and in doing so he found the remains. researching the story for development, that airfields was -- that air crew was among the missing. those remains are undergoing forensic study in honolulu. >> if they are found to be a missing crewman, 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?

>> 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 that they were 18 and 19, that's really not true. the average age is 21. >> the oldest? >> the oldest? i would think general roosevelt, the oldest son of our first president. he died of a heart attack on july 12, 1944 at the age of 58.

general 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. in doing so, he recognize the fact that the beach they hit was 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. he got all of the other boat teams into that area. consequently he saved hundreds of american lives. he was a much older general. much more experienced.

world war i. he fought in world war ii, so 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 it. >> general theodore roosevelt. >> yes. >> you highlight his name on the grave stone? >> there are two others. their headstones have the inscription medal of honor down the center shaft. the inscription is in goldleaf. >> who were they? >> there was one american red cross volunteer. richardson. it was at her gravesite. she was recognized by mrs. reagan at her gravesite. >> where are we?

>> we are in omaha beach, just above that portion codenamed 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 other two, 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 west of here in a tiny peninsula. >> have you ever asked or found out why they call it omaha beach? >> it is radio. they call it o beach or u beach, simple 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. >> o beach, u beach. >> o task force, u task force. >> how much does it cost to maintain the cemetery? >> that depends on capital improvements. maintenance costs, storms, etc. there is not a fixed type of

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. >> why did you choose to stay in france? >> first of all, my wife is french. that's a pretty good reason. it is the nature of the job i have 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 cemetaries are there in europe or around the world? >> 22. >> how many people visit here? >> on an average basis, 1 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 historical site. d-day is very important in our history. it is probably the first time where all corners of the nation were mobilized for one effort. that being the invasion of europe. the liberation of an oppressed people.

there is 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. -- possibly 200,000. >> where are the rest from? >> for the most part, europeans. from all over. six different languages. >> what do people see specifically at the cemetery when they come here? what are the different places they can go? >> at the cemetery first of all

you have the reception room here where they can obtain documentation on this site and others. just on the pathway, you have the memorial. you have 2 loges -- >> what is that? >> 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 depicts 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. to 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 on its hand. >> where did they come from, what kind of material do you use in the statues and the memorials? anything special? >> it is all french material. the statues are actually from 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. the headstones themselves are underground reinforced concrete beam that is poured into the curvature of the grave. -- of the terrain. the beam itself sits on pylons, which means the stones are 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. and it gives dignity to the burials. everyone is at the same height. and just a certain strictness. what you have is a very erect, well orientated stone in the grass. this gives you an uncomplicated scene, 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. often times the veteran 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. they just did not want to disturb them again. but with retirement and reflection, they want to come back. to render homage. and 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 say, fellows -- >> what about the other people? >> very inquisitive. why? they 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.

often times i get the comment, these guys are about the age, senior high school students, you know? they kind of question themselves, could i have done this? could i physically, mentally have gone 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 burial site. then they are escorted to be -- the burial site. if they so desire, we will take a photograph for them, at which time will we use a omaha beach

sand and welcome them to the inscription. these stones are all alike. upon returning year to the 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. this event was part of c-span's 50th anniversary look at the 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. the cabinet met here 115 times 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. >> geographically in london, where we located? >> we are just near westminster. westminster abbey. we are in the heart of st. 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 it 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.

it was occupied, early 1938. there are solid iron girders above us. it has to be said if a bomb of any size had hit, those iron girders would have made little or no difference in fact. the real meditation, i suppose -- real adaptation, 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 to 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 called 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 place there was. >> who knew about this? >> this particular room would be 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? >> what happened in the cabinet was basically a discussion within the government itself about every single issue, every element of the grand strategy.

obviously they were discussing with each other as well. and attitudes to the allies or potential allies at whatever point of the war you're talking about and in terms of what help might be gained from the americans. when you get round to what we call the transatlantic telephone room, there you have something placed by an american telephone company, bell telephones, in mid-1943. that was to give a secure telephone line that was potentially unstoppable, if you -- untappable, if you like, connecting the british prime minister to the american president. as far as anyone is aware, it was used by churchill and roosevelt. it was certainly used by churchill and truman. because the latter had their conversations written down.