine leadership of mobilizing people

toward a common goal and then achieving that goal, very often it is not the person, you know trying to steal the spotlight that is achieving things. certainly in eisenhower's case, that is an example of genuine leadership that, you know, achieved results that have inspired generations and really did remake the modern world. the world we live in today come as i said a few minutes ago would not have been the same had the d-day invasion failed. we would be in a totally different world. it would be science fiction. but because it succeeded, we live in a world that is freer that is more equal, that is safer than it had ever been before. as many problems as we do have today. and it is because of eisenhower personally and also people like eisenhower as well as the hundreds of thousands of young men who risked everything to cross an english channel that we can enjoy that today. host: i think that survey that you are referring to come of the c-span survey of presidential historians that came out in 2021, the top five presidents as

ranked on various aspects of leadership by presidential historians, number one, abraham lincoln, george washington, franklin roosevelt, theodore roosevelt, 5, dwight david eisenhower. you can check it out at c-span.org. the new book that is out about eisenhower, "the light of battle: eisenhower, d-day and the birth of the american superpower." michel paradis is the author, and we appreciate your time on c-span. guest: thanks so much for having me on. it has been a great conversation. host: coming up in about 45 minute, we will take you to the national mall to the national world war ii memorial, and d-day ceremony said to take place there, to :00 a.m. eastern time in than 11:00 a.m. eastern time, it is virginia at the national d-day memorial, and southeast virginia, and live coverage of those two events coming up on c-span fit we hope you stay with us all day long for the full

coverage of the 80th anniversary of d-day. all these life events will re-air tonight in on-time, 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span here also today presidential speeches, historic newsreel footage of d-day, and also a recent conference from gettysburg, pennsylvania, on the 80th anniversary. all for you to watch throughout the day, this 80th anniversary of june 6 1944. taking your phone calls for these last 45 and as of the "washington journal" today simply hearing your stories about d-day. if you live in the mountain or pacific time zones, it is (202) 748-8001. in the eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8000.that special line all day long for world war ii veterans and their family wrist, (202) 748-8002. go ahead and shoot us a text if you would like, (202) 748-8003. allen is in illinois.

thanks for waiting to go ahead. caller: am i on the line now? host: sir. michel paradis, we ran out of time with him, but whatever are your thoughts? caller: not all of those guys were volunteers. many of them were drafted. i'm wondering how eisenhower was able to convince the people that were drafted that they are doing the right cause. host: that question, you might find in "the light of battle: eisenhower, d-day and the birth of the american superpower." that is michel paradis' book. we were talking about it with him in the previous segment. this is warren in washington d.c. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a few comments. i hope michel's book talks about the only african-american book to fight in d-day. number two, that feature you

gave about failing is a lesson we teach at the u.s. war conumber three, that very same pictured ntmb, be, "ednd eisenhower was pete i want to thank you for the work you do on c-span. host: warren, thank you for sharing those stories to did you serve? caller: i served as deputy assistant secretary for the army at the pentagon. i was not active. but my dad was a world war ii vet, and the 320th, that garage barrage unit, my cousin was part of it, and he was awarded with a french metal, when the united states government did not recognize him with anything. i have a very strong opinion for our men and women who serve. host: thank you for telling us about them. temple, texas, you are next. good morning. caller: good morning. my father served in world war ii and the korean war.

he went to world war ii when he was 15 years old because they did not have birth certificates where he was from, so he had his mother write a letter saying he was 18 years old, he was old enough to go. but my father, he had a bad time in world war ii. he said that he fought and slept and ate and everything with all the other people in world war ii, but when it came time for the boats to bring the soldiers back, they had to ride, black people, in a different boat, and they did not ride with the white guys. and so i'm just letting you know war is not glorious when you are not fighting for your

people and they appreciate it. thank you. host: to burbank, california, edward. good morning. you are next. caller: yeah. can you hear me ok? host: yes sir. caller: ok, so i agree with everything i hear about world war ii that i see on the history channel, the memorials, and things like that. the one thing i don't understand is why we don't commemorate the island hopping campaign of the pacific as much as we do world war ii in europe. the invasion of normandy was probably one of the greatest event in our history come about from the history channel that i watched, it showed that the landing at okinawa actually landed more troops them were landed in normandy. the other thing about normandy is the thousands of german soldiers that's written to the u.s., but you never saw that in the pacific, the japanese that surrender, maybe only having thousand survived.

i think we need a memorial for the island hopping campaign in the pacific. host: edward, just a note for you, you might be interested, on our "q&a" program on c-span, we featured two veterans from the pacific campaign, one who was a gonorrhea officer on a gunnery officer. there's a picture of him there. the other, a b 24 navigator that flew in the pacific. it is about an hour long discussion with those two men two different interviews you can watch. c-span.org is where you can go. barbara is next in tallahassee florida. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing, john? host: i'm doing well barbara. what are your thoughts on this entity is d-day? caller: well i was thinking

about my daddy. he was in world war ii, and he was injured severely. whatever member remember was, as a kid he was always trying to be positive, but he had a scar that went from the bottom of his neck all the way down to the back of his back. my sister and i used to like to play train tracks on his scar. i can just tell you that so many men who came back from world war ii came back with ptsd come i believe is how you pronounce it, and he certainly suffered from that without the hollers him. but i want you to know he served with patton, and he would get so upset if anyone said anything about general patton, because he thought he was the greatest man

ever. host: barbarau how he got that scar? caller: shrapnel. shrapnel, so, you know he suffered as so many of these men, who are gone now, but they suffered extraordinary injuries. host: did your dad ever go to any of these anniversary events, these commemorative events? we see so few of these veterans now, in their 90's and 100's. did he go to any of those events? caller: no, he did not. he worked in the oil fields in east texas and we had a very good young life, because he works so hard. but this was a man who gave to this country, and i think the thing that upsets me so bad now is that the young people, and i mean, when i say young i'm 75 these people who are in their appreciate

what americans have done for them, and there's no respect. we all got to get on board because if we don't get on board , we will have an authoritarian ruler, and we don't want that. so just appreciate what these men who gave their lives and were injured and continue to live their lives, what they did for you in this country, and just sit is just horrible. and just appreciate the fact that you live in america, because i'm telling you it is bad a lot of places, but we've got a really good in america. we've got it good. host: that is barbara in florida. this is carrie in new hampshire. good morning. caller: good morning. john. i wanted to acknowledge my

father, tim mccarthy who served in the navy during world war ii. my mother's cousin edward was killed in the d-day battle and is buried at the normandy american cemetery. back in 2009, as a family member of the fallen d-day i had the honor to attend the 65th anniversary of d-day at the normandy american cemetery. it was quite an experience. i paid my respects to my second cousin, edward doyle's, grave, and it was quite a humbling and emotional experience. host: what do you remember most? what are the images or sounds that you remember from those visits tehhere? caller: after the ceremony, i walked around the cemetery which is quite a beautiful place

, very well-kept, as you can imagine. and i paid my respects to many of the world war ii veterans in attendance. they were probably 15 years younger than they are today and it is quite interesting just to talk to them and hear about their experiences and how they would point out various plots of the beaches where they came in. some looked like they were recalling it from yesterday. it is kind of singed into their memory. and then as a side note, when i was walking around, i actually bumped into tom hanks and steven spielberg, who were they are to honor, respect the d-day veterans. apparently after they made that movie "saving private ryan," they both were big supporters of the national world war ii museum

in new orleans. besides -- there were four or five heads of states that gave speeches. president obama gave a speech. the president of france, the u.k. prime minister, and i think prince chaes was there so it was quite an event. it was very emotional. host: that cemetery in france, in normandy, france, is where today's event took place where president joe biden spoke. we showed it to viewers earlier here on the "washington journal," maintained by the american battle monuments commission. the focal point of so many of these ceremonies over the years. and this morning, we want to show you this piece from the "wall street journal," ike returns to normandy. walter cronkite and dwight eisenhower in a 1964 documentary.

the two went to that cemetery come of normandy american cemetery, in a famous document or that was released in 1964, on the 20 anniversary of d-day. i want to show you just about three minutes from that pbs documentary. walter cronkite and then former president dwight eisenhower. [video clip] >> d-day has a very special meaning for me. and i'm not replaying merely to the anxiety's of the day, and zaianxieties of sending to an invasion many hundreds of boys were going to give their lives or being maimed forever. my mind goes back so often to this fact. on d-day, my own son graduated from west point, and after his training his division, he came

over the 71st division. this was sometime after this event. but on the very day he was graduating the men came here, british, and our other allies, and americans, to storm these beaches. not to gain anything for ourselves, not to fulfill any ambitions that american had for conquest, but just to preserve freedom, systems of self-government, in the world. many thousands of men have died for ideals such of these. and here again come in the 20th century, for the second time americans, along with the rest of the free world, americans had to come across the ocean to defend those same values.

my own son has been very fortunate. he has had a very full life since then. he is a father of four lovely children that are very precious to my wife and me. but these young boys, so many of them, whose grades we are looking at wondering and contemplating about their sacrifices. they were cut off in their prime. they had families that grieved for them, but they never knew they would experience going through life like my son they can't enjoy. i hope that we will never again have to see such things again. i think and hope -- that we have learned more. but these people gave us a chance come and they bought time for us, so that we can do better

than we have before. so every time i come back to these beaches or any day when i think about that day 20 years ago, i say once more we must find some way to work through piecepeace and to find eternal peace in this world. host: that cbs broadcast was broadcast to 22 countries around the world when it was aired. you can see the picture of dwight and walter cronkite in that jeep. before we take you to the national mall for another d-day ceremony set to begin, 10:00 a.m. eastern, you can watch it in its entirety here on c-span.

it is expected to go about an hour. we will show you preparations that are getting underway there. after that, we will take you out to bedford virginia, the home of the bedford boys, as they were known, the tournament from that small community in southwest virginia who were killed on d-day, and that is where the national d-day memorial is, a ceremony there set to begin at 11:00 a.m. eastern. lawrence, st. paul, minnesota, good morning. thanks for waiting. caller: good morning. two quick comments. after my uncle perished, i found out that he participated in the battle of the bulge. i was talking to my mother about it, and i said boy, i would have loved to have talked to my brother about him about it, and she looked at me and said no, he would never talk about it. i eventually talked to my cousin, and she said the same thing, he would never talk about it.

here is a book recommendation for people looking into the d eaths of world war ii and normandy. there's a book called "d-day through german eyes," that's the name of the book it i cannot pronounce the german guy's name that wrote it, but i will tell you it is not for the faint of heart. it is very descriptive in terms of the brutality, such as the number of soldiers on the german side that were not german that hitler's basically sacrificed. what really cut my attention more than anything else is how the germans describe the overwhelming force of the different armies of canada, britain, france, and, of course, the united states, that it was just so constant over days over days over days, and it just wore

many of the soldiers down. so "d-day through german eyes," and john, thank you for the time. host: from minnesota, this is marie. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm calling to honor several members of my family who served in world war ii. my uncle, benjamin, who was in the 743rd battalion, which landed on omaha beach on d-day and later rode then to get up off the beach. he was killed on july 31. he was only 20 years old when his tank was hit and exploded. he was only 20. my dad served. he was in the army, served in africa, sicily italy marine landing in the southern france in 1944 with you southern army.

-- with the southern army. with across france into germany with the battle of the bowles. he never talked about it. he too suffered from alkaline alcoholism. my local was on a destroyer, which was in all the major battles in the pacific ocean. his younger brother joey joined the army, as soon as he could when he turned 18. he never got overseas, but he served that fort hill, oklahoma. i also have to honor my mom, a civilian who worked at the philadelphia navy yard in the administration. she was in the typing pool, but she got so many bonds, got her people in her office to buy war bonds to support the war and she did good, because that was something that was needed all

the time. so i just wanted to honor all of them and also the people that the national world war ii museum is a beautiful place to go. it has, you know real explanations of battles and honors the people who served in the war. thank you very much. host: the national world war ii museum in new orleans is certainly a beautiful place to go. and c-span's american history tv visited there recently, a new special collections exhibit opened there. we toured that exhibit and also got to see their new ai technology in which they interviewed real world war ii veterans, asking them hundreds of questions. and then today, you can go to a computer screen, see an image of that person that they interviewed, ask a question, and

ai technology will find an answer from the hundreds of thousands of questions that they ask those veterans, to respond. it is new technology down there at t ii museum again, in new orleans, louisiana. this is carol in florida. good morning. caller: hi. i just wanted to put a little twist on the conversation. my mother at one time hated franklin roosevelt because of one statement he made, that he promised not to send our boys to fight on foreign soil, and my brother joined up in the marines before he even got his diploma, and he was sent to iwo jima. he survived. he came back, like so many, with no help, and became an alcoholic. she got over her hatred, but she never quite trusted politics again.

and she was not a dumb woman. she was smart. she had won a contest earlier before the war, and was sent to new york and washington and had tea with mrs. roosevelt, but that statement just, it was taking her son away, and she did not believe anything any politician said after that. that is my comment. host: that is carol in florida. this is iris, in michigan, good morning. south lyon. caller: south lyon. host: yes, sorry, i was going with the french pronunciationay. sorry. caller: it opened up with the

when we would to the movies, it would open up with the newsreels, something children do not see today. you saw what you were talking about, where they don't take all members of the family, where someone be behind and make a living for the family, so that people back here can eat. every kid was enlisted in doing something for world war ii rolling bandages, buying bonds our air raid drills, we were not hiding under the desks, we were sent into the hallway to sit on the floor altogether. i would wait and see if the ceilincaved in. we would be singing patriotic songs and given the drill to buy bonds. bond buying, it was just part of our culture. neighborhoods were empty of all the men, and if somebody had a gold star, you visited their

home. he rang the doorbell, brought some cake, kept them company. for the blue stars. we were all in it! and i don't see that today. the theaters were empty of men! we wore copper bracelets for the injured, have their names on it, and we were writing to people we would send themthey were strangers, but we wrote to them, and they sent letters back. in they could read it. it was not phone calls and it was not just notices, it was personal contact that is allowed. we don't see that anymore kid i'm very sorry. a depersonalized wars. most of the children growing up have no realization about the misery that it produces, the deaths. it is like a business.

i can't stand it. i just don't like people dying. people sent over there, no reason, they are strangers just, you know it's a business. it has got to stop. thank you for listening. host: iris in south lyon michigan. in about 20 minutes, we will take you to the national world war ii museum on the national mall. that ceremony, about an hour long, will begin at 10:00 a.m. eastern. at 11:00 a.m. eastern, we will take you to bedford, the national d-day memorial, another ceremony set to begin there. and then throughout the day today on c-span, programming from various anniversaries over the years and d-day conferences. we will be showing you presidential speeches throughout the various anniversaries, including the 75th anniversary of d-day in 2019.

it was former president donald trump who went to the normandy american cemetery and spoke there. this is about a minute and a half, what he had to say five years ago. [video clip] mr. trump: and the man behind me will tell you that they are just the lucky ones. as one of them recently put it, all the heroes are buried here. but we know what these men did. we do how brave they were. they came here and save freedom and then they went home and showed us all what freedom is all about. the american sons and daughters who saw us to victory were no less extraordinary in peace.

they built families, they built industries, they built a national culture that inspired the entire world in the decades that followed. america defeated communism, secured civil rights, revolutionized science launched a man to the moon, and then kept on pushing to new frontiers. and today, america is stronger than ever before. host: that was five years ago, former president trump speaking at that ceremony. president biden spoke at that ceremony earlier this morning. another ceremony at the national d-day memorial in bedford, virginia. that is going to take place, 11 a.m. eastern. that is a live shot of that memorial. if you've never been, a tribute to the town of bedford, losing

20 of its sons, the highest casualty rate, specific per capita casualty rate, of any town that served on d-day, and that is why they memorial is in bedford, virginia. if you've never been, you can watch that ceremony here on c-span. back to your phone calls. this is rochelle in fort lauderdale, florida. good morning. you are next. caller: hi. good morning. thank you for taking my call. i just had to call. i did call one time before a couple of years ago, because my father served, i believe he was in the first wave, and i believe he served with a company where the majority of the boys were from i think it was invirginia, but it could have been bedford. anyway. he lived a really hard life. he grew up in an orphanage in new york city.

when he got out of the orphanage, he, of course had to find work, and he eventually ended up down in virginia, in norfolk, to work for the shipyards. and so, of course, he was one of the first people drafted for the invasion and therefore that is why he served with the company with the boys from virginia. they all treated him really well. he was one of them. and on d-day he said that if you've seen the movie "the longest day," that is the most accurate film about what happened, and they actually showed the scene that he lived through, where robert mitchum, i think he's a general, not sure what his rank was supposed to be, descends against the beach. they're not moving, they can't move, and it's really bad. the general says look, we are either going to die here on the

beach for over the hill, so let's go over the hill, they all follow him and one by one, they got on this trail over the hill, and there's a minefield. this i don't think they showed in the movie but my father told us many years after the fact, he did not want to tell us about things when he we were little, but he said there was a soldier with his legs shot off, and they were directing that he was directing them across the minefield, so they would not die like he was going to die. he said once they got to the farmhouses, going through the little fields in normandy, the civilians, the french civilians would run out of their houses and they had nothing to give them, but they wanted to thank them, so they would hand them an egg. and just many, many stories. he also went back. we went back as a family together in the 1990's, and we

want on a tour of france, on a tour bus. the tour guide on the bus who was french, she asked my father to tell everybody on the bus the stories about anything that happened. and they appreciated him so much because, i mean he was very humble. he would not have ordinarily done that. but the tour guide afterwards hugged him and thanked him so much for saving their country. it was very emotional. but when he went to the cemetery to see his friends, i did not go at that point, because it was just too emotional for me. i did not want to have to see him cry. and i cannot believe, looking out at the beach but all that happened, like at that time, i don't know maybe it was 40 years ago, 50 years ago, because it was just a beautiful, peaceful sunny day.

i can't imagine all that coming to shore and all the bombs in the misery that happened. it was all pretty incredible and unforgettable. host: michelle, thank you for sharing the stories. i live shot from bedford, virginia, the national d-day memorial. that event beginning 11:00 a.m. eastern. this from the national d-day memorial website, just on the history. it bears saying in its entirety, the right about the history of the bedford boys, among the hundreds of thousands mast on the shore in 1944 work 44 soldiers, sailors, and airmen from bedford, virginia. almost all of them come of this would be their baptism of fire. of the 37 assigned to company a 31 loaded in the craft and headed for omaha beach in the firsten route it struck an obstacle

and sake, including five of bedford's own. the remaining that reach omaha beach, 16 killed and four wanted within a matter of minutes. three others were unaccounted for and later presumed killed in action. another killed in action with company s, bringing the d-day for tally to 20. bedford suffered the highest known per capita d-day loss, a somber distinction, and that is why the national d-day memorial is they are in bedford. eileen in pennsylvania, good morning. you are next. caller: good morning, john. i want to give a shout out to the merchant marines who are not often mentioned but provide a vital purpose for serving the war effort all over the world. my father and his younger brother bob served. my father said when they would go out, you would never know on

these convoys how long you are going to be out, where you were going. they were always under constant threat with german subs. he was in the mediterranean, the pacific, going from country to country, picking up supplies getting what was needed for the troops and the countries fighting in the war. merchants are not always mentioned. michael bob was injured during the war, picking up oil down in the caribbean, heading back of the atlantic, and his ship was hit with a u-boat. he was months at sea in a lifeboat and was the only survivor. i'm so grateful for their service. lesser member then. thanks a lot john. host: eileen in pennsylvania. g avante in -- giovanni in

indiana. caller: i've been told about this for a while they talk about the ghost one of my great uncles, included things like parachuting into germany at midnight just with a knife stuff that -- i want to also thank all the viewers for sharing stories, all who lost their lives, you know what they had to do is sad, it's really sad to think about. i'm not watching the television right now could i know it's on the screen. but just to say, i believe wholeheartedly, i would like to see donald trump today, i think we need him as a president to get through. he's the only guy -- earlier what he's done -- a beautiful

family brought forth for him -- i'm libertarian. i have libertarian values, but i'm saying -- host: you mentioned the ghost army, as they were known in combat the con artists of world war ii. activated january 20, 1944 the headquartered special troops known as the ghost army, the first multimedia tactical deception unit in u.s. army history, consisting of 82 officers and 1033 men under the command of a veteran colonel. it was able to simulate two full german forces during world war ii's final years. portland oregon, tess, good morning. you are next. caller: i'm so glad that i got

on today. i called once before, and it was you as well to i'm very pleased to have you again. i am so proud to have three world war vets and my family, my dad and my own quote written my own pull george. my dad served in okinawa, as did my uncle george. george did not make it out. my dad did. he was hit by a kamikaze. but my uncle rich, this is the reason i called actually, was at d-day, and my cousin, who, of course his daughter, showed me years ago a letter that he had written his parents, i think it was dated maybe three or four weeks after d-day and she showed it to make it i wish to god i had a copy of it. it is the most amazing document i ever read. it turned out his squad leader, i don't know what you call it, platoon leader, they did not get along, and he placed my uncle at

the front of the boat, hoping he would not come back. in the letter to his parents, my uncle rich wrote that his leader's face when he saw him it was like he looked like he had seen a ghost. but can you imagine? can you imagine? it absolutely blew my mind what these very, very young men dealt with, and the stories i'm hearing today, it reminds me of the stories my uncle used to tell. and they did not like to talk about this, but if you ask them questions, they would answer. i just wish to god i asked more questions before they passed. at least i have enough knowledge about what they do. i don't think i even knew when i was at d-day that my dad was at okinawa. i don't think it was until i was, like, a teenager or later that i really realized, you know the depth of what they had done. host: you said if you ask your uncles a question, they would answer. we've heard from several caller today for home that was not the case, and several callers

speaking about how the relatives dealt with this, many mentions of alcoholism, and that is how they coped. why did you think of those stories, and perhaps the unique experience of having somebody who would readily answer if you asked a question? caller: mm-hmm, my dad and uncle rich certainly did well. that is part of what blew my mind, they were not alcoholics, they worked hard the rest of their lives, taught as well, taught us how to be good citizens. my dad also served in vietnam and he used to get questions when he came home about that, and he just always impressed me because if you did not know what he had gone through, you would have never known, you know because that generation really was the greatest generatiothey just dealt with so much stuff that i just don't think humans today would know how to

do. stellar, stellar men but i'm just so grateful to have in my lineage, you know? host: thank you for sharing those stories. this is andy in texas. good morning. you are next. caller: good morning. i am a 97-year-old veteran. i've served in world war ii, korea, and vietnam, and i had two brothers along in world war ii, one was in europe, and i had a brother in the army air corps. he was in china flying over the burma hump. they did combat missions over the himalayas during the war. i'm the only one that made a career of it. i stayed in it for the korean war, and my younger brother

joined the korean war, and him and i did the korean war together on the battleship new jersey. during world war ii, i was one of truman's million man march on japan and when he drops the nuclear weapons, it saved my hides, i suppose. after the war ended, i was in the navy cvs and we went down to the south pacific unloading all the war materials and sending them back to the states. the first place i landed, i doubt many people have ever heard of it, it was mammoth island down near new guinea. the talk was when we landed there, that there might be

cannibals on that island. you could google it and see if it would agree with that. but nonetheless, i stayed in, and my younger brother and i did the vietnam war together also. i retired as a navy master chief and a master diver in 1967. and i sure appreciate you taking my call. thank you very much. host: andy, if you don't mind don't hang up. you are a world war ii veteran i want to stay with you as long as you want to chat or until the ceremony we are about to go to in a few minutes begins. i want to hear more of your memories from 80 years ago. you were in the pacific. where did you hear about d-day? did you remember hearing about d-day? caller: i was still in the states when d-day happened. i was not even in when d-day happened.

i went in on my 18th birthday in 1945. host: and what do you remember hearing about d-day when you were in the states? caller: well, my father celebrated -- one brother was in europe, and the other brother was flying over the himalayas and he was so happy that it was getting over. that's what i remember, my dad celebrating the end of the war. host: did you feel like d-day meant that the war was getting over? caller: well at that point, i did, yes. i was back in the mountains in north carolina, all we had was an old battery-powered radio. we did not hear much about what was going on during the war, so

we were so happy that it was getting over in europe. host: andy, did you ever go to a veteran anniversary event? did you think about going to any over the years? caller: i was lucky enough to do one of those events, i forget now what they call it, where they fly the veterans up to washington to tour all the memorials and whatever. host:host: is that the honor flights? caller: yes that's it. i was lucky enough to get to do that. i celebrate every day, really. i'm, i'm one of 12. i was number eight of 12 children.