transatlantic academy. at 8:30 a.m. eastern, we mark the 70th anniversary of d-day from the world war ii memorial on the mall. "washington journal" is next. >> good morning. it is friday, june 6, 2014. president obama is and at normandy, france, where he beach, remarks at omaha on the anniversary of the d-day invasion. we will show those remarks this morning on "washington journal" and talk about the 70th anniversary of d-day is retake viewers live to the national world war ii memorial in washington dc. opening up our phone lines to viewers to discuss the exchange of army sergeant bowe bergdahl.

makes no obama apologies for the deal that led to bergdahl's release even after criticism continues from members of congress. we want to hear your thoughts this morning. republicans can call host: you can also catch up with us on your favorite social media pages. host: good friday morning to you. the headline in the "washington post," "obama says no apologies for bergdahl release deal." thursdayt obama said he cannot give up the chance to save one more life in the war."

[video clip] >> we have a basic principle. we do not leave anybody wearing the american uniform behind. we had a prisoner of war whose health had deteriorated and we were deeply concerned about, and we saw an opportunity and we seized it and i make no apologies for that. we had discussed with congress the possibility that something ike this might occur. but because of the nature of the folks we were dealing with and the fragile nature of these negotiations, we felt it was important to go ahead and do what we did. we are now explaining to congress the details of how we move forward. the basic principle that we don't leave anybody behind and this basic recognition that it

often means exchanges with enemies is not unique to my administration. it dates back to the beginning of our republic. host: president obama explaining -- talking about explaining to congress now that the act has been done. some of the criticism comes from the timing of when he informed congress about the bergdahl deal. here is the story from "the new york times" today about the timing and the secrecy of the deal. "fears for sergeant life led to secrecy about swap." pt a closely held secret because of fear that splits with the caliban could lead gunwielding guards to kill the soldier." the fear that they were split about the wisdom of the trade -- the group holding sergeant

"has sometimes been at odds with the taliban leadership. a variety of sources said that something could go wrong after a deal with the taliban leadership but before he was executed." that story from "the new york times." we want to get your thoughts as we talk about the articles and opinion pieces this morning about the bowe bergdahl deal. host host: want to show you some comments from members of congress, republicans in

congress. here is senator jerry moran. there referring to a "time" magazine piece, interview with a taliban commander. "time" on thursday that the deal "has made it more appealing for fighters to captured soldiers and other high-value targets. 'it is better to kidnap one person like bergdahl then kidnapping hundreds of useless people,'the commander said.

'now everybody will work hard to capture such an important bird.'" we are taking your calls and morning and tweets this and on our facebook page as well you can follow along with the conversation. yesterday after the president's speech in brussels of the g7 conference, 2 comments on our facebook page. put every single american's life at risk. the next terrorist attack on our homeland lays at your feet." below that, "thank you, mr. president. we leave no soldier, sailor, airman, or marine behind. those who are criticizing you are letting their blind hatred of greater sense of obligation which we go to all who serve us in the military." akron, ohio, on outline for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning.

host: you are on "washington journal." caller: how are you doing this morning? host: i'm good. your thoughts on the president's no apologies statement? caller: i think it is deplorable. especially today, being the 70th anniversary of what is going on, i did tours over there, i trained. i think a lot of things are getting sidestepped, like the fact that 20 veterans are committed suicide today went for help -- waiting for help. yet he will, my hero, number one. a hero,e will come home number one. he will get pow pay while those killing themselves waiting for the v.a., waiting for the pensions. i think what he has done is deplorable and he needs to be put out of office and we need to take control of what is going on

over there. put it in the commander's hansa not the commander-in-chief's hands. host: john on outline for republicans. caller: you know what i find very ironic about this entire thing? the only honesty we have gotten from anyone is the taliban. obama made up this story of we were worrying they were going to kill them because that was ct.os -- ex post the fa --ays have right now is more all we have right now is more authenticity out of the taliban, very honest the whole time. as far as though bergdahl -- bowe bergdahl being close to death, someone close to death to not want to helicopter -- could not walk to helicopter. watchedngle person -- i megyn kelly yesterday and she

had 6 people he served with in every one of them to the man think that he deserted and should face a court-martial. they can't find a single person who served with him who can say the opposite. host: john from buffalo, new york, talking about bergdahl walking to the helicopter. that is the video from "the guardian" newspaper of the actual exchange of bowe bergdahl there on the screen. as we're are showing you that, other headlines of bergdahl and his service record. "bergdahl said to have history of leaving post." "a classified report the telling the investigation into the disappearance of sergeant bowe bergdahl says that he had wandered away from assigned areas before, and then returned, according to people briefed on the document will stop the

report includes that keep most likely walked away on his own free will in the dark of night -- he most likely walked away on his own free will and the dark of night, but it stops short of concluding that there is evidence that the private intended to permanently desert. whether he never intended to come back forcibly slipped away on a short adventure amid lax security and discipline is one of the many unanswered questions ." that story leading "the new york times" today. jim on our line for independents. caller: 2 words -- impeachment now. if he's not impeach, what else is he going to do that is going to be destructive to this country? the guy should have never been enacted, but where is the congress? if they are not talking about impeachment, they are not doing their job. host: jim, what are your reasons for calling for impeachment?

this specific situation? caller: not only this situation -- benghazi, irs, fast and fury. as long as he feels he can do whatever he wants to do, this country is in major danger. and i feel like the congress needs to step in and say, look, we can impeach clinton and get nixon out of office and they did minor stuff. this guy is hurting the country and he definitely has to go. america, -- if not, america come you are definitely doomed. host: the issue of impeachment brought up in a piece today by former congressman tom delay, writing in his opinion piece in "the washington times." somee has already been talk about impeachment, but just as a practical matter, president obama will be long gone from the white house before any impeachment effort could bear fruit. i was still hold judiciary committee hearings, because right now is the time to make

this a part of the president's tegacy and to set a preceden for future presidents about the resistance they will face when they not only violate the separation of powers but when they break the law." paul on our line for republicans. good morning. caller: yes, my question is how are we going to win this afghanistan war, and what will and 2015? 2014 how are we going to win this war, and how the afghan security situation going to improve so that they can take over and resist the taliban so that the taliban doesn't come back? president was talking about afghanistan and the drawdown of troops there and made a speech at west point about america's military influence in the world.

to do you get any answers to those questions you have from the presidents statements last week? caller: well, i didn't have a chance to listen to those comments, but i'm just concerned . we want to win the war in afghanistan, and that is why we came in there. my question to the american people is we want to win in afghanistan and that is why we came in there, and what is the policy of the administration and congress and how we can make afghanistan a society where the taliban can't take over again? that's my concern. host: paul in california. if you want to watch the president's address at west point, check it out at cspan.org . a few tweets coming in.

host: a little bit more from the president's statement yesterday at the g7 summit in brussels. he talked a bit about his responsibility that he felt in the bergdahl situation as commander-in-chief. [video clip] >> with respect to how we announced it, i think it was important for people to understand that this is not some abstraction, this is not a political football. you have a couple of parents whose kid volunteered to fight in a distant land, who they hadn't seen in five years, and were insured they would ever see again that weren't sure they would ever see again. as commander-in-chief of the united states armed forces, i am responsible for those kids.

and i get letters from parents who say that if you are in fact sending my child into war, make sure that that child is eating taken care of, and i write too many -- that child is being taken care of, and i write too many letters to folks who unfortunately don't see their children again after fighting war. i make absolutely no apologies for making sure that we get back a young man to his parents, and that the american people understand that this is that we's child, and don't condition whether or not we make the effort to try to get them back. host: again, that was the president yesterday. we are getting your thoughts on the president's statement that he makes no apologies for the deal for the return of sergeant bowe bergdahl. richard is up next from arkansas on our line for democrats. go ahead, richard. i say this is no phony

scandal. what we have is a phony president who is out to fulfill his father's dreams and destroy america. thank you. host: david brooks writing on the opinion pages of "the new york times." ,"resident obama was right talking about the bergdahl situation. "it does not matter that the united states government ended up dealing with terrorists in the first place. is not a terrorist organization the way al qaeda is. america has always tried to reach a negotiated arrangement with the taliban and this agreement may be up piece of that. this is the dirty world we live in. sometimes national leaders are called upon to take the sins of the situation upon themselves for the good of the country, to deal with the hateful and compromise with the loathsome. their form of sacrifice and service. so president obama made the right call.

if he is to be faulted, it would be first for turning the release esque photo op, a political stunt with empty grandstanding." on our twitter page host: let's go to our independent line. mike is waiting in jackson, mississippi. caller: good morning, sir. i want to say, mr. obama cleaned up mr. bush's mess. god bless america. thank you very much. host: hazleton, idaho, on our line for democrats. caller: yes. i had a comment to make on sgt. bergdahl. within he was right leaving his post. i don't think that people should ridicule him or call him names

or what have you. i am son of a world war ii oferan, also the nephew vietnam veteran. into -- the war when i was very young, and i love all our troops, i love what they are doing and how they are doing it. sgt. bergdahl was in his legal right and his legal means of leaving his post. that's all i've got to say. host: all right, we will go to rock, arkansas, on our line for republicans. caller: howdy there. mystic, i is has a guess. there is a couple -- pess imistic, i guess. it was a couple of quick points.

why would hillary clinton have a section in her book talking about bergdahl and all this happens when her book is coming out and they kind of owe each other favors, anyway. personally, i think that bergdahl is just a pawn in this whole thing and i don't care what goes on with him either way. the president at west point basically told the guys that the only reason that people don't agree with my policies or opinions is just because they don't like me. in his last 2 years of the presidency, nothing has really gone right as far as the economy and better and such and anything. if there were impeachment procedures against him, that would rally his base so much and he could live up to "they just don't like me." as far as the guy who said he clean up bush's mess and other thing, if you look at a lot of things, president obama has fallen right in line with bush's policies over these years. appreciate it. host: president obama a little over an hour and half ago wrapped up his remarks at omaha beach commemorating the 70th

anniversary of d-day. d-day being remembered on the front page of "the wall street journal" today. "last of the liberators gather for the day's 70th anniversary." photo of a paratrooper, fred gl over, being remembered from the edges of normandy to new jersey -- ages of normandy to new jersey. on long island, "brothers in arms remember d-day." there at a picture their the veterans home there. world war ii veteran of the that home in long island. want to play you the president's remarks this morning. [video clip] >> just last week i received a

letter from a french citizen. "dear mr. president and the "weican people," he wrote, are honored to welcome you, to thank you again for all the pain and efforts of the american people and others, in our common struggle for freedom. say the same to the people of france. especially for the generosity you have shown the americans who have come here over the generations, to these beaches and to the sacred place americans. 9387 at the end of the war, when our ships set off for america filled with our fallen, tens of europeansof liberated

turned out to say farewell, and they pledged to take care of the more than 60,000 americans who would remain in cemeteries on this continent. in the words of one man, we will take care of the fallen as if their tombs were our children's. of france, you have kept your word, like the true friends you are. we are forever grateful. also today inote "the washington post," the opinion pages there, former senate majority leader bob dole and former veteran has a piece, talking about some of the many times he has visited the national world war ii memorial in washington, d.c. later in today's show we will be

taking our viewers live to the world war ii memorial to talk about d-day and remembrances of world war ii. we have about 15, 20 minutes left in this segment of "washington journal" this morning. want to take your calls on the bow bergdahl deal and the president's statement that he makes no apologies for that deal. gainesville, florida. jackson, good morning. caller: good morning. .ost: go ahead an that president obama conducted with mr. bergdahl and absolutelyon was outrageous. host: and why is that, jackson? he put into the field 5 gitmoous terrorists from who have killed and will kill

americans, american military personnel, and innocent civilians. i know this firsthand. . worked in special ops long leave. just got back from indian country. i cannot believe what i've seen. sir.s what i have to say, on ourrett in indiana line for democrats. caller: morning. i agree, they gave the wrong 5 terrorists away. they should have given george bush, dick cheney, karl rove,

donald rumsfeld, and condoleezza rice. i think the terrorists would be a lot happier with those. host: brett in indiana. jackson talk about the exchange and who was put back in the field. "senator cruz says his legislation is a response not only to the bergdahl controversy but after hearing of other potential prisoner releases." that story in politico if you want to read more on that. also from "the hill" newspaper on the same topic, "some senate democrats say president obama should not let the angry backlash over sgt. bergdahl deter them from negotiating with al qaeda for other american business," the story quoting

senator barbara mikulski of maryland. "she wants the obama administration to pursue talks to free warren weinstein, a usaid contractor who was kidnapped by al qaeda, and alan gross, another contractor imprisoned in cuba. both of them are from maryland." bob waiting in wisconsin on our line for independent. caller: good morning. i would like to know if obama would have traded hitler for a pow. he put a target on every man and woman in our service to be kidnapped. host: william is up next from augusta, georgia on our line for democrats. caller: good morning. i would like to say obama is not

responsible for none of that. he is trying to get these people's kids home, and it is a good thing. for everythingod the devil do? how can you blame this man for everything that happens in his administration? that's all i have to say. host: a few headlines to read for you on a busy friday morning. last night senators brokered a deal on va care. that announcement making the front page of "usa today." deal thursday to address growing concerns about veterans access to medical care was struck by senators bernie sanders and john mccain. it addresses the problem of access to care by authorizing a 2-year program that allows

veterans to seek private health care if they are more than 40 miles from of the a facility or have been waiting more than 30 days for treatment. long-term, the legislation authorizes the construction of 26 medical facilities in 18 states and directs unspent funds to hire more doctors and health-care providers." here is a bit from senator john mccain talking about that deal that was struck. [video clip] >> we have an aging veteran ,opulation from world war ii god blessed them, that are still with us, korea, and vietnam. that is an aging veterans population and requires a different kind of care than those of iraq and afghanistan. frank, a lot of that is geriatric care. to be frank, geriatric care is expensive. but we have got to understand what this -- with this population is and what their needs are, just as we have to

understand the iraq and afghanistan veterans and what their needs are. to be very frank, are planning so far has not been very impressive to me. host: some other news coming out of the senate yesterday. sylvia mathews burwell, the white house budget director emma theconfirmed yesterday as 22nd secretary of the department of health and human services, of course replacing testing civilians on a bipartisan vote of 78 -- replacing kathleen ofelius on a bipartisan vote 78-17. "it was devoid of the bitter partisanship surrounding the 2010 affordable care act and the changes it bring to the u.s. health-care system." 24 republicans voting yes for burwell's confirmation. i want to take your calls for the next 15 minutes or so about the president's statements yesterday that he makes no apologies for the sergeant bowe

bergdahl deal. charles is in middle river, maryland, on our line for republicans. charles, you are with us. caller: yes, i am. host: yes, i am. i would like to say first of all, i have called in on the independent line. good morning. i have called in on the independent line three times or four times and the line was busy. charles, go ahead, we can hear you. caller: what i would like to say is first of all, i think that c-span is deceiving the american people because if you call on the independent line, the line is constantly busy. you call in on the republican line, you get right through, and then you hear these people criticizing the president and foricizing congress bringing a child home that went to war. this child went to war. and all kinds of bad things happen to people over there.

we brought him home. we should not have people criticizing anybody for bringing a child home. these detainees that were released to them, you never know what they did or what they did not do. nobody is putting up their record saying they killed this american person or kill that american person. you do not know who these people are that were released. we are just spending and turning things into a way to make people 'tlieve things that just ain true. i watched a program called time, and i sit there and i watch people call in on the democratic line that sound like republicans, and then people call on the independent line that sound like republicans. i just not think that y'all are being true to reporting the facts. oft: all right, charles, all our lines are open it we try to answer a variety here on the "washington journal." sorry if it is a busy morning this morning with calls. a lot of people wanted to talk about this topic, including

beatrice from ohio on our line for independents. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say that i love this country. i am 81 years old. i am so sorry to see this country go down the tubes the way it is. all you do -- you don't try to help nobody really. you want to criticize everything there isdent does, and this big to do about the soldier and i'm concerned -- they have not investigated nothing yet, and people just and right on the bandwagon, we got something on the president again, let's go. benghazi, let's get on this. stop it. it is time to bring back the america that we used to know, please. thank you. host: all right, and on twitter,

"red obama has bypassed congress once too often. he is not king. there are laws he ignores." neveren another -- if we negotiate with despicable people, than many u.s. soldiers will be left behind in every war. "new york times" editorial page, the rush to demonize sergeant bergdahl is the lead editorial today. the note and a place, thousands of soldiers desert and everywhere including 50,000 american soldiers during world war ii, as many as 4008 year were absent without leave for extended periods during the iraq war.

host: the editorial board in today's "new york times." waiting in arthur memphis, tennessee on our line for democrats. arthur, good morning. caller: good morning. did, i think the president the right thing. he should make no apologies. all these people criticizing the president listen to fox news like bill o'reilly. saying the man look like a muslim. they cannot go out the door. thank you. felipe isright, and in costa mesa, california on our line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for having me on the show. what i want to add is obama's mission, america's mission in afghanistan is essentially already been accomplished. a has been taken out, the taliban have essentially been taken out. so everything we have now on

both sides of the congress, critics from both sides of the spectrum about whether the war -- sorry, about obama having no apologies about this, in reality it's not even be a question because we should have ended this war long ago. in my conservative views, this war just is costing too much money, time, and most of all blood from all kinds of people, from all kinds of different countries. host: felipe, what is your take on the possibility of future exchanges down the road? basicallyll, i think the best we can do is get out of there and make amends with non-interventionists. host: felipe, senator ted cruz putting forth a bill that would stop more prisoner transfers from guantanamo bay. what do you think should happen to be less than 150 prisoners still down in guantanamo bay?

that should be pretty much close down a special because the lot of the prisoners there had their rights violated. you do not have the constitutional rights as you do in the united states. for a country to represent the kind of freedoms and liberties that we fight for, we should make sure that any prisoner and any inmates that are taken are also afforded the same rights that works in this country. host: all right, felipe from california. here is another story from "usa today." the bergdahl swap initially included more if the headline there. free sergeant bergdahl in exchange for those five taliban prisoners

host: if you are on to read more on that story, it is then "usa today -- if you want to read more on that story, it is in "usa today." kent is up next on our line from mobile, alabama for independents. caller: this was not a situation where a man was taken during an

armed conflict. he basically walked off the coast. he also caused people that were sent to help him, or go to his aid, their lives. i think it is a very tough call across the board. i don't think it is as straightforward as some people believe it is, but i also think there are some issues as far as how it was handled and how they went about it and i don't necessarily agree with the fact costthis young man's life other people their lives in an save him from the situation, especially since he was the one that walked out. one of the things that was written in the paper was talking about how you had 4000 people in world war ii i believe that had some kind of traumas in battle, but most of these guys, if they were something in this situation would be in jail at this point in time. is that essentially the way you

guys think about this, or is this different from that? host: kent, we are taking your thoughts on this this morning. the "l.a. times" has a piece on the controversy over whether the searchers for bert dall died. noting that several those who served with bergdahl in the rugged mountains of eastern afghanistan charged that soldiers died searching for him after he disappeared from his base, but experts are divided in the fog of war whether it would ever be clear if soldiers died as a result. army medic. but defense secretary chuck hagel told reporters this week i do not know of any circumstances or results of u.s. soldiers dying as of efforts to get sergeant bowe bergdahl. let's go to charles on our line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call.

this issue essentially boils down to one question -- who do you believe? the question is -- do you believe a resident and an administration who has lied to us repeatedly about a wide variety of issues, and those are proven facts that they lie to us , or are you going to believe the men who served with mr. bergdahl, the men who risked their lives fighting for this country? the question is -- are you going to believe a president and an administration who tells you that mr. bergdahl served with honor and distinction, or are you going to believe the men who served with him who say that he walked away, who say that he lost interest in the war, did not believe in the war, and actively sought to contact our enemies? that is the question -- who do you believe? it is not about

george w. bush, dick cheney, iraq. it is not about anything that has happened in the past. we are in the here and now. we are talking about this president and why do you believe him. is it because of your partisan loyalty or your racial loyalty or because you just hate bush so badly that anything obama does is right? it is a question of who do you believe. host: all right, and two other headlines to point out to you this morning, that shooting at seattle university, seattle pacific university, leaving one dead and three others injured after a gunman opened fired on the university campus. the gunman was subdued after being pepper sprayed by a student security guard and is in custody. reports of that shooting coming out yesterday late afternoon and evening. and one other story, this from the "national journal," top of the a health nominee withdrawals over ties to that waiting lists

kindle. present obama's nominee at the top health official at the veterans affairs department withdrew thursday. host: if you want to read more on that, in several pages and also the story on the "national 's" webpage. let's go to know: george on our line for independents. -- let's go to the colnicole in georgia. caller: i think people are going haywire with it. i am an active-duty military soldier in the army as well as my husband, and at all boils down to -- what did that soldier do you go we know as soldiers in the army, you never really your post.

fallen never leave a comrade. so i put myself in a situation. why would i leave post? where was my supervisor? where were the people that were charge of me that when i was a this particular place and time? two, if i was in his unit, and i was looking out for him, searching for him, would anybody care that i am left behind in afghanistan? really cares.body it boils down to the leadership, and i think the sergeant is to be dealt with on why he left. everybody is making it about obama -- obama did the right thing because you cannot lead soldiers behind. you just can't. host: how much do you want to hear from bergdahl if you are one of the -- an army official who had a chance to interview him when he came home, what would you ask them? caller: give me come up from the time you were relieved, what possessed you to walk off? what was over there that was so important that you had to put the country, not just the soldiers that passed away, but

the country at a standstill? areing, wondering if you ok, putting leadership on the red carpet to seek what is going on over there. what possessed him to leave? host: would you put a court-martial on the table? caller: yes, i would! as a service member, i cannot talk about that, the only thing i can do is represent him and do what i'm supposed to do as far as me being in military service member. we cannot bash the president, no matter who it is, no matter what his race, but as far as that soldier, yes, i will go toe to toe with him at the bergdahl, what the hell is wrong with you? host: all right, we will go to mike waiting in illinois on our line for independents. mike, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. thank you for taking my call. the actual reason of white negotiating with terrorists was

put in place is because of offenses that were taking place in the 1970's in the washington plans, the runways being hijacked, airports and whatnot. tothis was put in effect take the heat off of americans out in the field and our soldiers. in to see the president make a call like this by himself goes against why that was put in place. -- leaving a soldier behind was a field call i believe by the marines in a war. it is not for the president to say we're going to negotiate with anybody. it goes against our history and what actually happened, why that was actually put in place, not negotiating with terrorists. richmond, texas on our line for democrats. helen, good morning. caller: good morning.

i just want to say that president reagan sent guns to iran when they were our enemies. blessed with the bible, i guess that would make them pure, the denied knowing anything about it when brought before congress, cannot not remember anything. his wife had a policy of just say no to drugs, and president reagan was bringing cocaine in from south america to the cities of america to get our people addicted to cocaine. host: helen, let's stick to the bowe bergdahl situation. what is your take on what is happening now? caller: i think he is american wh he is an american who should have been brought home. many citizens in guantánamo were just not stop the streets and had not done anything, but money was being waved around, so they were turned in as the enemy terrorists. - is wrong.is wrong to t

i think people need to bring home our americans. host: helen, you might be interested in a segment we are doing on sundays "washington journal." we will be talking to an "miami herald" reporter who has visited guantanamo bay and has written extensively on the topic. we will be talking about the guantanamo bay dissented facility. that is all the time we have in the segment of the "washington journal" this morning. coming up next, stephen szabo will be joining of coming he is with the transatlantic academy. and then later, we will take you live to the world war ii memorial to mark the 70th anniversary of d-day. but first, this weekend, american cities continues as booktv in american history tv feature the history and literary life of utah's capital salt lake city. larrys utah's governor herbert pocket by the influence of religion on the state today. >> i am a six generation utan.

my ancestors came across the lanes with brigham young. that eventme from when they came to what was then , some arid desert climate would say godforsaken, not very many people, you native americans, mostly rabbits and lizards and crickets. in a frontiersman said i will give you an thousand dollars a "way bushel of: in utah. they came here and they said in spite of that, people were passionate, but not in utah. is brigham young said this the right place, and they said we are going to roll up our sleeves. and use the bible passage in the old testament that we will make the desert blossom as the rose, and they have done

that. you can see the results of many generations working here, and that can-do spirit, which is really the spirit of utah, is what i draw strength from. that and my ancestors who sacrificed a lot to provide a better life for their children, grandchildren, and eventually me is what i want to pass onto my children, my grandchildren, so utah continues to be the right place for families, for individuals, per business, and frankly it is working very well. founding smith was the buffett of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. the earliest account of joseph smith's first vision occurs in a book that he began writing in in 1832. the front part of that book, he wrote a personal history about his life to that point, and in his 1830 two history, he describes this vision that he had 12 years earlier. joseph smith himself did not write a lot of things personally, but he had clerks at work writing for him, altogether

in printed form one we finish with our joseph smith papers process, we will have about two dozen printed volumes of about 500 pages a. >> this we can, learn about the rich history and literary life of salt lake city, utah saturday on c-span2's booktv and sunday on c-span3's american history tv. "washington journal" continues. todaypresident obama wrapping up a four-day, three country trip across europe and here to discuss the president's efforts in poland, brussels, and france this week it's stephen szabo, the executive director of the transatlantic academy. what was the goal of the white house heading into this trip and how the white house accomplished of them this week you go guest? guest: the main goal is trying to reassure the europeans after the actions of russia and crimea. there is a lot of doubt, too,

about the u.s. commitment. so i think his goal was to go over, especially in poland and the baltic states in eastern europe, to reassure them that the u.s. is with them, and that we will defend their security against russian pressures and possible aggression. that was the main goal. and he has left an impression in europe the last couple of years that he cares more about asia right now than he does about europe, and he is concerned about the chinese threats and challenges in asia. there is a lot of talk about the pacific pivot in american foreign-policy, and this has unsettled the europeans. also the other issue of course is how to keep the europeans together in a coordinated response to what the russians are up to, with the sanctions in particular because of the big economic stakes. i think he is trying to see how much cohesion he can keep in the west. there is a division within

europe itself between the west europeans who are doing a lot of as is with the russians in the east europeans who are feeling much more threatened about what has happened in ukraine. host: which countries were his most important audience that he had to reach this week yo? guest: i would say poland and through bold on the baltic states. those are the countries that fill most directly threatened upht now by what putin has and up to. he has to mean the most important country, of course, is germany, and unity germans on board for any kind of consistent policy vis-à-vis russia. that was also important. the problem we have in germany of course at the snowden problem, the nsa program. a lot of americans do not understand how deep the divisions are in germany over the u.s. and the loss of trust. syria's got to find a way to reestablish that, but i do not think he did much on that in this trip. host: two efforts by the u.s. announced this week to try to get russia's attention, the

possibility of new sanctions coming up down the road, possibly as soon as a month, and the new billion-dollar effort to increase military deployments in europe. star without billion-dollar effort that was announced in poland and explain that. and easte poles europeans are looking for military reassurance and not just words, for what this package does is allow nato to do more in terms of deploying forces in and out of roland and the baltic states to sort a show that article five, which is the defense part of nato, matters. i personally think it is a little bit too little. i mean, i would have preferred to see a much more substantial reaction and to start thinking about the permanent deployment of u.s. and nato forces in a place like poland and possibly the baltic states. what happened in the last two months is that all of the agreements we've had with the russians how we should deal with european security, that is that we will have some cooperative security. we will not change by force, all

of that has been broken. the russians have promised in a signed document in the budapest to accept and1994 recognize ukraine's territorial integrity, so they broke that promise. that, then that opens the door on all the promises that we have made about european security, which included we would not deploy forces per million to places like poland. i think that is now off the table, and i think it must we start to take that more seriously and have more permanent deployment into poland in the baltic states, that will not be enough. host: what does a permanent deployment mean? we talk a lot on this program the president's efforts to send new fighter rotation through nato, what are you looking for? guest: basically i would say we stop forces in germany, why not move those bases or some of those bases and have permanent bases in poland?

baltic states are a little trickier, but i still think that we have to do something. because what you were talking about as he said, this rotation, they are not staying there. they come in for a while and then they leave. i was a not just american forces, you have got to have nato forces permanent waystation. it is not have to be a huge amount, but to have a really important trip wire. host: here is how the white house described what it is calling its european reassurance initiative. this billion-dollar effort, some of the measures that would be undertaken would be increasing exercises and training at rotational presence across europe, especially in the territory of nor allies, this from the white house website. as we have done in poland, deployed attachments of u.s. planners to augment the capability of our allies to design and host a broad range of training and exercise opportunities. increase the responsiveness of u.s. forces to reinforce nato by scoring initiatives such as repositioning equipment and improvement to the reception

facilities and infrastructure. increase participation by the u.s. navy and nato naval for supplements. and build the partner capability and capacity of our close friend such as georgia, moldova, and ukraine to work better alongside united states and nato. that is the document outlining this european assurance initiative. many of this give putin's attention? guest: maybe a little, but i still do not think he is taking it too seriously because as he said, it seems to be a relatively minor attempt, the least they could probably do. but i do not think he will be too impressed by that. i think he is also beginning to see how the west europeans in particular are trying to find a way out of this situation, and i am worried about about the separation i will come between the u.s. and some of the west europeans. with all that with what is going on in paris with hollande organizing all of these meetings. even david cameron, the u.k. prime minister is meeting with

putin. the president is not as far as we know officially having an official meeting with him. you can begin to see already putin can see how he can play off west europeans against the americans, and the west europeans against the east europeans. i think that is my concern. g7,: did the g-8 become the with russia kicked out of a, does putin have the same amount of influence with all of these meetings of leaders of the g7 this week? guest: i think so. we had to do this. but i do think as much as we don't like what putin has been up to, we have to talk to him. we cannot get a settlement in ukraine oppressions are not going to go along with a, so i understand. it is kind of distasteful, but i understand the need to sort of reach and discuss it, but we do not have to have him in the g7. he is kind of an informal member now. members --fficial canada, france, germany, italy, japan, united kingdom, and of

course the united states. we're talking with stephen szabo theecutive director of transatlantic academy. we're talking about the president's four day, three country trip across europe this week. if you have questions or comments about it, our phones are open. republicans can call (202) 585-38801, democrats (202) 585-3880, independents (202) 585-3882, and if you are outside the u.s., it is (202) 585-3883. we will also look for your tweets and e-mails, e-mail of course journal@c-span.org. as folks are calling in, explain what the transatlantic academy is. a foundation here in washington that promotes u.s.-european relations and exchanges and understanding, and we bring together scholars every year, six colors, three from europe, three from north america, to work together on transatlantic issues. that is what we have been up to, so we have a lot of seminars and

publications on the transatlantic relations. actually this year we're looking at the future of the liberal international order in how the u.s. and europe can work with the rise of russia, china, and other not so democratic countries, how we can develop, maintain the order that we have created since the end of world war ii. host: how long have you been executive director? guest: seven years. host: we're talking with stephen szabo, and our forums are open. jacqueline is coming in from huntsville, alabama on our line for democrats. good morning. you are on the "washington journal." giving obama a hard time, saying bush did nothing. everybody is giving obama a hard time. we heard you. you say everybody is giving president obama a hard time. are you talking about the bergdahl situation, which we talked about before, or the president's trip to europe this week? are justk, y'all

giving obama a hard time really. host: we will go to joe next in annapolis, maryland on our line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i was interested in your guest's comments that mr. obama's initiative in europe simultaneously, while obamance wants to draw down the military in general, as mitt romney said during the debate, obama's land is to win the navy down below world war ii levels, i think he is in the mid 200s as far as the navy ships and i don't think that the navy can afford these initiatives.

obama has repeatedly threatened, i guess is the right word, reduce the health care benefits and the pay of veterans and military active-duty and it doesn't square with his rhetoric. host: what do you say about that? guest: you are right in that we are stressed the fandom. -- stretched pretty thin. we can move some forces from germany without increasing the overall amount of the rupture. we are not looking to have a real defense force that is ready day one for some sort of invasion but it would be an import -- an important tripwire and the russians would take it seriously that we are reacting. this is the first step that the resident has taken. i wouldn't say that this is the

only step. let's hope that this is more. this billion dollar initiative, where is the money coming from and does the congress have to approve it/guest: is not a lot of money in terms of the defense budget. it would be good if you want to congress on this because i think he will get support for it and it will stroke the europeans that we are behind us, not just the president, but the entire country. host: are we at the beginning of a new will -- a new cold war? guest: no. there is a lot of russian investment in the west. there is a lot of western investment in russia. russians can travel. they have access through the internet. as a closed camp as they were during the closed-door -- the cold war.

challenge for the west to react to these challenges because of the huge economic stakes. take germany for example. over 6000 companies are currently operating in russia. over 2000 german jobs depend on trade with russia. that was not the case during the cold war. i don't think we are going back to the cold war, but we aren't at the end of the post-cold war era. our understanding of russia's role in europe and what security looks like, i think we will take for granted that it will be nice and quiet and peaceful in europe. that is clearly off the table. host: some of the other efforts analysis we, just yesterday, president oh, and david cameron discussing the possibility of new sanctions. on to play clip of that and get a -- and get your thoughts. [video clip] outlinedeps that david earlier and the g7 agrees with, which is for mr. clinton to take

-- for mr. putin to seize this as at and see plushenko legitimate leader of ukraine and work with ukraine to engage those in the east during this process of constitutional economic reform. takes those putin steps, it is possible to rebuild trust between russia and its neighbors and europe. though,e fail to do so there will be additional consequences and one of the important things i came out of this meeting today was the recognition on the part of all of us that we can simply allow threat. the mayor fact that someone -- the some of the russian soldiers have moved back off the border and that russia's now

destabilizing ukraine through surrogates rather than overtly and explicitly does not mean that we can afford three months or four months or six months of continued violence and conflict in eastern ukraine. we will have a chance to see what mr. putin does over the next two to three or four weeks. if you remains on the current course, then we have already indicated the kinds of actions we are prepared to take. with thephen zabel transatlantic academy. much more overt invasion of russia into ukraine would trigger sanctions. then they moved it to, if putin tried to block the elections, there would be sanctions.

now, he got tubes into ukraine, if you're trying to destabilize ukraine, that will lead to sanctions. it is important to keep sanctions on the table. that is why putin it has backed off a bit. but it is very tricky because the russians can do these things very subtly. they can deny any responsibility for what is going on in eastern ukraine but all of these agitators and people who are well armed fighting with russian equipment and russian training and putin can say we can't control that. that is people who want to have -- to want to join russia. andn see how -- president cameron are taking this position. kind of murky come i don't think they are trying to risk the economic cost it would be that they will have to bear. we are in a difficult situation because i think that putin will continue to destabilize eastern ukraine. but he is no dummy. he will be so obvious.

fingerprints will not be so obvious. i don't know what happens on that point. i hope the ukrainian you present -- ukrainian president will be able to work out something. but it is important to have the threat of sanctions out there is as i mentioned before, it not the new cold war because the russians are really worried about sanctions on their energy sector and on their financial sector. is here toen szabo take your questions and comments. james, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my phone call. was mentioning something about building a bases in europe. is withh him if he missile bases need building up to show those people we support them, we back them up because, i don't know

what's going to happen. but i will tell you what. we get more respect from nations by backing them up and supporting them than we do just sitting by and letting al qaeda and the taliban and all that and in their, you know, cause distress and wars and stuff, killing people. that's not right. guest: thank you. i would agree with you. the one thing we have to be careful about here is that we don't want to make this only an american sort of operation or commitment. this is a european problem. the europeans are more directly threatened in some respects than we are. i agree with you that we have to show leadership and resolve. but the president has also been saying in brussels with nato that the europeans have got to start taking defense more seriously. they are under spending on defense announced the time they have to step up and share the burden. in terms of saying moving our troops, i think we also should have european troops moved over as well.

the europeans to take a large part of the burden. i would not want to see this as an american-only operation. host: is there some reason that our european allies cannot build up their own military and defend themselves? guest: absolutely not. they don't have the leadership -- the public -- it's an a tough -- it is economic time in europe and why should we boom our money defense will have to worry about our benefits are unemployment hearing i understand that. but they all are really under spending, especially countries like germany, which is not having economic problems. they haven't budget surplus. they are spending less than 2% of the gdp on defense. asther they do it together the european union as opposed to a national build up, they should do more defense and they have to show that they take defense your sleep.

host: go to stephen and kings park, new york. caller: good morning. i feel very private -- very patriotic at this moment. for america as a veteran myself. stephen szabo's comment that we have to recognize putin, i myself cannot even example five or exonerate theven recognize constituency of putin and his kgb clan who invades another country. so even to discuss anything or to trust him is beyond imagination. i agree with you a

hundred percent. i don't trust him at all. i think you are absolutely right in what you're saying. is in hism is that it backyard. he has a lot of levers that we don't have. it reminds me of the cuban missile crisis in reverse. we had the strategic leverage and the soviets didn't. this time, because of the situation in ukraine, the russians have a lot of levers to recognizeldn't say putin, but talk to him about trying to find a settlement if we can because the europeans also want that. we have to do that to hold the europeans together. but i agree with you 100% that we have to show resolve at this point very otherwise, he will continue to play his kgb gains. host: the headlines from bloomberg.

making his priorities with several members of the g7, what do we know about those conversations? we know putin met with francois hollande yesterday for dinner. is tryingt hollande to do is see what kind of room there is for negotiations and for a compromise on ukraine. i don't know beyond that what he really thinks. we have to keep in mind that, in addition to worrying about putin in russia, we have to think about what to do with ukraine, to support ukraine, to build of ukraine. leverage in terms of economics of war and political support, i think providing military government. i would provide more military equipment for the ukraine as

well. here, the europeans should and will take the lead in terms of trying to provide the ukrainian economy and provide support for hopefully a democracy in ukraine. on the russian side, i agree also we cannot and nobody in europe is recognized in the annexation of crimea. if thereay that, sure, was a free referendum, the would probably vote to return to russia but that is not what happened. we cannot for a second talk to him about accepting what he has done in crimea. host: a question on twitter. guest: that is a good question. ukraine, it's one thing if you are in syria and you are fighting a civil war and you don't have a democratic option. been in ukraine come he do have

an option. we just had an election for president. have as an attempt to parliamentary elections coming. if you want to have a referendum, that's fine. if you can organize it with neutral observers and not have coercion. but the problem with eastern ukraine secession is that they are operating -- they have not taken a poll. they are not supported by elections and they have a peaceful alternative. unlike syriaallots or libya. ukrainee talking about and secessionist ukraine come i would say they do not have a case, especially when ukrainians are now talking about a new give,tution which would like the u.s., get federal states where these would have more autonomy in their affairs. i don't see how anyone can say that this secession in ukraine is legitimate. host: we have about 15 minutes

left with stephen szabo. let's go to kansas city, missouri. caller: good morning. the number one thing i would like to say is i wish the entire country would attempt to have a little more trust in president obama. we made him president, all right? let the man do his job. i don't agree with everything he does, but, my god, he's got to be right about something, i don't know that much about but obama couldn't to be a real dummy or he wouldn't be president of the united states. i think president obama has done a lot of great things and i think how he has handled ukraine is realistic and he understands the limits of what we can do there right now.

i think he has been able to pull together a very important, at least to this point, a decent coalition in europe against the to bank. ofhink putin has won some the yearly battles but let's see who wins the war. i don't criticize president obama on his handling of ukraine. i do feel he needs to be stronger in his response in terms of what is happening with nato. i certainly hope i didn't run across that way. in many ways, he he has been very subtle in his reactions inform policy. he understands the country is tired of military conflict after two major wars. i hope that i didn't come across as being that supercritical of the president. host: as we talk about the president's trip this week, can you talk about how much afghanistan in general and the bergdahl situation significantly has overshadowed the president's trip this week? is very sad,t today, memorial day, we are talking about the bergdahl case

when we should be talking about those few people left who were actually a dj and -- at the d-day and think about those people who died there and what that meant. doesn't get a lot of support during a crisis. the cuban during missile crisis, a lot of republicans were not happy with kennedy but everybody hold together during the isis and supported the president. in the ukraine crisis, there were too many people jumping on the bandwagon immediately criticizing the president. i think that is fine later, but when you're dealing with a crisis like this, we are coupled together. host: main on our life for independence. . caller: good morning. his comment on the connection or soviets,ry of the

russians attacking hungary and czechoslovakia and so far he did not mention any of these countries. are they involved or is there any threat? what does he think about that? i remember hungary 56 very well, being hungarian american. it struck me very close to home. i don't see this in the same way. if the russians were to invade eastern ukraine forcibly, as they did in hungary or in czechoslovakia, then it would be a very dangerous situation. but i don't see -- i don't think they're going to do that. it is kind of interesting that the hungarians have been ready wired about what is going on in ukraine. just to show how things have changed with the end of the cold war, the hunting areas just signed a big nuclear deal with russia.

to buildans are going a nuclear plant and they have a big economic relationship. so the hungarians are very quiet about what the russians have been up to. host: those countries in that part of europe and the expansion of nato since the end of the cold war. guest: that's right. this is an issue, too, but ukraine. a number of eastern europe, i think that gives him a lot more -- again, the hank aaron's are now a nato. they were not a nato in 1956. i think they have a solid guarantee of their security not just from the united states but from all of the nato allies. that gives them a certain sense of security that they did not have the for. i think that is a good point -- did not have before. i think that is a good point.

president bush was talking about giving membership ukraine. and the european said no for a lot of reasons. we can talk a little bit about that. isin's argument is that nato pushing close to their borders and he justified responding the way he is doing. i do think that ukrainian membership to nato is off the or down. it would not be very credible. host: let's go to st. thomas in the virgin islands. good morning. caller: good morning to you. i think the barack obama has made a lot of peace around the world. in terms of the situation and crimea by not using military tactics but peaceful tactics. all military veterans are ready to serve. they have been serving this country. they weren't even allowed to serve this country, united states.

they need to take the focus off of europe and russia place some focus on the virgin islands. -- we can't mill stuff to the united states and they cannot mill stuff to us. we had elections in the day. while they are putting emphasis on russia, their territories in the virgin islands, 3000 ballots were missing. consentedow who they to help the virgin islands because right now we have a few ladies. aain to stop -- we have president in the virgin islands who actually has the u.s. marshall, everybody rate our prison with -- with helicopters. present seems

different. i think it's true in the sense that europeans feel that he talks a lot but does not do a lot. that's why it's important -- he gives a very good speech in poland when he was there but he has to follow it up with concrete action. i think that is very important. host: let's go to tim waiting in clearwire, for order. caller: good morning. a couple of quick comments. you just made a comment about nato moving to the east. when the soviet union collapsed, george bush told the russian government did would not move one inch to the east. since that time, they have added 12 eastern countries. victoria nürnberg or whatever name she goes by, she has admitted that we put $5

million toward regime change in crowee and we helped over -- overthrow a democratically established your main ukraine. there is also people who have written about us trying to drive the russian military out of the crimea and replace it with nato. thepoint being undermining russian ability to support their allies. they are trying to drag us into more wars. fortunately, the american people are waking up and calling their congressman and telling them to forget that. guest: i think that is the way the russians would look at it, too and i think we have to put ourselves in the russians choose when we are dealing with a situation like this to understand how they are looking at it did not to demonize the dime bag -- demonize putin, not

to call him hitler. i think the nato expansion issue, there were discussions about not expanding nato with gorbachev at the end of the cold war. but there was never anything in writing and there was never an agreement on that hearin. if we tell countries like poland that they have no right as a direct credit country to choose their own alliances, i'm sorry, kobe because we promised russia that you would not be a part of nato, to some extent, it was justified. i would be very cautious. i would never think of doing ukraine is a nato member state gave we have to be a little bit hesitant to some of the russian concerns. i don't think it justifies putin taking over the country. we are focusing on the president's trip this week. the president with an important

speech last week asked what white ear can you talk about how that speech was received by european allies? i do think that the europeans like the idea that the u.s. does not want to take the military option as a first option. the europeans were really burned by the iraq war, by the bush w administration policies on that. they are ok with what the president was saying. they also need to be reassured at this point because of what is going on with the russians. i think overall, it would be a speech that most your pecans -- most europeans to become people with. host: can you talk about how china is viewed in europe, specifically china's efforts in africa and the mediterranean as well? guest: i think that is a really

good point. the difference between the u.s. and europeans, when you look at asia and china in particular, the europeans look at it only commercial times. they have lots of investments in china. china is a big player in the european economy. we have to worry about her alliance in places like south korea and japan and about what the chinese are up to in terms of the island disputes with the vietnamese, especially with the japanese. the europeans don't go there. they don't worry about that. it's ae basically -- commercial relationship. for example, a lot of growth in the german economy may last five years has come with trade with china. they now have more dependence in a lot of respect on the chinese economy. between this as tension the u.s. role as a strategic player in the region and the european role as basically an economic layer. which means that the chinese

all have to -- they can drive wedge between the u.s. and the europeans on a lot of issues. we will go to laura waiting in troy, michigan. caller: good morning. c-span would that go in depth in historical lessons. the crimea belonged to russia. the crimean war, russia fought in it. had the communist .arty at the time ukraine. crimea to it belonged to russians. to expect crimea which belonged to russia, nip.ybody is in a big ste

guest: the only dispute is how they did it. can at some they point organize a referendum that is open and monitored i neutral forces and allow crimean's to in the open. i think they would vote to be a part of russia but the problem they did it through illegal meetings -- illegal means with military forces in the background. i have a problem with crimea returning to russia. this is the way that it was done. it opens the door to all kinds of problems. poland andn minister the point. if you do it this way, what about all the other minority issues you have in europe? that would open a can of worms all over europe. i think this is my only concern, the procedure, the way it was done. you aboutsagree with crimea in some cells and their relationship with russia.

our line for democrats. it morning. caller: i wanted to say that there are so many people who are ignorant and do not know what they're talking about. ignorant for no reason in the aspects they are talking about. anyway, i apologize. i know weing is that have a lot of things that we are dealing with in russia right now. it's not our problem necessarily. but it can become our problem later on. thing is, with the tosident, look, people want talk about him taking vacations and him doing this and that.

i don't agree with everything that he does, no. in a diplomatic position at all times and you have to see that he can't just jump from one thing to another. inst: i think you're right the sense that foreign policy is far away from most people's lives. you wouldn't expect them to have a lot of information or follow foreign-policy issues closely because they have other things to worry about, like their jobs, their failure -- the families, and and their day-to-day. and rush is so far removed with two oceans and other countries. foreign policy is almost domestic policy for others. you have to have good leadership because most people are not and i have the time -- people are not going to have the time for issues like crimea or other issues like that. host: john in spring lake, north carolina. caller: can you hear me?

host: yeah, john. caller: there are these two terms that have been coming up i have been looking over. one is pax americana. the other is geopolitical theorists. they are saying that pax americana is at an end. that pax americana, american prestige. i would like to ask your guest americanericana or peace or american military might or american authority, is that at an end? that is a very good question. in some respects, yes, pax americana has come to an end. saw begand that we with dj and ended, i would say, probably with the iraq war. now we are in a situation where

the u.s. is by far the most important and powerful military nation in the world. but the rise of other countries now has led -- and also to our own problems to a certain extent -- has led to a less american-centric world. like it or not, pax americana has provided a lot of use and stability. the u.s. is not going to be able to play the same role they played in the last 60 or 70 years. talking about the president's trip to europe over the past week. i want to thank stephen szabo for joining us. thank you, sir. guest: thank you. host: up next, we will take washington journal live to the national mall as we continue to mark the 70th anniversary of d-day.

>> our landings have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and i have withdrawn the troops did my decision to attack at this time and place is based on the best information available. the troops, the air, and the navy did all that ray ray and devotion to do -- did all that bravery and devotion could do. that is a note that white eisenhower carried around with him. may fit.ntly dated it it was june 5. d-day's invasion 70 years ago was successful. the000 troops crossed 100-miley was channel in an armada of 5000 votes, the largest military armada still in history. and they invaded the normandy

coast 70 years ago today. for the next hour and a half year on the washington journal, we are going to be live from the world war ii memorial on the mall in washington dc we want to get your calls. we want to talk about d-day, the importance of d-day, world war ii, and we are going to set aside our third line for those million plus world war ii veterans who are still alive and those of you who remember world war ii. here are the numbers. we want to hear from you for the next hour and half. go ahead and start dialing in. right before the invasion, the

supreme leader, general dwight eisenhower spoke to the troops. here is audio of that speech. >> soldiers, sailors and airmen of the allied expeditionary force. au are about to embark upon great crusade toward which we have stood in these many months. the eyes of the world are upon you. the hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. in company with our brave allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the german war machine , the immolation ofnazu. -- nazi tyranny over europe. your task will not be an easy one. your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped and battle hardened. he will fight savagely. but this is the year 1944. much has happened since the naz i triumph of 1941.

our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. our home front have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war. and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. the tide has turned. the freemen of the world are marching together to victory. i have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. we will accept nothing less than full victory. beseechk and let us all the blessing of almighty god upon this great and noble undertaking. the temperature on that d-day about 60 degrees on the normandy coast in france. 100 miles was the distance of the english channel. over00 troops, 5000 votes,

4400 deaths that day alone. 2500 of them were americans. about nine countries participated. million plus vets still living. we are at the world war ii memorial. this was open in 2004. it was commissioned in 1990 or by president bill clinton. open file a in 2004. cost tolion is what it

build this memorial. it is the only memorial on the mall dedicated to world war ii. it's between the washington monument and the lincoln memorial. it is divided into pacific and atlantic regions. all of the states and territories are marked on here. it is a gathering place for world war ii vets. with are mercy flights world war ii vets in nearly every day during the spring and tourist seasons here in washington. senator barbara hall, who chaired the effort together the private donations -- senator bob dole, who chaired the effort together the private greeton, he and his wife world war ii veterans throughout the year. he doesn't advertise a necessarily. but he does come down here nearly every saturday. and we have covered him.

our american history tv channel has covered him. normandy obama was in this morning and he spoke a little bit. >> here, we don't just commemorate victory as proud as victor -- as part of victory as we are. ,e don't just honor sacrifice as grateful as the world is. why americaemember and our allies gave so much for the survival of liberty at this moment of maximum peril. we come to tell the story of the men and women did it. it remains seared into the world.of a future we tell this story for the old soldiers who pulled them self a little straighter today to salute brothers who never made it home.

the story for the daughter who clutches a faded photo of her father when they were young, to the child who runs his fingers over colorful livered -- colorful ribbons that he knows are of great significance even though he does not fully understand why. we tell the story to bear witness we can what happened when the boys from america reached omaha beach. >> 160,000 troops crossed the english channel on d-day 70 years ago today. by the end of june, 875,000 troops had made that crossing once the beachhead was established along the normandy coast. 4400 plus people were killed on d-day 2500 of them being americans. for the next hour and a half

year at the world war ii memorial, we want to hear from you and get your remembrances of world war ii and your thoughts. we will begin with mark in hawaii. caller: yes, thank you. hawaiianing from the standard time zone and the pacific mountain line. greatest the , capital g, they left the say legacy that can only aspire is to be. december 20th him he was in theater of operations, not on d-day. they opened the way. he said he would have liked to stay over there. but he had to come back.

everything has changed now. the war was good. had we lost, it would have wrecked the economy. now the war is a loss leader. these are new challenges. the malaysian air, that was osama bin laden. an uncertain in undisclosed, unknown location and they will keep doing it. any plan, any place, anytime. host: that was market hawaii. he talked about the war economy. it is estimated are pretty well figured out the world war ii cost the u.s. about four dollars trillion -- four children dollars in current dollars -- $4 trillion in current dollars. in 1939, when germany first invaded:, the u.s. army was at

about 140,000 troops only. two years later, it was already a 1.20 5 million in 1941. d-day, june 6, 1944, the word in europe officially ended 11 months later on may 8, 1945. lucy, you are on c-span. caller: thank you for taking my call. it warms my heart. to sees me feel so proud the documentaries of the day and these brave, brave man getting off those little boats. it just makes me feel that, you know, thank god for the united states. one of the things that is different now is that, during this war, when we had a very defined enemy, this whole country was one.

everybody rest to defend these countries. unum, united we stand. the sad thing now today, everybody is in their own little special interest groups and all of this ridiculous political stuff going on. i mean, this is what happens when people work together when we were a strong army before the war and look at what we did in this short period of time. we became an industrial powerhouse, churning out everything to defeat this monster. think of this we did. i am just so route -- thank goodness we did. i'm just so proud to be an american. that day, on d-day, the germans lost about a thousand troops. 44 hundred troops.

next up is carolyn in virginia beach, virginia. was seven years old when the day started. i had three uncles in it. the reason i call this because you said something this morning that burned my ears. you said that eisenhower was called the supreme commander. he was not. he was the allied commander. the only supreme in this country is obama. he was never called the supreme commander. you should know that. he was the allied commander in >> thank you for that. what do you remember at seven years old? caller: i remember, even before we had lacked out, my father was an air raid warden. i remember. we were try to get news all the time and it was horrible. it really was. we didn't really know what happened to my uncles until 10 or 12 days later.

it was a thing that we had waited a long time to get into the war because of resident roosevelt. but we went because we had already started in japan. shortages orember rationing? caller: oh, yeah. we used to save all kinds of ang things. .one, stockings they were the ones who had the scenes up the back. we were sitting all cons of things because of parachutes. butter, sugar. >> thank you, ma'am. margaret from pennsylvania. hello, on this day, 70 years ago, i was 19 years old.

i was working as a secretary a in henkel, california where my husband was stationed. , we had been married just a few weeks. on that day, we went to church and we pray for those. we knew our husbands would be leaving soon. in august 1944. he was stationed under general patton. with him, he was in the battle of the bulge. he fought that battle and he was one of the lucky ones. he came back from that war and he lived to be almost 90 years. i will never forget the war. never in your life can you imagine a city like washington, d.c., new york, just full of soldiers, sailors, and greens.

i still have my ration book as that lady before me mentioned. we at home, we did a lot. we did without sugar. we did without meat. all the will was gone -- all the wool was gone. the movie stars would have bond rallies. they would entertain the troops. america was very patriotic that day. this is what i remember so much from that day. us,argaret, can you tell when the war ended, do you remember that day and where you went, what you did? day, i was, on that in the movies. all of a sudden, in the middle of this movie, every bell, every church bell was ringing. the fire whistles were blowing. i will remember that day.

that day was the happiest day of my life. never have i had such a feeling as that day, never. it was wonderful. and my husband came home december 19, 1945. >> that was margaret in pennsylvania sharing some of her memories. next is nathaniel in huntsville, alabama. caller: hello. i went to germany and france. the invasion 70 years ago, during that time, i was working in the shipyard and then i got drafted. one thing i notice now -- they gave us $20 a week.

they called it the 5220. that helped me out a lot. they should do that now with these veterans when they come home, give them $20 a week because i lived off of that for a long time until i got readjusted. what years were you working in the shipyards? and when did you get drafted? what year did you get drafted? 1945 i in 1945, april 6, got drafted. when themy boot camp war got over in germany. i had already passed the test to be a gunner on one of those big lanes. but when the war got over, they sent me over as a truck driver. so my duties was to take the pw's out to the best of pw's out to the airfield and bring them home.

that is what i did. host: how long were you in europe, nathaniel? caller: i was there just a little over a year because i was in france for four months. at the time, i was learning to speak french because i learned a lot of french. and then they sent me to germany. so that i had to stop my french. i was already learning spanish when i went over. so i had to jot my spanish and pick up german. wasarned for four months i there and i learned a lot of german, two, and i still practice those things when i go bank because there is a german girl there.

and i practice my spanish. host: what do you remember of the condition of germany right after the war? eup.er: it was all tor everybody was going around saying -- you couldn't tell when street from the other. thing that was together were the train stations. everything was going at the train stations. to me, it was an enjoyable time because the germans were very happy. the work in the kitchen and everything. .e had it easy

thank you, sir. thank you for sharing your memories. we are going to be here at the world war memorial until 10:00 a.m. eastern time, hearing from you, world war ii, d-day, of course. one of the people that participated in d-day, his name hal schip.p -- there is a world war ii memorial in new orleans. they have a recorded world history about world war ii. one of those oral histories is hal schipp talking about d-day. the second mission had rope. saw.l never forget what i

two main impressions. one, the magnitude of over 7000 buses, all the way from merchant marine to coast guard in the higgins boats, you know. marinesmerchant received platforms on top of the water. here comes a jeep driving off over water. see battlewn and i ships. cruisers.rs -- i see just terrible. what a difference. the three u.k. bases, it was kind of a resort area. beach, the population,

heavy fortifications. these rangers, gutsy guys, had got up. one impression was the magnitude. borders onas these the ground here in i looked down and saw them hand-to-hand fighting. my gosh, you know, it was hell on wheels down there. gutsy, gutsy,e so gutsy, true patriots all the way. muchare the ones we know for giving their lives so we can enjoy the freedoms such as we know today. the washington journal is

live at the world war ii memorial in washington, d.c. it is between the washington monument and the lincoln memorial. it opened in 2004, commissioned by president clinton in 1994. it cost 100 $79 million, all private donations. million, all private donations. we want to hear you're a murmured says. -- we want to hear your remembrances. still over one million world war ii veterans still living today. or if you remember world war ii

as a civilian as well. i want to share this note with you in case you did not see this. it was just reported this week that the last of the world war ii navajo code talkers died this week. the last of 29 navajo americans who developed a number editable code that helped allied was when world war ii died wednesday of kidney failure. chester nez was 93 years old. now we will go back to your calls and we will talk with william here in the area in alexandria, virginia. hello. caller: yes, good morning, think you for taking my call. that i amted to say very happy you are covering this . the world war ii memorial is a very special one for my family. my father, although he was not in d-day, he was with the marine division. he ran the beaches for different times with that group, including

iwo jima and saipan. so this memorial is very dear to us. unfortunately, he never got to see it. he died in 2003, the year before it was opened and dedicated. there are a couple of things i wanted to say. i am very interested in world war ii because of my father's experience. i am a veteran and my son is a veteran. i learned quite a bit in my studies. one thing that has always interest me when people talk about the start of world war ii and how it started, and who started it. iny few seem to realize that 1939, that september 1, it was germany that invaded first. poland was later, invaded from the other side of the country, which is the

eastside, by the forces of the ussr, the communist nation of the soviets at the time. crunched was in fact by two totalitarian countries, the worst in history, the soviets and the germans. germanst until the turned on the soviets in 1941 that the soviets then became our allies. that is a very important historical distinction to make on how and who actually started world war ii. always pointng i out at the world war ii monument is the gold stars on the wall that represent -- some people will look at they and say, well, you see 4000 stars on the walls. it doesn't look all that

ee eachive until you s one of them represent 100 of our war dead. a hundred of those panels stacked up on top of each other to really get the essence of how many people really died in world war ii. which would really be something to see. maybe someday they could project those gold stars upon the washington monument to signify how many people actually died in world war ii. that is it for me. thank you very much for taking my call. host: thank you, william. william talked about deaths in world war ii. it is educated lee estimated that 61 million people lost their lives between 1937 when throughtacked china

1945, the end of the war. people, 45 million of those people were civilians. 16 million were military. , germany and axis killed.18 million were

>> and he he came home. 2:00 at night, 2:00 in the day. i don't remember how long. i remember the first time we stayed under the ground.

we were watching the place all the time. it was nice to get out there in time. host: elizabeth. when did you come to t? caller: in 1986. we came for freedom of.

we had visa. it looked like three way here. host: elizabeth, i thank you for calling in this morning from bellevue, washington. next up is frank from fort

lauderdale. caller: i had similar experience. my father worked in the shipyards was about getting ready towards the end of the war to get drafted. that probably would have meant japan because they hadn't surrendered yet. another thing i had a friend of mine father. my father was a jazz musician. he had a friend who still plays in the west coast of florida. his experience was that after he wasn't part of d-day, when they went to paris, he went and saw a jazz guitarist. my father was a jazz guitarist too. then years later, he made some friends in belgium and they had a reunion in new orleans. i joined him in new orleans and had a nice little party over there. he told me some of the

experiences there. roger his name is, he works along the tampa bay area. he's about 92 now. i haven't seen him about six months. still plays drum in the dixie land band down there. he had some pretty interesting experiences he told me about. they have a program that chronicles the experience of world war ii. all right -- host: 400,000 americans were killed in world war ii. in 1989, u.s. army, 1,240,000 soldiers by the end of world war ii, 16 million american have served in uniform. mary clearwater, florida. caller: hi. i grew up in a little railroad

town near oakridge, tennessee. i had wonderful teachers because they had wonderful physicists that worked in oakridge. we were told not to tell anything and we didn't. we kept our mouths shut. we hated hitler because he took all of the boys from our graduating class. we didn't have any ceremonies at all. in my diary, from a 15-year-old girl, i hated russia because russia kept telling us that we were groundhogs and not doing anything. they were screaming at us all the time and criticizing us. hitler and russia were my enemies because of the war. i'm reliving it.

for ten cents we could go to the movies and see the newsreels over and over again. we didn't have gas for the car. we walked home up the hill and then go home. i thought we had seen in those movies. we didn't have anything luxurious. all of us did without sugar, without oil. many of the amenities we take for granted today. looking back on this, the big secret that united this country was communication. i had no idea at that time how everything knew -- everybody knew what was going on. we didn't think about other people helping us out. we were extremely patriotic. i can tell you to this day --

host: do you remember some of your classmates who did not make it back? from europe or the pacific? caller: yes. the boy across the street from me was harry buddy long. he was one of the first. he was a little older than i and i admired him. he was so good looking. he was shot down. he was an army air force. i later, after the war, i met my husband who was also a pilot. he was in the pacific. i married him in pensacola. this whole series is like my whole life because that was what i lived of all of the roosevelt years and into the eisenhower

years. everybody knew what page we were on and we were all pulling together. i can tell you to this day those people who did not buy war stamps or war bonds, there were always those who were against the war. host: one more question for you, do you remember the gold star mothers? did you remember seeing those in the windows? caller: yes. i lost my brother eventually. yes. we had those in the windows. host: thank you ma'am. thank you for sharing your memory. we are down here at the world war ii memorial. we'll be here until 10:00 a.m. eastern time. now a little bit later we're covering this on c-span, susan eisenhower, the granddaughter of dwight eisenhower will be speaking down here at the memorial.

you'll be able to see that tonight along with president obama's speech from this morning at normandy on the 70th anniversary. it was presidential reagan who spoke on the 40th anniversary of d-day. >> we stand on a lonely point on the northern shore of france. the air is soft but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men and the air was filled with a crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. at dawn and the morning of the 6th of june 1944, 225 rangers jumped off the craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. to climb these cliffs, and take out the enemy guns. the allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here. they would be trained on the beaches to stop the allies.

they saw the enemy soldiers shooting down with machine guns and throwing grenades. the american rangers began to climb. they shot rope ladders over the peace of -- face of these cliffs and began to fall. they climbed shot back and held their footing. soon one by one, the rangers pulled themselves over the top and at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back. the 225 came here after two days of fighting only 90 could still bare arms. behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the ranger daggers that were trusted at the top of these cliffs. before me, are the men who put them there. these are the boys.

these are the men who took the cliffs. these are the champions who helped free a continent. these are heroes who helped end a war. host: it was 50 degrees crossing the channel on that june day. 160 traps on traps on -- troopt first day. it was a good five days before they established a solid beachhead along the normandy coast there in france. live coverage from the world war ii memorial here in washington d.c. on the "washington journal." we are taking your calls. you remembrances about d-day and world war ii.

if you want to share your world war ii remembrances with us. our next call is coming from john, another call from florida, this time in lake lake -- lak, florida. caller: i was a paper boy. he take over and it was right across the river from the philadelphia navy yard. i can tell you quickly, i saw uss washington, the uss new jersey of. i saw ships come in. i saw actual oil spills from our oil tankers. we didn't declare war. i also saw, right before world war ii came, all the soldiers came to our town with aircraft

guns. all the stuff going on around there and people saying the unity of u.s. was splendid. it was an amazing time for me because my time came to be old enough for the korean war. but it was a grand time. i saw everything going on. that's about what i can thinking of. i can tell you for sure, we actually gave all kinds of scrap from our house. we actually -- my mother saved absolutely fat in a can and turned it into the united states government for artillery shows. all kinds of giving went on. fantastic time. i don't want to take anymore time. host: john, let's fast forward

four years. what do you remember about the end? caller: i was in sixth grade. in school when the d-day and the teacher turned the radio on. all of us kids, the teachers and what have you. i can tell you flat out, not particularly religious, we said the lords prayer everyday and teachers did read out the bible. no matter what faith we were, i can tell you it was okay. we didn't have the stuff going on today. it was okay. but it was grand. i had five uncles. i had an uncle on iwo jima. i had an uncle shot in the leg in guam and uncle in india. yes, d-day, this was incredible.

i still remember my father being so upset with the amount of death on that first day. it was just fantastic. i can tell you flat out that i worked for a dollar a day for bredmen and milkmen. all the guys were off when men and women were off in military. the rooms were three times or four times as large. they depended on boys like us to deliver the bread and milk and everything up to the houses. it was an extraordinary time. i felt i was contributing. we even had our own little platoons with helmets and stuff. it was just amazing. host: thank you sir for sharing

that. jim is calling from ohio. you're on the "washington journal." caller: good morning. we all feel like we know you. you did such a great job. we're so happy c-span hasn't missed a beat. two quick stories for you. first i grew up in akron and my father during the war served as a lot of people did, i think. back home in guarding military installation. he was a security person at the air dock in goodyear. some people probably remember seeing a large dark structure that still stands at the akron-fulton airport. also something i didn't know what i was allowed, the course was assembled for the navy there in akron. that was a very prime target.

the second thing, we hear a lot about the rangers and the infantry and the airborne and everything that serves on d-da. what a lot of people don't know, what saved the day for the allied invasion was the person that gave the order to move the battleships out. i don't remember who that is. so they can fire on the germans. the area bombardment had not taken them out and missed. somebody decided they said, we ought to move the battleships up there to within 6 or 800 yards. it was the battleships that took out the guns that beat down the

german fire. the navy recently had a monument erected i think in omaha beach. to remember the naval involvement in that attack. i guess we shouldn't forget the navy. host: it was june 1941 that adolph hitler and the nazis attacked their first ally soviet union. that happened in june of 1941. they made quite a bit of headway. soviet union became an ally. that was in june 1941. it wasn't until december 1941

that pearl harbor happened on next call is maryann, winston, salem, north carolina. caller: i grew up here in winston-salem. i also glaw -- grew up here in north carolina. we also had soldiers that came and stayed at our house and then they asked us to do that. we livedded in florence, 35-miles from the coast. one day my sister and i were headed to the grocery store for my mother, which was only about a block away. the sirens went off. i grabbed my sister's hand really quick and ran. it scared me to death. anyway, those were special memories from there.

then, during the war, we lived in charlotte. my dad rode a bike. i learned to ride that bike by flipping my foot through the rail because it was a man's bike. host: what is a victory bike? caller: a victory bike was one that -- we didn't make much. it was about an inch. the metal was about an inch thick for the whole frame of the bake. -- bike. the tires were not much bigger than that that. he rode that to work everyday. we had a victory garden, which was great. my class room, we knitted

everyday after our teacher read to us after lunch. we knitted squares. host: do you remember rationing or flower and sugar and the coupons and everything? caller: yes. i had two sisters and we were only allowed to have one pair of shoes a year. my aunt who had no children, saved their coupon books for us because my mother like to dress us alike. she can get our shoes thanks to my aunt. my mother rolled bandages during that time. we saved everything. i still have a ration book sitting around too. the day that the war ended was

so special. we lived in charlotte and my mother said, run downtown real quick on the bus. when we got down there as they were putting up -- it was so exciting because we had word that the war was ending or close to the end. they were putting all of that stuff up. we came back late that afternoon. we went and sat -- my grandfather's house was nine howells howell -- nine miles downtown winston. we were sitting there having our dinner. when it ended, we didn't have anything else but a cow bell. i remember taking that cow bell out on the backyard. we took pans. it was so exciting. it was so wonderful. who a wonderful time that our

nation had. our memories were so wonderful. but sad too. i was so young. i didn't think about the real ramifications of all the death and destruction. host: thank you for calling in. george h. w. bush was the last president to have served in world war ii. bob dole was the last presidential candidate to have served in world war ii. steve is calling in from tucson. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just want to say, my dad was a survivor of utah beach. he was on the uss cole. the only ship sunk in an invasion. when i was growing up, my dad didn't talk about it. he just told me, steve, we were sunk. i didn't complete my mission. he did complete his mission. first ship in there.

i'm so proud of him. right before gabrielle giffords got shot, i was researching my dad stuff. because he never talked about it. gabrielle giffords had a big celebration, produced all his awards, four brown star. turns out he was 3.5 hours in the north atlantic. then they started telling me the stories. it's funny, that generation, they were so proud but but yet, my dad was embarrassed. he thought he failed. that's all i want to say. i wanted to say that, he was on the uss, the only ship sunk. that ship that led the invasion. god bless america. host: that was steve in tucson, arizona. our center channel, book tv, which is c-span 2 on the weekends, has covered a lot of

world war ii backs. rick at -- atkinson who won the pulitzer for world war ii. there's so many more backs at book tv. if would like to watch the authors talk about their books, you can go to backtv.org. you'll see the search function, you can type in world war ii or d-day. a list of backs you'll be able to watch right there on your computer. lot of books covered on book t. american tv will have a big special tomorrow on d-day. you'll be able to watch that on c-span 3. we're live here from the world

war ii memorial. it was commissioned in 1994 by president bill clinton. also in 1994, president bill clinton spoke at the 50th anniversary of d-day in normandy. >> 50 years later, what a different world we live in. germany, japan and italy, liberated by our victory now stand among our closest allies and staunchest defender of freedom. russia, decimated during the war and frozen afterwards in communism. as freedom rings the liberation of this continent is nearly complete. now the question falls to our generation. how will we build upon d-day heroes? like the soldiers of omaha

beach, we can't stand still. avoiding today's problems would be our own generations. for justice freedom has a price, it also has a purpose. and its name is progress. today our mission is to expand freedom's speech further. to test the full potential of each of our own citizens. to strengthen our families our faith and our communities. to fight indifference and intolerance. to keep our nation strong and delight the lives of those still dwelling in the darkness of undemocratic rule. our parents did that and more, we must do nothing less. they struggled this war so that we might strive in peace. we know that progress is not inevitable. but neither was victory of the beaches. the inner voice tells us to

stand up and move forward. free people must choose. host: that was president bill clinton on the 50th anniversary of d-day. 5000 navel vessels in history crossed the hundred mile channel on that day. beginning late in the evening on june 5th. the paratroopers sent in about 1:30 that morning and from 6:30 through noon 160,000 troops arrived on the beaches of normandy. by the end of the month, 185,000 troops crossed english channel. 16 million americans served

during world war ii. we're hearing from many of them this morning. we're going to put the numbers back up on the screen. you can see that third number is set for those of you who remember world war ii. still well over a million world war ii vets surviving in the united states. we love to hear from you. we're hearing at the love memories. it's estimated by the veterans administration that about five to six hundred of our world world war ii vets are dying everyday. we're going to go next to fort lauderdale, florida. caller: he to call in memory of my father today. host: tell us about your father. caller: he was in the 29th infantry division. he was in the first wave that landed at omaha beach.

host: what do you remember him telling you? is he alive today? caller: no. he passed away two years ago, he was 92. during my childhood and relatives would come over, he would share his memories. didn't go into great detail. kept it pretty short. in the 1990's, i was able to go on a trip with my parents back to france so that he could revisit the beach. that was pretty incredible. i saw the beach. it's a beautiful day. it looked peaceful, beautiful beach. i couldn't picture all the destruction that happened that day. we were on a bus tour and he was the only one on that bus tour that had gone through the

experience. so the tour guide, the french tour guide asked him to get up in front of the bus with the microphone and talk about his experiences. that was really the first time i heard about everything in great detail. it was very moving experience. he also talked about it more afterwards with his grandson. he actually gave his grandson his purple heart. when he landed on the beach but i found out, more recently when he went into more detail, he actually dragged a buddy of his on the shore who was wounded. when he got to shore, he realized that he died. then the other thing, this story i heard a couple of times, they showed it in the movie "the longest day." when they made it to the cliff,

everybody was kind of bunched up and they weren't moving forward. they kind of had this moment of indecision when they didn't know what to do. i believe it's general coda who walked along the beach. he standing there with the bullets flying by. we either stay here on the beach and die or move forward and die. let's move forward. in small groups there were bits of heroism when small group of men would move forward. other memorable thing he said to me, there were mines along the course. there were paths being gradualed developed because a soldier would be wounded, his legs would be exploded off. he was just laying there in the mine field.

he was talking. he was still alive. he was telling the men very calmly, okay guys, move language that way. go to your right, you'll be okay. that's how they gradually advanced forward. host: thank you for bringing that to our attention and sharing that with our audience. the u.s. population in 1940 was 132 million just for reference. that's about 318 million today. 132 million in 1940, 400,000 americans were killed during world war ii. we are live down here at the world war ii memorial which was established in 2004. it's divided by atlantic and park. you -- park. you can see all the different state and territories that

served from the united states. we're taking your calls. next up is emily in sarasota. caller: my father was a dentist. he was in the reserved. we ended up going to the war before pearl harbor and moved my mother, my sister and i, i think i was four or five years old. we went from camp grand in illinois to campgrounder in missouri then fort jackson in columbia, south carolina where he was shipped out in 1944. then, once he got over to england, he was there for a while. then ended up going across d-day plus 30. there was a truck and a driver. the ideas to have get the

soldier back into battle as soon as possible. in addition to that, because he had an x-ray, he was able to take and develop pictures and he kept a journal. i also have the correspondence the e-mails that my mother and he exchanged during the war. then after he left, we moved to orlando because there was an air force base there. we could go to the px. then we ended up just waiting out the war there. i don't have memories of the collecting scrap and doing some of those other things. it was interesting to me to have all his pictures and all the other things that he was able to contribute to our family. host: have you gone through and read his journal?

caller: , i read all of that. i put it all into a family history document. actually did day by day what his journal had and the letters from my mother. when you put the comparison all together, it makes an interesting document. i hope my children will finally be interested in reading it some day. host: thank you. next up is donna in brandon, florida. you're on the "washington journal" this morning. caller: good morning thank you for taking my call. i'm calling this morning for three people. my father, george brewster who served in the navy during world war ii. he didn't get a lot of chance to fight. soon after he and eight others got spinal meningitis. he spent 18 months in the

hospital. that was a couple of years before i was born. also donald who was a navy nurse. who was a prison of war and ship was shrunk by friendly fire. he was never recovered. i do remember going to the golden agers, my grandmother would call it. i believe it was gold star mothers when i was a child. she would make me sing. then my father-in-law, i used to say ex-father-in-law. he was a very good man to me after his son and i was divorced. he was 18 years old and a marine who stormed normandy beach. i just wanted to bring forth their memory. i hoped my uncle donald would be

recovered before my mom passed away. we lost her at 95 in january. i know she's up there with him somewhere. host: thank you ma'am. well, on the significant anniversary, the president's travel over to normandy. this year is the 70th anniversary of d-day. it was ten years ago that president george w. bush spoke. >> the first wave of the landing here in omaha, one unit suffered 91% casualties. six hours after the landings, we held only ten yards of beach. british commando quantity had men killed while wounded. d-day veteran remembers the only

thing that made me feel good was to look around and try to find somebody who looked more scared than i felt. that man was hard to find. all the beaches and landing grounds of d-day, men saw some images they would spend a lifetime preferring to forget. one soldier carries a memory of three paratroopers dead and hanging from telephone pole like a horrible crucifixion scene. all the thoughts of pain and death raw in relentless. the men of d-day also witnessed scenes they will proudly and faithfully recount. they remember men like

technician john griffin jr. who's job would deliver vital radio equipment to the beach. he was gravely wounded before he hit shore and he kept going. he delivered the radio and instead of taking cover, went back into the surf three more times to salvage equipment. this young man from pennsylvania was shot twice again and died on the beach below us. host: 160,000 troops crossed the english channel on that day 70 years ago. 875,000 by the end of the month 44 how 44 -- 4400 troops were killed. the three main participants, the

u.s., britain and canada. back to your calls this morning. 70th anniversary of d-day. next up is peggy in lexington, virginia. caller: hi. thank you so much for letting people share their stories as a people that they love even if they don't remember. i live in lexington, virginia, home of the virginia military institute. the story i would like to share is colonel ferry and dr. cooper. their brother. their cooper was a doctor. he was in england and colonel ferry from his story says the distinction of being the first allied prison of war taken in the pacific. he was serving on the base. i'm not sure exactly where.

they knew that the japanese were coming. they were leaving the base and colonel ferry remembered he forgotten something. i assume it was some importance. he ran back to get these papers. when he was leaving, the japanese were coming in and bombing the tarmac. he was hit in the leg and has his men thought he was dead. they left him and the japanese captured him. he served the rest of the war on a slave ship. i will never heard of this. i think that we're failing in our history what of we're sharing with our children. these stories need to be told. i think they're not told. he was an amazing man because of the poor nutrition that when he was on the slave ship. they would move him from place to place. he had very poor eye sight.

he was almost blind but he continued to go seeing -- skiig around the world. i think he's one of the most amazing men i met. one of the things i learned from dr. cooper, in world war ii, there was no trading out. you didn't have a tour duty. you were there for the duration of the war. you went over and you didn't come back until the war was over or until they brought you back in a casket. if i can share one last story. my dear friend frank and laura. frank was in the navy world war ii and got married during this time when there was rationing. she told me they got all the things together. the biggest thing she wanted for her wedding was to have roast beef. they did. people were so grateful for what

little they had back then. i guess that's it. my uncle lenny also went to the virginia military institute and served with general patton. all he wanted to do was fly. lot of people don't realize there was no actual air force in world war ii. it was created after the war. he left the army joined the air force and became pilot and was test pilot and flew c130's. host: we will leave it there. 16 million people served in uniform from 1939 through 1945. the population of the u.s. at that time 132 million. 400,000 soldiers were lost in

world war ii. caller: good morning. my story is completely different. i was born in europe in 1941. i was on a train. with a piece of paper around my neck with my name and my address. hopefully that somebody would take me and keep me because we were bombarded by the russians. we had a war with the russians. completely different from europe. diplomacy ended that war between russia and finland. that's my story. i'm a war child and i have those kind of memories. i remember one thing i wanted to

say, i was told that angels lived in america. that was my opinion about america. anyway, that was my memories. thank you very much. host: where were you born? caller: [indiscernible] host: when did you come on the u.s.? caller: in 1974. host: all right. that's good run in florida calling in. next up on our calls here at the world war ii memorial is dwayne in waterville, ohio. you're on "washington journal."

caller: good morning. i'm calling actually on behalf of my brother-in-law. his name is bob best. lives in ohio. he was in the navy. he was a gunner on the ships that took the troops in on d-day. i really wish you could talk to him and listen to some of the stories he had to tell about coming up to the beach and seeing all the parties that the american soldiers throwing in the water. i can only relate to the ones i also heard from him. they also talked about after the war going through -- after the war in europe, going to china to be trained by the invasion of

japan. to sum up this call, i just want to honor my brother-in-law and i have another brother-in-law, norm. who was in the army during world war ii. i can only say the best things about it what i consider the greatest generation. thank you c-span. i appreciate your time. host: thank you sir. it was june 6, 1944 d-day. it was at the end of april 1945. ten months later that adolph hitler committed suicide in his bunker in berlin. officially the war in europe. d-day is may 8, 1945. then it was three months later that the war in the pacific

ended as well but that was not signed. that treaty was not signed until early september 1945. the official start of the war, september 1, 1939 when germany invaded poland. in that month of september about 100,000 poles lost their lives. all hell let loose. he's a british historian. got a few minutes to left to take your call and hear your remembrances of world war ii. we're live here at the world war ii memorial in washington d.c. between the washington monument up next is peter in louisville, kentucky. caller: i remember my father

and fellow american legionnaires. on a sunday afternoon, we were listening to the radio. the men were in one room and women in the kitchen. i remember the war. i was five when it started, nine when it ended. the whole country, every veteran i talked to, every veteran talked about their experiences in war. my brother was a gunner with the air force in italy. i asked him before he passed away, why none of them talked about it. i certainly wanted to hear all

the facts. my brother said, you know, we're all had experiences. but none of us wanted to talk about them. the next guy had worse experiences than we did. i was very proud of the american soldiers and remain so. i enlisted in the air force in 1952. my dad was a world war i vet and my brother-in-law and everybody else i knew was in world war ii. the american soldier was pretty much an honorable guy. i'm proud of the men and i'm grateful for them. we do enjoy freedom today because of them. thank you. host: thank you sir. next up is jean, appleton, wisconsin. caller: i was a teenage girl growing up in southwest england

tour bay. which was one of the staging points for the d-day. we had a half a block from my home gulf coast which for several months, had been totally covered with american soldiers living in tents. we got to know them pretty well. corresponded with them for a while after they went to europe. i'm not quite sure, they did not leave right on d-day but it was very tense on d-day. they left about two days later. we woke up in the morning and everybody and all of the vehicles and all the armormen had been on the gulf coast had vanished. all the ships had been in the bay had gone. we knew they were on their way to -- i presume omaha beach.

earlier in the war, we had been -- our town had been in the direct path of regular waves of german bombers heading to the royal dock yard just outside of plymouth about 30-miles from my home. my sister in world war ii, she was considerably older than i was. she was serving in the royal artillery and managed aircraft gun. firing down german planes.

host: jean, do you remember the bombers flying over you in england? caller: indeed i do. we had bombs dropped on my hometown. they were more the very low flying what they called wave hoppers. just came in and dropped a few bombs and machine gunned and went back. they would come in so fast that the radar couldn't pick them. and the sirens don't go off until after they gone. but the night time bombers, i remember this continuous roar of these planes. the guns firing at them. we had as many as a hundred around our bay for a while. it depended on how many ships were flying them and how many of them were permanently on land. when they bombed the dock air at

davenport. the whole sky would light up. just red. i guess it was the west of us, little bit north of west. we knew what they were bombing because it was a regular thing. the town. plymouth was badly damaged. host: were you still in england when the war ended? caller: yes i was. it's in high school. host: tell us about that day. caller: it was a strange day. as i say, we had become so accustomed to having the troops there beside us and chatting with them. to wake up suddenly a couple of days after d-day, knowing we had known they would be going soon.

d-day, they were still with us within a day or two. they vanished all at once. overnight they were gone. that's the thing i remember the most about the day, d-day itself and the days following. host: jean, if we can ask you a personal question. did you end up marrying an american soldier. caller: no, i didn't. i ended up immigrating to canada. i married a man who served in the canadian armed forces. he had been stationed on the west coast of canada. that was quite a few years later. i did not marry an american. i was too young at the time. host: thank you ma'am. we appreciate it. it was the battle of britain was fought in 1940 and 1941. coming over and bombing london.

british historian matt hastings, because of the blackout, more people were killed in the streets of london. more people killed in crossing the streets in london than were killed by the bomb. so the battle of britain happened in 1940 and 1941. the u.s. got involved and then north of africa and then mediterranean and d-day happened. the continent of u.s. was not invaded by u.s. of course the britts had been kicked out by the nazis in 1940 and were able to bring 350,000 of their troops back to england who then took part in the invasion of europe. it was 11 months almost to the day from d-day until the end of the war in europe. we want to thank everybody who participated in our program

today talking about their memories of world war ii. we are down here at the world war ii memorial in washington d.c. at 11:00 a.m. this morning, susan eisenhower the granddaughter of dwight eisenhower. will be speaking. you will be able to see that on c-span along with the president's speech from normandy. thank you all for being with us and enjoy your day.