d-day castle tees, we have 1000 buried or missing casualties, we have 1000 buried or missing at the cemetery. the overwhelming majority our soldiers. you have approximately 1000 air here, andle buried approximately 400 navy. have from the burials, we a number of the missing on the memorial year. on the walls of that memorial, we have the names of 1000 570 americans who have never been recovered, missing in action. >> [indiscernible] >> it does occur at times. , just byrs ago acident, a farmer decided

pasture area would be converted to cropland, so he plotted over. and in doing so he found the remains. forarching the story that airfields was found missing. undergoingns are forensic study in honolulu. >> if they are found to be a missing crewmen, will they come back here? >> that is a family decision. it would not be here. it would be at the only active world war ii cemetery in europe.

the cemetery is closed. >> when was the last person buried at the cemetery? >> that i do not know. >> do you have a profile, how old they were question marks have both the average age is 21. 18, 19. went through intensive training two years. d-day, they were about 21 years old. oftentimes you hear the fact were 18 and 19, that's really not true. the average age is 21. >> the oldest? >> the oldest? roosevelt,nk general the oldest son of our first president. he died of a heart attack on july 12, 1944 at the age of 58.

jell-o roosevelt is a recipient -- generall of honor roosevelt is a recipient of the medal of honor. he fought with the first assault team on utah beach at 58 years old. that was unheard of. so, he recognize the was that the beach they hit out from where they were, from where their objective was. the fact is they were a mile off from where they were supposed to be. they hit a lighter defended area . of the other boat teams into that area. consequently he saved hundreds of american lives. general.much older

much more experienced. world war i. ii, soht in world war forth. just made a command decision right there. did not go through the hierarchy or anything. and that decision saved hundreds of american lives. he was awarded the medal of honor for. general theodore roosevelt. >> yes. >> you highlight his name on the greystone? >> there are two others. their headstones have the inscription medal of honor down the center shaft. the inscription is an goldleaf. >> who were they? one american red cross volunteer. richardson. it was at her gravesite. was recognized by mrs.

reagan at her gravesite. >> where are we? >> we are in omaha beach, just codenamed portion easy read. this is where the force came in on d-day. most of our cemeteries are adjacent to battle fails. normandy is directly on the world war ii battlefield. >> how many people maintain the cemetery? >> we have a staff of 24. this is one of three federal responsibilities we have here at normandy. the hawk ranger memorial, the 30th battlefield, and we also maintain as a federal resources bill you a

portion of utah beach, which is the other american landing area in a tinyre peninsula. >> at the other asked or found out why they call it omaha beach? >> it is radio. they call it o beach or u beach, .imple as that >> did you ever ask yourself why they picked a city? >> i asked myself why they picked two indian names. i have never found a historical reason to reveal really why. beach.ach, u force, u task force. tohow much does it cost maintain the cemetery? >> that depends on capital improvements. maintenance costs, storms, etc.

type of not a fixed cost i can give you. >> any average, a million, 2 million -- how long have you been here? >> seven years. >> where are you from? >> upstate new york. a town on the seaway. >> what did you choose to stay in france? my wife is all, french. that's a pretty good reason. it is the nature of the job i with the american battlegrounds commission. i do not think you can find an equivalent anywhere in the united states. the diversity of the job, the language requirement, so forth. i just found this a very exciting job, and i like living here in france. >> who pays for this operation? >> the u.s. taxpayer.

the battle commission is an independent agency of the executive branch, with the smallest independent organizations in the united states government. >> how many different centers are there in europe or around the world? >> 22. >> how many people visit here? basis, 1average million and a half. this year, we are at the 2 million mark. a 25% increase, due to the commemoration and so forth. >> what do they see when they come? >> a very historic site. d-day is very important in our history. time probably the first where all corners of the nation .ere mobilized for one effort that being the invasion of europe. the liberation of an

oppressed people. just a national mobilization and the culmination of all that effort, sacrifice, and so forth was d-day. it has been important to the world ever since. i think we really became a nation on d-day. really a strong nation on d-day. >> how many of those -- >> perhaps 100,000. where are the rest from? >> for the most part, europeans. from all over. it -- sixpped different way which is. >> what do people see specifically at the cemetery when they come here? what are the different places they can go? allt the cemetery first of

you have the reception room here where they can obtain documentation on this site and others. just on the pathway, you have the memorial. have 2 loges -- question marks about it is a structural enclave if you will, that has battle maps in it. it explains the normandy campaign on one side. on the other side, the european campaign. to the north of the memorial, there is a pathway that takes you to an orientation table that the picks the d-day invasion -- the d-day invasion. from there you have a pathway system throughout the cemetery that takes you to the chapel. the chapel is

interdenominational, open to the public, and so forth. the rear of the chapel at the far end of the cemetery you have two statues. one is for the united states. the american statue has an eagle and its hand. >> where did they come from, what kind of material do you use in the statues and the memorials question mark anything special? >> it is all french material. actually frome italy. they are stone for the most part. white limestone. >> what about the stones themselves over the graves? >> they are made of laws a marble from northern italy.

areheadstones themselves underground reinforced concrete into the is poured curvature of the grave. the beam itself sits on pylons, stones are the perfectly 39 inches out of the ground. any direction you look it is an absolutely perfect line. >> why do you do that? >> first of all, uniformity. gives dignity to the burials. everyone is at the same height. strictness.ertain t,at you have is a very erec in theientated stone grass. this gives you an uncomplicated

, one that just makes you reflect, think. >> what do people say to you when they have gone to the cemetery? >> it depends on the age. veterans have a different appreciation. there is a multitude of comments that we hear. veteranmes the returning for the first time, he is really with his thoughts. he does not say much initially. when you get into the burial plots, there is a sense they are going through a flashback. they are reliving it. i have had some veterans come to me. just did not want to disturb them again. but with retirement and

reflection, they want to come back. to render homage. others -- a question of guilt, i feel, at times. why did i survive this? it's in the numbers. they just want to come back and fellows -- >> what about the other people? >> very inquisitive. why? .hey see the headstones they have studied history and so forth, but because of the tone -- war is a tragedy. there is no real glory. at the cemetery, that makes a

lot of young people think. it makes them think. ent,n times i get the commo these guys are about the age, senior high school students, you know? the kind of question themselves, could i have done this? good i physically, mentally have went through such a thing? >> i hate to use the word rules, but when somebody comes and has their loved ones buried here, what can they do? are they allowed to go to the stone? >> they present themselves here. first of all, we verify the aerial site. -- the burial site. then they are escorted to be burial site. if they so desire, we will take a photograph for them, at which time will we use a omaha beach stand and welcome them to the inscription. these stones are all alike.

the returning year to inception room, we give them a next of kin package, which is information on this site as well as other sites in normandy and general information. mark the 70th to anniversary of the d-day invasion in france. but we go to london to get a look at winston churchill's cabinet war rooms where he met with many advisers are in world war ii to discover war strategy. philip reed, the curator of the cabinet war rooms, explores the history of the site. this event was part of c-span's 50th anniversary look at the d-day and based -- d-day invasion, which took place june 6, 1944. >> this is the cabinet room. it is the room through which the war cabinet met, largely under winston churchill.

of course he became prime minister of britain in 1940. 5 timesinet met here 11 during the war. the other seats were occupied by military advisors. the three seats in the middle were occupied by the chiefs of staff, the heads of the navy, air force, and the army, because they also met here independently, as did on a much, much more regular basis, churchill's defense committee, which was a committee principally used by churchill for the running of the war. seco geographically in london, where we located? westminster.t near westminster abbey. of st.in the heart james's park. there are no windows. we are underground. >> which building is above? >> the building that is above

now is the treasury building. when the cabinet war rooms were put together in 1938 and 1939, it was the trade building. >> can you take us through the history of this location? how did they turn into a wartime cabinet meeting location? >> the site was dreamed up as a concept in the 1920's and 1930's as a concept of somewhere to locate the military and civilian command of the country during potential heavy bombing on the capitol. those ideas looked at moving the command structure out of london altogether to more stable areas. in 1938 and 1939 they were looking at these areas keeping the central government. the site was chosen in 1938 simply because the building above it was the strongest building of its kind in the country at that time, or at least in central london. it was simply a basement storage area run by the ministry of

works. --was occupied, 19 early 38 1938. iron guttersd above us. it has to be said if a bomb of any size had hit, those in girders would have made little or no difference in fact. real meditation, i suppose came in 1940 when they put in serious reinforcement, concrete and steel. it is the same around all the edges of the front. as you see when he walked through what we call the tunnel, which caused through the 15 feet tall of their of concrete through trans were these circuits above us. transport these staircase about this. all of these rooms were ready for the outbreak of the second world war. they were not used much until

september 1940 because we lived through what we call the phony war, with practically nothing happening as far as the british were concerned until may 1940. and then the blitz starting in the summer of 1940 and then of course it really meant the government had to meet, the cabinet had to meet underground because that was about the safest ways there was. >> who knew about this? room would beular known by those who worked in the cabinet war rooms. certainly known to various ministers, administrators. i suppose if you number the people who knew about the whole site as a total unit, probably no more than a few hundred people in the whole country. >> what discussions took place happenedmark >> what in the cabinet was basically a discussion within thve