might be something in them. nothing in that one. nothing in that one. could be wrong, but -- uh-oh, what do you know? back at alto, no one is sweating out 6-5 squadron. 6-6 is taking off. no one will sweat them out, either. too many missions. nine for today. when you don't fly, you've got thing sas to do, try to make so sort of life for yourself. in trying, you improvise an american community. step off the field, you're in corsica. step back on, you're in america.

this is part of the war, too. the endless detail of living. the dust is a problem. dust is good for the laundry business. hand laundry. branches everywhere. community laundry. three-day service. and for the rugged individualist, water supply, pu pump, heating unit, washing machine. the sergeant gives you salaries. he's keeping his hand in. the barber shop. and for the next customer, always something to read. never more than a year old. bus line, lunch time special. and for the intellectually minded, it's time for the most

serious things like practicing your yo-yo. if there's anything you want, don't ask for it. build it. build as though you'll be here forever, knowing you may get orders to move tomorrow. 6-6 found this canyon, made it their living area. nobody said they couldn't. nobody says you can't have a house. build it. nobody says your squadron can't have a beach club. build one. nobody says you can't dam up a river and make a swimming hole. this american community has everything. when you come off your shift and

somebody else is carriliying th ball, you try to relax, enjoy yourself. in danger a couple hours a day. the rest of the time, you're out of it. beach club's a busy place. so is the mediterranean. mussolini once called it our sea. but that was yesterday. the yachtsman, a wind tank and a few odds and ends make quite a boat. the crew chiefs scrounge parts. scrounge is polite for steal. scrounging from wrecked planes, banged up italian cars, old parachutes for sails. they use only the best-quality junk. sometimes when you can get the

ration of beer, you drink it. then you look like this. alto is the best deal you ever had. the country club. a lot of land, a lot of sun. your american community has everything. except the things you really want. there are times you would rather be flying than waiting around, killing time. because when you're flying, you don't have that feeling of the day, a week, and months slipping by. slipping by and leaving you standing still. these are your years. years to get started, find yourself, your job, profession, get married, kids, home of your

own. these are the years that count. so you have your pets, to give and receive affection. in return for affection, c reactions. as always in affairs of the heart, some have peculiar tastes. 6-6 squadron heading out. 6-5 squadron heading home. a meeting in the air comes and goes fast. 6-5 lead er section.

one plane light. when you reform after scraping, you noticed it. nobody saw it happen. maybe he spun in, maybe he bailed out. you will think about it later. now you're waiting for that first sight of home. that's the air base. that's bovinca. you're on your own street. alto's first turn, three fields down. keep your formation tight. when you fly over those other outfits, you want to look good, show them how it's done. alto, home. you come in low and peel up. you peel up to reduce speed,

space the planes 20 seconds apart for landing. second and third flights go on past the field. they'll circle back when the first flight is down. drop your gear. second flight peels up. third flight will circle again. this is all the flying the ground crews see. you like to give them a kick. sometimes you're tired, land them rough.

it's embarrassing. the colonel's not happy about the flack holes. new airplane. his crew chief will be mighty sore. and how will you explain this away? then after the interrogation, you relax. grab off some doughnuts and coffee. jive with the red cross girl who meets every mission and fly the show all over again on the ground. weimann goes back to work, at being a colonel. missing an action report to sign. a telegram from the war department has to start somewhere. >> by mid-april, every rail line in italy was blocked. we drew a line of interdiction across the country. no train could move south of it. south of it, the railroad system was dead. but the german had to keep the supplies moving, still had

highways. he took to the roads so we took to the roads. this is what ingermans fear most. we don't blame them. this is the way ronald got it. he isn't the only one. when you clobber a highway, you burn plenty of ammo. cyclic rate, 800 rounds a minute. you have eight guns, 106 bullets a second. rockets. those aren't just trucks and germans. you're stopping ammunition before it's piled on the fifth army front. and you're doing it 200 miles behind that front.

in the weeks that follow, from corsica to italy was like a trip to the corner drugstore. you could do it in your sleep. >> we averaged eight, nine missions a day at the 57th. the french flew about as many. the 86th over in italy. the 79th next door. it was good to look up and watch them go by. but there were other things. there were those pillars of smoke. never knew when you would see one. that's a wreck. a p-47 cooking, and there's a man in it. when they hit like this, there's nothing to do but let them burn and stay clear of the exploding ammo. keep on landing.

you have to. no place to park up there. why did it happen? engine cut out for a second. 200 yards from the runway. 200 yards from home. flack damage might have caused it. you'll never know for sure. all you know is the sum of war is expensive. you wish that people back home could at least see it. >> we kept up the pressure. and by the beginning of may, the roads were practically closed. if one man on a motorcycle appeared on a highway by day, he was a dead pitcher. the german took to the sea. two months after we started, the strangle was on. the germans had barely enough

supplies for two weeks. that's when our ground forces attack. allied troops took cassino. we linked up with a beach head at anzio and in three weeks we're in rome. >> the men on the ground push north. and as they moved up, they saw what had been done to help them. 10,000 enemy vehicles destroyed or damaged. in every town they took, they

mark the yard. how many german tanks went out of business because of the gasoline these trains never carried? they advanced, and they saw the bridges. how many german shells were never fired because they couldn't get across the river? the ground forces exploited their breakthrough. in plain language, they sought and killed germans. and they ate up the country, almost 250 miles in one nonstop offensive. the ground forces won a battle, but they still had a war to fight, and you were still flying missions. up from first flight to last

light. only the coming of darkness would stop you. only the coming of darkness would bring the last missions home to alto. then the long work day would end. some men hit the sack early. and some spend another quiet evening at the club, colonel weimann's country club for airplane drivers. ♪ ♪ stay in bed till half past 9 ♪ at the club colonel weimann's country club ♪ ♪ you and me i love thee

>> from director william wyler, the film released in 1947 titled "thunderbolt." joining us from new york the war came to an end, what was next for director wyler? >> well, wyler of the five directors i wrote about, was the only one to come back as a disabled veteran. he received a disability check for the rest of his life. something he was very proud of. he poured all of his experience into what i think still stands as a true american masterpiece and the greatest movie about the aftermath of the war, which is the best jeers years of our lives. the best yearsf our lives is the story of three soldiers who are coming home. different classes, different ages, different ranks within the war. and it's about their adjustment

to an america that had gone on without them. the extraordinary thing about this movie is that wyler put himself with the aid of his really brilliant screen writer robert sherwood into all three of these characters. one of the men was like wyler, a family man, who was middle aged and had left cushy and comfortable circumstances and was now coming back to a wife and children that he really didn't know that well anymore. and trying to find his place back in his comfortable world. another of the soldiers was very angry, had seen horrible things in the war, and came back really not knowing what he was going to do. that tapped into the fact that wyler had a temper that sometimes got the better of him, and in fact, was almost court-martials during the war for throwing a punch at an

anti-semitic civilian. and the third character in the movie, a young veteran who had hooks for hands, who had lost both of his hands during the war, an actor named harold russell played him, who himself was a veteran who had lost both hands during the war. and of course, wyler certainly identified with russell because he, too, was disabled. and uncertain about how he would regain his place and his life. and you know, it's very hard to convey now what a seismic impact the best years of our lives had. this was the dawn of a new age of social realism in american movies when american movies started dealing in a more head-on fashion with the day-to-day realities of what people were going through, whether it was alcoholism or nervous breakdowns or in this case, something that all of

america was exposed to, which was the readjustment issues faced by returning veterans and faced by the people they were returning to. by the end of its run, the movie, which swept the academy awards the year it came out, was, you know, the third or fourth highest grossing movie in hollywood history. and wyler went on to an extraordinarily distinguished career throughout the 1950s and '60s making movies like the harris and detective story and b benhur. in fact, his career goes all the way back to 1970 when he retired just before making the movie that he had really hoped to be able to make, which is the movie that became "patton." >> mark harris is the author of five came back, a story of hollywood and the second world war, and among the directors he features, william wyler. thank you very much for being here with us on c-span3's american history tv. >> thank you.

>> each week, american history tv's reel america brings you archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. in the last of a five part look at hollywood directors who made films for the u.s. government in world war ii, we feature director john huston and the battle of san pietro, a 32-minute u.s. army film depicting the 1943 battle that destroyed the town of san pietro,ilitial pietro,ilitially. praised at the time for the battle that killed over 1,000 americans, the film was composed of almost entirely re-enacted scenes. we speak with film historian mark harris. >> the book is titled five came back, a story of hollywood and the second world war. joining us from new york is mark harris. as we look at some of the leading directors from this time period, including john huston, what can you tell us about him? >> well, huston was a really fascinating, larger than life

figure. his career in hollywood was just starting when the war broke out. he had had a kind of never do well adolescence and early 20s. he had been involved in a few car crashes. he fled to paris at one point. his reputation was really not great. and then he came back to hollywood, started to build a reputation as a screen writer, particularly with the help of william wyler, who was something of a mentor and very good friend to him. and then just before pearl harbor, had his breakthrough success with the first movie he directed, the maltese falcon. and you know, he had a chance to make about one and two thirds more movies. he had to leave for the war and his service in the war before completing a movie he was making which reunited the cast of the maltese falcon, called "across the pacific." >> so much focusing on the post

traumatic stress of those returning from vietnam or more recently from iraq and afghanistan. i want to ask you about one of two films he put together. this one from 1945, let there be light. what did he bring to the american audience about this condition and these servicemen, mostly men, who returned from world war ii and what they faced? >> well, let there be light is a remarkable documentary. huston was tasked with making what the army felt would be a propaganda film about psychologically scarred veterans in an army hospital after the war. the propaganda element of this was that the movie was intended to show that these men could recover incredibly quickly, and it's almost specifically intended to be aimed at american small and mid-sized businesses who needed to be told that it was safe, in fact, to hire returning veterans. that it would be easy to

reintegrate them into society. huston took that assignment eagerly and in fact wanted to make that movie, and the last two thirds of "let there be light" which focused very heavily and smalt credulously on miracle cures, overnight someone's hysterical paralysis, for instance, is cured under hypnosis. >> you're back here now. you're away from oakkinawokinaw. you have forgotten it, but you remember who you are. who are you? >> that's right. full name now. >> dominic. >> that's right. >> he really did the propaganda job in that movie, but the first portion of "let there be light" is an absolutely searing and nonpropagandistic portrait of just how shattered these men were by their war experiences. you see these young men in their

in take interviews with army psychiatrists, and they're just devastated, empty-voiced, hollow-eyed. >> you feel conscious, that is, are you aware of the fact you're not the same boy you were when you went over? do you feel changed? >> yes, sir. >> how long were you overseas? >> 11 months. >> 11 months. were you in any combat at all? >> six months. >> this would have been the most vivid and by far the most and bt look that any american audience had ever gotten at the psychological trauma that's caused by war. i say would have been because the army suppressed the film. after huston completed it, the army did everything in its power to prevent its release and in fact, the movie was not shown

public lal until 1981. huston spent decades after the war trying to get it shown and finally only succeeded thanks to the intervention of walter mondel. >> that 35 year period and the censorship that he faced, was that unusual for directors in this time period? >> let there be light was the only movie to have been suppressed over a very long term. while they were making films for the army, these directors constantly battled restrictions, accusations from the war department that they were going off message, that they couldn't include footage for instance of american bodies. that they had to always show american soldiers as brave and confident. very rarely -- those fights often resulted in changes in movies. very rare did they result in the

movie being suppressed all together. >> we're going to show the movie, the battle of san pietro that came out in the 1980s. >> it was shot by john huston in italy. it was intended to be a document commissioned by frank capra of the successful u.s. effort to free small ancient village with villagers emerging from their hiding places with wine and cheese to greet the victorious americans. huston got to the place and found the right town but the battle was already over. the town had been retaken. there were no villagers in sight

and it was mined german traps. so what he did with the full knowledge and enthusiastic cooperation of the army, was to restage the battle. it is fake. it is all reenactments done on that location and with actual u.s. soldiers but none of it was real. it was very successfully passed off to the american public as predominately actual battle footage. the army put out press releases who say huston and his men were so brave that they actually preceded the army men on the front so that they could turn around and film the soldiers approaching which is one way that you know that a documentary has been faked because film

makers don't go first. what's interesting is that even though it is a big fakery, only a minute or two is real footage. it also helped make a vocabulary for what it looked like. huston didn't make the movie because he wants to pull one over on the american public but it was the only way to convey the realities of ground combat and ground troops advancing which is something that had not been successfully shown in an american documentary before. so even though what you're watching isn't real what huston is going for in the movie is, in fact, a kind of realism. it turned out to be a kind of realism that wasinflue influential on many filmmakers off the war in terms of creating

understanding of thousand shoot battle footage that looks real. >> thanks for that explanation. here is that film by director huston, the battle of san pietro. >> in 1943 it was one of our strategic aims to draw as many germans away from the front and contain them on the italian peninsula while liberating as many as italy as possible by the means of our disposal. operations in italy had to be conducted on an extremely limited scale. thus, it came about during the winter months, the number of alley dif iings visions in ital

greatly reduced yet they succeeded in withholding a very large number of germans. san pietro in the fifth army sector was the key to the leery valley. we knew it and the enemy knew. we had to take it even though the immediate cost would be high. we took it and the cost in relation to the later advance was not accessed. by its very nature, this success worked bitter hardships upon each individual soldier calling for the full measure of his courage and devotion. the response of our fifth army troops providing an inspiring page in our military history. to these individuals living and dead, and to those who now continue in their tradition, this picture is dedicated.

♪ ♪ ♪ leery valley lies in the italian mid-land some 60 miles northwest of napeles to some 40 miles southeast of rome. a wild flat corridor encloses between four walls of mountains. in winter, the highest peeks of the leery range ascend into the

snows but the valley floor with its olive groves and ancient wines. its crops of wheat and corn is green all year around. that is in normal times. last year was a bad year for grapes and olives. the fall planting was late. many fields lay fallow. there are two ways from the south end of the valley. one a narrow pass, it the other a high scenic road over the mountains. they converge from the sight of the ancient village san pietro. the stones of its walls were queried out of the apparent hills. population 1,412 at the last census. a farming community.

patron saint peter. point of interest saint peters. 1438. note, interesting treatment of chansal. from the end of october 1943 until the middle of san pietro was the 16 of some of our more brutal battles. our battle lines were haphazard as the terrain itself with the swa swollen rivers were twisted so that each river seem like five. where there was no river to cross ai mountain blocked our

growing. each new peak had to be fought for with the enemy looking down our throats. they had had time to fortify and camouflage our positions. no amount of artillery fire or bombardment that force them to go. it was up to the man with the rifle. the man under fire from all weapons. the man whose where all of our weapons serve only to prepare t. was up to the foot soldier to tack a hidden enemy over ground that was sown with mines. the anti-personnel s mines that fly up and explode beneath the groin. nowhere along the entire front were enemy preparations more elab raet than the san pietro

area. through leery valley runs the most highly prized length of groves south of rome. by early december we were taking and holding high ground. an italian brigade under command attempted to capture mount luvo. the italians were all but ani anielated. in new of their loss, the mount was abandoned and decided to make a direct frontal assault on enemy positions in and around san pietro. elements of the 36 texas infantly division were rotated from position to position overlooking the valley so that troops might study the terrain

ahead by various viewpoints. patrol activity was continuous. day and night units went out on the ground to draw fire, take prisoners, thus adding to the sum of our information about the enemy. high points. all mounts were manned in force. the town itself was strongly garrisoned with mortars, machine gun and heavy weapons in placements. four enemy battalions were dug in place that ended from the base of the mount northeast across the valley floor to the base. another italian was organized to

defend the high ground northwest of san pietro. earliers before these positions were heavily mined. on the afternoon before, d-day and hks r were communicated to the italian commanders. december 8th, at 0620 hours. the first battalion of the 143rd infantry regimen having moved up the mountain and having achieved the objective to attack a ridge. the third range of a battalion likewise to attack 950. another feature of the hillmass. the second battalion of the 143 s to attack near the olive

orchards. the third battalion acting in support of the second 400 yards. the 143rd are all spent all but a fork night in action under extremely bitter weather opinion. at the crossing, it would take mortal punishment. the task ahead promised no less bloodshed but it was undertaken in good spirit and high confidence. the first battalion began the long rugged climb up the mount. ♪ ♪ as night fell, our artillery opened up and throughout the night hours, intense fire was laid down on the enemies main line of resistance.

it had rained most of the night and was raining at 8 hours when the 2nd and 3 battalions crossed the line of departure. some 200 yards forward they encountered mines and automatic fire from pill boxes. artillery was deadly accurate by reason of excellent enemy observation at the mount, overlooking our advance which continues our 200 to 400 yards.

many men gave their lives in attempts to reach pill boxes and throw hand fwren aeds through the narrow gun openings. the third battalion was committed. the advance never got more than 600 yards past the line of

departure. >> our ib isnitial assault had repulsed with heavy casualties. >> the attack on hill 1205 however was a brilliant success. a strongly entrenched enemy knew an assault was in progress. to the right of 1205 the third range of italian had also captured its objective but only after attacks and costly casualties for 950 the enemy was not taken under aware.

counter attacks were to be expected on both 1205 and 950. they were not long developing. the first was launched during the early daylight hours and even as it was beaten off, another took form. day and night they followed. unremitting violence. the toll of enemy dead mounted with each new attempt. the german prisoners captured on

1205 and 950 said they'd been ordered to retake those positions at all costs. in addition to defending hill 1205, the hill battalion obedient to the field order undertook the reduction of enemy defenses which were organized running west. >> on the 12th of december, the if the first battalion was

reinforced by the parachute battalion which took over the defenses of 1205 and 950 thereby enabling the first battalion to throw all of its remaining strength on the assault along the ridge. there was now a question as to whether its existing members were sufficient to prevail. reports during the night of the 14th of december stated that the enemy was offering bitter resistance and that the issue was in grave doubt. meanwhile on the olive terraces below, the second and third battalions had again attempted to reach their objectives. both times they came up to a wall of automatic weapons mortar and artillery fire.

volunteer patrols made desperate attempts to reach enemy positions in the strong points. not a single member of any such patrol ever came back alive. our attacking forces were finished with excellent ariel cover by live fighter patrols but now and then enemy planes were able to slip through and to bomb our positions which to all purposes had remained unchanged since the first day. to break the dead lock, ordered were given for a coordinated divisional attack. the second and third battalions. 143rd were to proceed in the execution of the original orders. acting in conjunction company a. of the 753rd tank battalion were to attack san pietro from the

east. one was to attack over the flat valley floor. after nightfall on d-day, the 142 was to attack mount ringo. the earlier decision not to attack those having been reversed in present of the critical situation. in preparation for the attack all artillery within range, including tanks was directed against san pietro and the surrounding area.

each hour, 1200 hours, d-day, the 15th of december, the 141 infantry advanced to be held

down powerless under the weight of enemy fire. the second and third battalions of the 143rd advanced some 100 yards beyond their former positions to a point almost directly before forward enemy defenses. for the third time they were forced to take such cover as the quaking earth could offer:orders were for them to enter the town and loc and destroy the heavy weapons there which were leveled against our it atacking foot soldiers. the high road in the san pietro is a narrow mountain road and from the beginning of its winding dissent in the leery valley it was under direct enemy observation. 16 tarnks started down that roa.

three reached the outskirts of the town. of these, two were destroyed and one was missingment five tanks were immobilized behind enemy lines, their crews having to abandon them. five tanks hit enemy mines within our lines and were thereupon destroyed by enemy gun fire. four tanks returned to the vivolack area. after dark, two companies, one in the second battalion and one from the third finally succeeded in penetrating enemy positions. but receiving both frontal and flanking fire, they were forced to retire. company e having been reduced in

strength to a handful of riflemen and company l fairing little better -- on the ridge, the first battalion fought its way within a few hundred yards the objective. with the ground gain at a man a yard and did not have strength to carry the fight any further forward. on mount lingo, however, despite resistance, battalions of the 142 kept pushing upwards until

in the early day light hours of the 16th of december, its foot soldiers had gained a summit and were wiping up what remained of a stubborn enemy. even as mount lungo failed, the enemy throughout the san pietro area, made preparations to withdraw. almost invariably, the enemy will counter attack to cover the withdrawal. the first violent thrust was delivered within a few hours. thereafter, counter attacks came in waves. the roar of the last mingling with the russian furry. many inspirational leaders came

forward in resistance to one last onslaught. our own artillery was fraught to fall within a hundred yards of our front line elements. after five hours, during which the earth never ceased to tremble, counter attacks ended indicating the withdrawal of the enemy's main body had commenced. ♪ ♪ in an effort to maintain contact with the enemy, our patrols immediately pushed ahead.

♪ ♪ ♪ entering the town, they discovered that san pietro was ours for the taking. the second and third battalions less than a rifle company in strength, weary to death, who

were alive, stumbled forward past san pietro to re-establish contact with the enemy and now taking up positions some 5 kilometers beyond. that is the broad shape of the battle of san pietro which is the first of many battles in the leery valley. it was a very costly battle. after battle, the 143rd infantly alone required 111 replacements. ♪ ♪ the lives lost were precious lives to their country, to their

loved ones, and to the men themselves. for the living of the 143rd infantry regiment, there wemany these you see alive here have since joined the ranks of their brothers in arms who fell at san pietro. beyond casino, more river and mountains and more towns. more san pietros, greater or lesser, a thousand more. as the battle past over and beyond san pietro, west ward, towns people began to appear, coming out of their caves in the

mountains where they stayed in hiding during the enemy occupation. they were mostly old people and children. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> the townpeople were warned against enemy mines and booby traps which were in the process of being cleared.

♪ ♪ ♪ >> children are able to forget quickly. yesterday, they wept, today, there are smiles and even

laughter. tomorrow, it will be as though the bad things had never happened. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ living was resumed in san pietro. our prime military aim being to engage and defeat the enemy, the capture of the town itself and the liberation of its people is of an incidental nature. but the people and their military innocence look upon us solely as their driverers. it was to free them and their farm lands that we came -- behind our lives southwest of the sea, the fields are green with growing crops planted after our coming by other people of other towns believing likewise.

the new one earth at san pietro was plowed and sown. it should yield a good harvest this year. >> the people pray to their patron saint to intercede with god on behalf of those who came and delivered them and passed on with the noise of a passing battle. ♪ ♪

director john huston and the 32 minute film the battle of san pietro. joining us from new york is author mark harris. what is your take away from this film? >> you know, it's easy to look at this film and say, got you. you said you were telling us the truth but actually lied to us. now, i think if you watch the movie knowing that it's restaged, some of the restaging becomes obvious. i feel that there are beautiful and remarkable things in this movie that we now take for granted. for instance, the way the camera jumps and shakes when a grenade goes off or who there's

purported enemy fire. that was a technique. it's a technique that we understand to be part of the language of war movies to be seen on screen but it was something that huston in a way invent invented. when john moore made a film, he surprised people by leaving the shrapn shrapnel, something that looks like a mistake, in the movie. >> huston, better than any director from that period understood that realness, roughness, rawness, imperfection, could be taken by audiences as a sign of truth. even though he faked it, he faked with can' powerful understanding of what he felt war really looked like. so you can't watch san pietro

anymore and take it as truth t. i went to the national archives and watched the out takes and footage huston didn't use in the movie. it was interesting that he systematical systematically discarded anything that looks too clean and too hollywood. that is the mark of a very smart filmmaker and really understood that war movies were going to have to look different than how they had looked up to that point. as a document of film making history, i think it's fascinating and as a war document of the document of the lengths to which the army would go, including stretching or ignoring the truth. i think is also an america's war film making history. >> of course john huton's daughter is the award winning

actress ank elicca huston. did he fully understand the work that it had later in his career? >> i think huston lived long enough to understand that he was absolutely revered and venerated as a director. unlike many of the other directors that i wrote about, huston directed vigorously until the very, very end of his life. not all of the movies he made were good. he read into some reasonable problem and was very honest about the fact that he took certain jobs to get the paych k paycheck. if you look at the movies made at the end of his life like fritzys honor and under the v volcano they are some of the best movies he ever made. >> those who read the book 5 came back. a story of hollywood in the

second world war. what do you want the reader to take away from your research? >> i hope that i've conveyed to them something about what it was like to be a hollywood filmmaker from the one we're in now. it's inconceivable to imagine a war now to which 1/3 of hollywood's adult work force would drop their careers and go off to film over seas for three or four years. all of the men i wrote about had their flaw as people and their complicated personal issues but we understand in many ways what world war ii looked like and felt like because of the war they did. it was all work of the kind that

they had never done before. it was an extraordinary leap of effort and sacrifice for every single one of them. what they left us was a leg yays , legacy of world war ii on film that was impacted m much that has been written since. >> mark harris is a contributor to new york magazine. his book is titles. 5 came back. a story of the hollywood and the second world war. >> american history t.v. continues tuesday night with a look at u.s. foreign policy in the 20th century. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, a discussion on u.s. policy toward

totalitarian and communist governments since the 1930s. than a look at the origins of al qaeda that dates back to the british invasion of egypt in 198 1982. book t.v. sat down with former secretary of state hillary clinton in little rock to discuss her new book hard choices. >> getting to the point where you can make peace is never easy because you don't make peace with your friends. you make it with people who are your adversaries. who have killed those you care about. your own people or those who you are trying to protect. it's a psychological drama. you have to get into the heads of those on the other side because we have to change their calculation enough to get them to the table. talk about what we did in iran. wed to put a lot of economic

pressure to get them to the table. that has to be the first step. what we did in pakistan and for getting them at the table for a comprehensive discussion. in iraq today, i think what we have to understand is that it is primarily a political problem that has to be addressed. t the rise of the sunni extremist group, isis is taking advantage of the break down of the political dialogue and lack of trust between the maliki government, the sunni leaders and the kurdishford. later john houston's film on the 1943 battle fought in italy. each week american history tv's reel america brings you

archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. in the first of a five part look at hollywood directors who made films for the u.s. government during world war ii, we feature frank capra who made and supervised dozens of films during the war including the "why we fight" series. up next the 14 minute "your job in germany." a training film for troops occupying the defeated nation. later we'll show you a four minute animated "private snafu" training film. but first we talked to journalist and film historian mark harris. >> the book is titled "five came back: a story of hollywood" and the "second world war" and joining us from new york on american history tv is author mark hard rays. thanks very much for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> as you put together this book and we'll see some of the films from these well-known directors how much did you know before you researched the topic? >> well, my training as a film

writer and film historian not as a war historian, so for me what i was investigating was the gap in the resumes of these five directors. you know, i would look and see that george stevens made no hollywood movies between 1943 and 1948 or wilder between '42 and '47. i want made me curious. >> frank capra best known for "mr. smith goes to washington" and also "it's a wonderful life." my question is why did george marshal go to directors like frank capra and not that have military produce them? >> it's a really interesting counter intuitive moment. i mean marshal didn't have the military produce them because he knew and most of the war

department top brass knew that military movies had been terrible. many of them were in use since the late 1920s and they were just really clumsly made. but there's still a question why marshal didn't turn to the makers of news reels, nonfiction films to document the entire war effort and instead looked to hollywood and creators of fiction. and i think it's because marshal really understood the power of narrative film. he had seen its effect during the great depression when, you know, i think movies were shown often on the sides of trucks to people in the wpa. he understood movies could really rouse patriotism and fervor in people and understand hollywood directors were better

at doing that than army film makers and also better than news reel makers. >> america forrally entering world war ii in december of 1942. what was frank capra doing friar that. >> capra was the most successful and best compensated director in hollywood. he was on the cover of "time" magazine with the headline columbia's gem because he was considered the director who single-handedly surprised columbia pictures into a major force. he had won three academy awards for directing in 1934, '36 and '38 and then followed up those three oscars with "mr. smith goes to washington." so, he was, you know, at an extraordinary peak of achievement and reputation before the war broke out. >> interestingly, as an italian immigrant the u.s. was fighting his home country with mussolini

inlines with hitler's germany. >> capra, his family was sicilian and immigrated to america when capra was a very small boy. he really had no particular deep memories of living anywhere other than america but he was acutely conscious that his status as an immigrant diminished him in the eyes of many americans who were suspicious of foreigners, and that can sound sort of paranoid or over sensitive, but if you look at some of the stories that were written about capra even at the height of his success in places like the saturday evening post, it was not uncommon for writers to sort of compare him to an italian green grocer. stereotypes were really in full force then and were deployed in a pretty ugly way. so for capra his war work which was really central to the war

film making effort was in large part about articulating his patriotism, about asserting his identity as an american. >> let me ask you about two of his bodies of work, first the seven part series titled "why we fight." what was behind that? >> well, "why we fight" was the first assignment that marshal gave capra when he was trying to indues him to come and join the effort because capra like all of these directors was old enough to have gotten an exemption from service and the importance of his civilian work would have gotten him an exemption even if his age had not. so marshal's impetus in suggesting the "why we fight" series was to replace a series of very dry, very dull lectures that incoming g.i.s were gk given at ages ever 18, 19 or 20 what the war was about, what the

history in japan and in europe had been since the early 1930s and why we were fighting. and capra was asked to make a series of movies that would explain that. tinting thing is that the war department never quite got around to telling capra their version of "why we fight." so the answer to the question why are we fighting was really created by capra and his team of screen writers rather than articulated as an extension of war department policy. it was a hollywood filmmaker that gave millions of g.i.s the answer to that question. >> as you look through these films, where did the footage come from? what were its sources? >> well, this was a real necessity as the mother of invention moment. capra was asked to make these movies but he had almost no budget. something like $450,000 to make

50 movies. certainly he didn't have the budget to shoot film, so he, after seeing the propaganda film "triumph of the will" he came up with the idea of access propaganda, the films from germany and japan that was confiscated by the treasury department could be incorporated into these "why we fight" movies, and in a way the enemy's propaganda could be turned against them. and between that and his very innovative idea to have animation in the movies, you know, animated maps showing, you know, black ink spilling across europe or a crab like pincers or octopus tentacles reaching in to

grab other countries those were two innovative ways to get around the fact he didn't have the money to film battle scenes. >> this is a 14 minute documentary titled "your job in germany." mark harris, who was the audience? >> the audience for "your job in germany" was the group of soldiers who were stationed in germany after we won. the occupying forces. this was essentially a training film for them to tell them how to deal with and how not to deal with the german people who had been defeated and as you'll see it contains some very, very tough material and unsentimental instructions in that regard. >> you spent a lot of time

researching this for your book five came back. what surprised you the most. >> capra was complicated. everybody sort of sees him because of the popularity of films like "mr. smith goes to washington" as a great populace, man of the people. he was actually a conservative republican who boasted that he never voted for fdr in any of his four presidential elections and he thought he was being over taxed by the government and he really disliked unions. so his politics were kind of all over the place. at one point he was infatu it aed with mussolini. doing this book made me realize war crystallized his politics in to patriotism. it was the time in his life when i think capra was actually the clearest about what he felt

about america and when his patriotism really overrode any political leanings he might have. >> mark harris with that background we thank you. now directed by frank capra here's a 14 minute training film titled "your job in germany." ♪ ♪

>> the problem now is future peace. that is your job in germany. by your conduct and attitude while inside germany you can lay the ground work of a peace that can last forever or just the opposite. you could lay the ground work for a new war to come. and just as american soldiers had to do this job 26 years ago, so other american soldiers your sons might have to do it again. another 20 odd years from now. germany today appears to be beaten. hitler out. swastikas gone. nazi propaganda, off the air. concentration camps, empty.

you'll see ruins. you'll see flowers. you'll see some mighty pretty scenery. don't let it fool you. you are in enemy country. be alert. suspicious of everyone. take no chances. you are up against something more than tourist scenery. you are up against german history. it isn't good. this book was written chapter by chapter, not by one man, not by one furor, it was written by the german people. chapter one, the furor, bismarck. the title "blood and iron." the armies, germany. under the prussian the german empire was mark. the german states combined serving notice to all that their religion was iron. that their god was blood.

bismarck's german empire built itself by war at the expense of denmark, austria and france. and became in 1871 the mightiest military power in all europe. enough conquest for a while. time out to digest it. europe relaxes. the danger is over. nice country, germany. tender people the germans. and very sweet music, indeed. ♪ chapter two, a new furor, kaiser wilhelm. germany overall. the same tender german people smacked us with their world war

i against serbia. russia. france. belgium. italy. britain. and the united states of america. it took all of us to do it. but we finally knocked that furo out. defeated the german armies. second chapter ended. we marched straight into germany and said why these people are okay. it was just that kaiser we had to get rid of. you know, this is really some country. when it comes to culture, they lead the whole world. we bit. we poured in our sympathy. we pulled out our armies. and they flung chapter three in our faces. furo number three, slogan number

three, today germany is ours. tomorrow the whole world. and the tender repentance sorry german people carried the torch of their culture to austria, czechoslavkia, poland, france, england, norway, holland, denmark, belgium, luxembourg, russia, yugoslavia, greece and the united states of america. over the shattered homes, over the broken bodies of millions of people that let down their

guard, we almost lost this one. it took everything we had. measure the cost in money, there isn't that much money. measure the cost in lives. we can only guess at that figure. it took burning and scalding. drenching. freezing. it took legs. fingers. arms. and it took them by the millions. it cost hours, days and years that will never be returned. but through with it our help, our wealth, our past and our future it took every last ounce of our courage and guts.

now what happens? ♪ oh, hell this is where we came in. >> yeah. this is where we came in. >> and chapter four? >> could be -- it can happen again. the next war, that is why you occupy germany. to make that next war impossible. no easy job. in battle you kept your wits about you. don't relax that caution now. the nazi party may be gone, but nazi thinking, nazi training, and nazi trickery remain. the german lust for conquest is not dead. it's merely gone undercover. somewhere in this germany are the ss guards, the gestapo

gangsters. out of uniform you won't know them but they will know you. somewhere in this germany are storm troopers by the thousands. out of sight, part of the mob, but still watching you. and hating you. somewhere in this germany there are 2 million ex-nazi officials. out of power. but still in there. and thinking. thinking about next time. remember that only yesterday every business, every profession was part of hitler's system. the doctors. technicians. clock makers. postmen. farmers. housekeepers. toy makers. barbers. cooks. dock workers. practically every german was part of the nazi network. guard particularly against this

group. these are the most dangerous. german youth. children when the nazi party came into power. they know no other system than the one that poisoned their minds. they are soaped in it. trained to win by cheating. trained to pick on the weak. they've heard no free speech. read no free press. they were brought up on straight propaganda, products of the worst educational crime in the entire history of the world. practically everything you believe in they have been trained to hate and destroy. they believe they were born to be masters. that we are inferiors, designed to be their slaves. they may deny it now, but they believe it. and will try to prove it again. don't argue with them. don't try to change their point of view.

other allied representatives will concern themselves with that. you're not being sent into germany as educators. you are soldiers on guard. you will observe their local laws. respect their customs and religion. and you will respect their property rights. you will not ridicule them. you will not argue with them. you will not be friendly. you will be aloof. watchful. and suspicious. every german is a potential source of trouble. therefore, there must be no fraternization with the german people. fraternization means being friend. don't associate with german men, women or children. you will not associate with them on familiar times either in public or in private.

you will not visit in their homes. nor will you ever take them into your confidence. however friendly, however sorry, however sick of the nazi marital they may seem, they cannot come back into the civilized fold just by sticking out their hand and saying," i'm sorry." sorry. not sorry they caused the war. they are only sorry they lost it. that is the hand that heiled adolf hitler. that's the hand that dropped the bombs on defenseless rotterdam, brussels, belgrade. that's the hand that destroyed the cities, villages, and homes of russia. that is the hand that held the whip over the polish, yugoslavia, french and norwegian

slaves. that is the hand that took their food. that is the hand that starved them. that is the hand that murdered, massacred greek, czechs, jews. that is the hand that killed and crippled american soldiers, sailor, marines. don't clasp that hand. it's not the kind of a hand you can clasp in friendship. >> but there are millions of germans. some of those guys must be okay. >> perhaps. but which ones? just one mistake may cost you your life. trust none of them. some day the german people might be cured of their disease. the super race disease. the world conquest disease. but they must prove that they have been cured beyond the shadow of a doubt before they ever again are allowed to take their place among respectable nations. until that day, we stand guard.

we are determined that their plan for world conquest shall stop here and now. we are determined that they shall never again use peaceful industries for war like purposes. we are determined that our children shall never face this german terror. we are determined that the vicious german cycle of war, phoney peace, war, phoney peace, war, phoney peace shall once and for all time come to an end. that is your job in germany. >> the film "your job in

germany" from 1945 director frank capra and joining us from new york is author mark harris who has been researching this topic. put the timing of this file 1945 and audience into perspective, if you would. >> well, you're german germany was a post-war film was made to be shown not to general audiences but to soldiers. they were the you in the title, "your job in germany" occupying forces in post-war germany who were trying to deal with a recently defeated german populace, and movie was largely written by dr. seuss who at the time that frank capra recruited him for army work was a left-wing editorial cartoonist in new york. he was strongly anti-german and "your job in germany" is the product of a dispute that was

really prevalent within the war department as the war neared its end. not just for germany but for japan as well. there was a question of how much should the civilian population as opposed to the military leaders or the emperor of japan or hitler in germany be blamed and concurrently how much reconciliation with ordinary germans should there be after the war. he was very much of the belief that the german people should shoulder a large portion of the blame. and capra was in agreement with that. he was very strident in the idea

that there was something in the german character that made them worship these supermen these ideal leaders and that there was a great danger in trusting or befriending or reaching out to or even forgiving the rank-and-file of just german citizenry. so "your job in germany" reflects that very, very tough tone saying to american soldiers these people aren't your friends, don't trust them, don't be cruel to them and don't be abusive to them, but don't extend your hand in friendship, don't socialize with them, don't go to their houses. >> one quick followup because your points really came through in the film providing audience at the time some historical perspective on germany's role throughout europe and certainly by today's standard it wasn't politically correct. >> oh, absolutely not.

i mean, you know, there was real belief that -- there was a real belief in enemies at the end of world war ii. you know, there was a film made under capra's authority about japan sort of the equivalent of "your job in germany" about japan, a film that evolved from a movie called "know your enemy japan" that was deemed so brutal and so incendiary when it arrived in japan after hiroshima and nagasaki, mcarthur refused to show the movie. >> while we're talking about frank capra i want to ask you about "private snafu." 26 cartoons we should point out not designed for children. what's the story behind it?

>> right. they western designed for children and weren't designed for adult civilians either. these were adult only cartoons that were meant to be shown to service men. and they were technically instructional films and in "private snafu" who is this kind of screw up private as you'll see he looks a lot like elmer fudd because he derives from early drawings of elmer fudd. he was meant to give soldiers instructions on everything from the danger of consorting with prostitutes in foreign countries to how to protect yourself against malaria, to the importance of not gossiping or passing along secrets. and usually these five minute movies, many of which were also by the way written by the same

author and sound like dr. seuss material, usually the instruction was by negative example. "private snafu" would do something wrong and he ended up dead or being blown to bits in about a third of them only to come back in the next installment a couple of months later. >> mark, harris thanks very much. now from the u.s. army, titled "going home" as private snafu used by the army. ♪ >> a soldier returns from the global grind. home is ahead. his home town is proud. look at that brass band. look at that crowd.

our returning hero has, no doubt, a million things to talk about. safe at home, away from battle, restricted stuff makes harmless prattle. >> our out fit is 999. we hold the center of the line. the british hold the west. machine gun this. 200 million tanks. >> you got that off your chest, why not go out and blab the rest. >> a landing field. boy is that sweet. it measures 15,000 feet with nine new runways all concrete. those new jap tanks pack a punch. they knocked out bat erie b. if they start to push they will shove to us the sea. >> the news of the day. a new secret weapon did this to the fold. what hit you? wouldn't you like to know?

>> i know what indict. what made the big hole. a new flying bazooka with radar control. i know all about it. i was the light. the propelling charge is attached and the booster adapter sets off the fuse. therefore giving it power to the spark plugs. our very next mode, this is straight from the boss. naturally it concerns not only about what we have but speaking of convoys you know when i sailed with the 999th a single ship from tent us, why the tanks we saw, the places we went. now this is strictly confidential. and you'll treat it so, i hope. but strictly confidentially here's the latest.

coming in at 74 degrees we placed our guns -- >> might just as well write it all over the sky. ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the war department regrets to announce that due to recent leaks on restricted military information our entire 999th division has been annihilated by the enemy. >> my outfit. some guy shot his mouth off. any guy who does that ought to be run over by a street car. ♪ joining us from new york is

author mark harris, his book is titled "five came back: a story of hollywood" and the "second world war." as we conclude our discussion on director frank extra how did world war ii and post-war years change this director >> well, of all five of the directors i write b-capra was the one who expected to come back, i think, and have the best career in hollywood after the war and instead he had the worst. he came back and founded a company with two of the other directors i wrote about, william wilder and george stevens called liberty films. this was in a way one of the first independent movie companies that was meant to get powerful directors out from under the oppressive restrictions of movie studios and give them some autonomy over what material they chose and how it was made and budgeted.

originally the plan was for each of the three directors to make three movies but the company never got past the first movie which was capra's film "it's a wonderful life." although we now consider that movie, you know, a classic. "it's a wonderful life" was not a financial success when it came out. it was not a particularly popular movie. it was overshadowed by "the best years of our lives," and it bankrupted the company. capra was so shattered by that failure and by the loss of liberty films that his insecurities about having lost his status in hollywood and his unerring instinct for what would work for audiences overcame him. he only made about five more movies for the rest of his career, and none of them were successful. his career, as we know it, was

essentially over after 1946 when "it's a wonderful life" was released. >> mark harris joining us from new york, his book five came back, a story of hollywood and the "second world war." thanks for being with us here on c-span 3's american history tv. on the next washington journal a look at the supreme court's ruling of the contraception mandate in the federal health care law. our guests are ed whelan and elizabeth wydra. later greg whitlock from "the washington post" on the year long investigation into the safety of american drone use. washington journal is live every morning at 7:00 eastern on c-span. you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. with live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span and the senate on c-span 2 here on

c-span 3 we complement that coverage by showing the most relevant congressional hearings and public affairs events and on weekends c-span 3 is the the home american history tv with programs that tell our nation's history including six unique stories. the civil war 150th anniversary visiting battlefields and key events, american artifacts touring museums and historic sites. history book shelf with the best known american history writers. the presidency looking at the policies and legacies of our nation's commanders and chief. lectures in history with top college professors delving into our past. and educational films from the 1930s through the '70s. c-span 3 created by the cable tv industry and funded by your local cable or satellite proprovider. watch us in hd. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. each week american history

tv's reel america brings you archival films that help toel story of the 20th century. in the second part we feature george stevens who was with the invading army 70 years ago on june 6th, 1944, to document d-day. stevens assisted in production the film "the true glory" which includes extensive d-day footage and do you wanted the horrors of nazi concentration camps creating films that was used as evidence in the neuremberg trials. first we talk to mark harris. >> the book is titled five came back a story of hollywood and the "second world war" and one of the directors featured by author mark harris is george stevens. mark harris is going us judge new york. thanks very much for being with us. in your book these five directors putting their careers on hold to thips haerm and the military during the height of world war ii, why did george

stevens get involved? >> stevens had been a director of some of the most successful light come disand escapist movies in hollywood throughout the 1930s. he actually came up doing laurel and hardy silent shorts and when sound came in he did everything from "swing-time" one of the best fred astaire and ginger rogers movies to "woman of the year" with tracy hepburn. for stevens who like all of the directors was old enough so he could have gotten a civilian exemption from the war really wanted to what he called a seat on the 50 yard line of history. he felt that it was a patriotic duty to go. he had been chafing in

hollywood, he felt he was pigeon-holed because he wanted to make films with more coninformation rather or war related content and when he was wasn't able to do it at rko or columbia he jumped at the chance to do it in the army and for the army. interestingly, of the five directors, stevens is the only one who never made a sort of free standing documentary during the war that was shown to civilian audiences, but his work in the war which ranged from restaging battle scenes in north africa to becoming the first major american filmmaker to enter the camps after they were liberated and his films there actually provided evidence for

the neuremberg trials. his work on the war was the most wide ranging and in some ways historically significant in terms of the camp footage of any directors during the war. >> let me follow up on that point because he was a member of the u.s. army signal corps under the leadership of general eisenhower who was responsible for the historic invasion on d-day 70 years ago this year. where was george stevens during that time in june of 1944? >> stevens was right there at d-day. you know, just as john ford was at d-day supervising the filming effort made by the navy, stevens was there overseeing the shooting done by the army and of all the major battles and turning points in the war, d-day was the one that allied film makers had the longest and best

opportunity to prepare for. this was a filming effort that involved hundreds of cameras, both stationary and manned, and dozens of cameramen. and stevens, you know, as the war progressed, often his function was to coordinate some film making efforts with the allies. particularly the british or canadians, and that was one of the things he did at d-day, ford asked if stevens wouldn't mind working with the british to help shore up their d-day film making effort and i believe the ship stevens arrived on d-day was a british ship. >> the library congress listed his work as the essential via sue sal record of what happened in word war ii, not only the american success on d-day but

also the concentration camps. i wonder if you can talk a little bit about that including what he saw in dacha. >> after d-day, stevens stayed with the troops and filmed all the way through the push into france and the liberation of paris, which was, you know, absolutely some of the most historically important footage of the war. his work in the camps, in dacha was really devastating. they got there just days after liberation. and what's remarkable is that even without official instructions, stevens instinctively understood that his job had at that instanting changed, that he was no long ear documentary person and no longer a propagandaist but a collector of visual evidence. his job at dachau was literally

to document, to film the devastation that had been wrought on the bodies of these people, to film bodies, to film things that still when we contemplate the horrors of what was done in the death camps, it's the images that stevens shot that give us our via saul understanding, the language we use comprehend those atrocities, and it was for him an absolutely devastating experience. he spoke with it afterwards and, you know, stevens was a great director after the war. he went on to make movies like "a place in the sun" but never direct ad comedy and he felt that dachau had robbed him of his ability to be funny, to be light hearted.

>> among his work, the film "the true glory," i'm going to show the first 25 minutes of that film, this was an american british co-production. what can you tell us about it, mark harris? >> well, "the true glory" was in a way very typical of a friendly tension that arose between the united kingdom and the u.s. england, of course, was in the two years before the u.s. was. and they were sort of perpetually two years ahead of the u.s. in the vigor and intelligence and passion of their war time film making efforts. so there were some uneasy collaborations between us and the british, co-productions in which the really good footage from england was used to prop up some inferior footage from the u.s., but "the true glory" was not one of those case.

"the true glory" was an instance in which england had a v-very good director, carol reed who went on to make "the third man" and "olivier" and the u.s. had a good screen writer, padd paddy chayefsky who worked on "the true glory" and then went on to write a great many teleplays including network. stevens job was to step in briefly to make sure that everything was going smoothly between the brits and the americans and that's what he did on "the true glory." >> this is a nearly 30 minute film. we'll begin with an introduction by general dwight eisenhower.

♪ >> i have been asked to be the spokesman for this allied expeditionary force in saying a word of inintroduce ducktion to what you're about to see. it's a story of the nazi defeat on the western front. so far as important, the editors have made an account of the really important men in this campaign. i mean the enlisted soldiers, sailors and airmen that fought through every obstacle to victory. course to tell the whole story would take years. but the theme would be the same. teamwork wins wars. i mean teamwork among nations, services and men. all the way down the line from the g.i. and the tommy to west hats. our enemy in this campaign was strong, resourceful and cunning but made a few mistakes. his greatest blunder was this,

he thought he could break up our partnership. but we were welded together by fighting for one great cause. in one great team, a team in which you were an indispensable and working member. that spirit of a free people working, fighting and living together in one great cause have served us well on the western front. we in the field pray that that spirit of comradeship will persist forever among the free peoples of the united nations. ♪

>> to you who now live for hope who sense a future in the surrounding air this testament is offered. here you may look on the violent fragments of our age and the once thinness of the little thread that made us then the citizens of freedom. dark was europe and the face of man when this begins. a nation that had gone mad and struck out every where the compass knew. yet tired of our way and left its wreckage on a hundred coast. german cast its fires about the globe. his strength lay in our weakness. at last his conquest smoldered behind the barriers of his arms. along the channel where the sea strikes france stood the west wall of concrete stone and steel to mock the frail hopes of the petty free. wounded hard pressed and wasted in our strength almost like

"madmen" then we planned to breach the wall and the wall and smash the german smite. we searched the coast of europe, between low flashing and the assault. exits in title range. sand of the wind cancelled the belgium coast. the beaches were too small and barred the approaches. quarter turn, too narrow. heavily defended. all resolved on normandy. airplanes would land on the dpround. tides had a good range. so five miles of unblooded sand, the course would be sailed by armored nations. now our people bent to the construction of a steel array and took the builders hammer in their hands. seemed as though the sun stood

still full of range and power through the air the sphere of war. this is our people's story in their words. >> i suppose if the battle of the north atlantic hadn't gone right, things might have been considerably different. it's an ugly time for all of us. naval escort, air patrol, i guess i had my share of bad luck. i lost three ships and some good friends.

>> i remember reading somewhere that when a sea gull comes down on a patch of oil its feathers stick together and can't get off the water again. there must have been a lot of dead sea gulls around the north atlantic. >> of course, we only saw it happening on the map. yet it was, well, quite real. when i started there, those markers we used might have been toys out of a children's game. soon they were ships carrying cargo and weapons and supplies and men to use them. >> i remember coming over the worst thing about the trip was you didn't know where you were dpoing. wherever it was, you would be a stranger and nobody likes that. that ship was loaded from stem to stern with sad sacks. third day out, we're all on the same boat. a comic. finally we got to liverpool. they had a band to play us in.

an english army band full of chimes. "i'm dreaming of a white christmas" they played. it was a nice gesture. >> funny thing, on the way over, you felt like you were the whole works. all over the uk you saw things that made you begin to realize you were just part of a big proposition. all kinds of things.