shares thoughts about her books on normandy through the eyes of french citizens. and you can calls join the conversation on facebook and twitter. washington journal is next. ♪ host: it's memorial day, 2019, monday, may 27. welcome to "washington journal." our camera is live this morning at the tomb of the unknown in arlington national cemetery. as is tradition this morning, the vice president will a a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns, joined by the acting defense secretary, patrick shanahan. vice president pence performing the duties this year at arlington national because president trump is out of the country. for the first hour we would like to ask you this question, when should u.s. troops be sent into

combat? our phone lines are broken like this. you are current, active, or retired member of the military, that phone line is (202) 748-8000. .ll others use (202) 748-8001 you can leave your comments on facebook and you can also send .s a tweet @cspanwj reminder, the ceremony at arlington national cemetery this morning is live this morning her on sees and and c-span radio beginning at 10:30 eastern. thisuestion for you morning that only because it is memorial day but because of the announcement going into the weekend by president trump, "adding 5000 troops to middle east, united states will deploy 1500 troops to the middle east, the president said on friday, in the administration's latest step to address what he says are increased threats from iran. the decision was made after a

meeting late on thursday at the white house between the president, top pentagon leaders, and while the deployment represents a modest increase to the large u.s. military footprint in the middle east, it marks the largest manifestation of a growing confrontation between washington and tell ron that lawmakers worry could result in a miscalculation for open conflict. more reading from the article, reaction from the former chair of the armed services committee, he says "it's important that we make it clear to iran in words and actions that they cannot attack us with impunity. democrats have expressed skepticism about the urgency of the threats and voiced concern that the white house under the guidance of national security advisor john bolton, who has advocated for regime change in iran, could rush into a conflict. our question for you again this troops, when should u.s. be sent.

when should troops be sent into combat? all active and retired members of the military, (202) 748-8000. vicethers, (202) 748-8001 president pence a point of mentioning this to cadets at the u.s. military academy of west point. "west point grads should expect ." see combat the vice president spoke this weekend at the commencement ceremony. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> it's a virtual certainty that you will fight on a battlefield in your life, leaving soldiers in combat. it will happen. some of you will join the fight against radical islamic terrorists in afghanistan and iraq. some of you will join the fight on the korean peninsula and in pacific, where north korea continues to threaten the peace in an increasingly militarized china challenges our

presence. some of you will join the fight in europe, where an aggressive russia seeks to redraw international boundaries by force. some of you may even be called upon to serve in this hemisphere. comes, i know that you will move to the sound of guns. do your duty. and you will fight. and you will win. host: vice president pence speaking at west point over the weekend. president trump will be speaking on thursday at the air force academy in colorado. our question for you this morning, when should u.s. troops be sent into combat? (202) 748-8000 four active and retired military. for all others, (202) 748-8001.

just on looking in afghanistan, approaching the 18th year of the conflict, it began nearly 18 years ago, 1895 u.s. troops have been killed in action in afghanistan. 20,485 wounded in action. the price tag since 9/11, 745 billion.- 700 and $45 police and air force there, currently, according to the defense department, some 14,000 troops in afghanistan. one of those military members who has served overseas in a rack and afghanistan has -- is tom cotton, the senator from arkansas. he has also got a book out called sacred duty. featured a bit here in the weekend, senator cotton was our .uest this past week he served as a member of the old guard. the guard responsible for the duties at arlington national

cemetery. in the video that we showed you of the soldier of the century there, the tomb of the unknown, senator kotten writes this, -- i had left the old guard for afghanistan by the time the iraq war began to draw down and afghanistan began to heat up, but i still return to section 60 from time to time, sometimes with my wife and young boys to recall my days on that sacred ground and pay my respects to nexteroes and teach the generation about the heroes of afghanistan and the price of , saying that he likes to graves,ng the roads and section 60 is unusual not only for the number of visitors but for the things they leave behind . still, lost, coins, and other mementos sit on headstones, signifying a recent visit. flowers and balloons commemorating birthdays and

anniversaries, pictures of kids growing up and making new memories to share with their absent mom or dad. i always like to stop and look for the items that tell the love of loss and pain and and life, adding a human element to the marble headstones as a reminder of the lives lived by ."ese heroes really, just an excerpt from his new book, sacred duty. he was a guest this past week as we mentioned on "washington journal," also over on booktv. let's hear from bill, retired military, when should u.s. troops be sent into combat? myler: thank you for taking call. to all the veterans out there, thank you for serving. why do we always have to get involved in everyone else's business here? there has to be a point where you have to stop this. 1983, i was sent over to beirut

with our first italian marine -- first battalion marines. to this day i still have a large amount of remorse for this. i don't think that we should be going back over there anymore. host: so, bill, what are the moments? what would you say would require u.s. involvement overseas eschenbach -- overseas? caller: i heard what you said to vice president pence out there, that we will be seeing combat in the near future. i just hope that with everything going on in this country, we have enough problems in this country here. we can't just keep sending men over there and harm's way. we have enough problems in this country. ok? thank you very much, have a great day. host: that's a bill, in new york. active and retired military, (202) 748-8000.

for all others, (202) 748-8001. the headline that we showed you earlier, "the washington post," president approving 1500 additional troops in the middle east. a picture here of patrick shanahan, the acting defense secretary will be in arlington today. he also spoke at the naval academy at commencement on friday. here is some of what he had to say. [video clip] >> as we approach memorial day, we remember the ultimate price paid by some of the predecessors of the class of 2019. in my capacity, the most difficult decision is authorizing a mission that i know puts the men and women of our armed forces in harms way. i will continue to give those orders, but only when absolutely necessary.

i may have to put your loved ones, those sitting in front of us today, in harms way. you know this. and they know this. i pledge to you and to each of these incredible men and women, and to my commander in chief, i will do whatever it takes to make sure that those missions make the difference to keep our country safe and free. i promise to the best of my ability to provide them with whatever they need to be successful. that is my commitment. you can hold me to it. [applause] covered that address. it's all available at c-span.org. (202) 748-8000 four active and retired members of the service, (202) 748-8001 all others. sentshould u.s. troops be into combat? from austin, texas, here's rudy.

well, good morning. i would like to preface my status by saying first of all, with all due respect to the men and women who serve the country , i died for this country think that the number, the that youhe price tag read off of an article is just so sad. as you recall, they said that iraq would pay for this war. and yet this bill has been passed on to the american taxpayers. and sadly, we have had a lot of our men and women get killed. and for what? he can as to the american people. that's rudy in texas. that figure from the defense department, $745 billion since it 9/11. william, glendale, maryland.

either, william caller:. hello, how are you this morning? host: doing well, thank you. caller: it's pretty clear. i'm a graduate of the army war college, the united states, if they are directly attack or there is a vital national interest, that's when we go to war. host: have you ever had it in the back of your mind where you question the order? caller: the because we are the military and when we get an order, we execute it. we of course have our personal feelings, but those mean nothing when it's time to go to war to defend this country. ok.: robert here tweets this --

host: in charlotte, north carolina, good morning, mike. your thoughts on when we should send troops into combat eschenbach caller: good morning, thank you for c-span. family, side of the they fought in korea, vietnam, world war ii. memorial day means a lot to me. we should only send troops when there is an immediate threat .appening to our country i will give an example and then i'm going to hang up. but vietnam, the reason why they want eventually was because we misrepresented and misunderstood why vietnam was fighting. they were not fighting to be communist. they were fighting for vietnam. , how did theion is

911 call happened? jersey, retired military, go ahead, david. good morning, c-span. first time on television. good morning, i'm a world war ii veteran. i think half the guys are no longer less and i wish their families all the best. as far as when we should go to war, we should only go to war when we are attacked. i have asked members of the armed forces. i have asked retired veterans .hat they thought of this idea if we are not attacked and we go draft of the sons and daughters of the president, vice

president, members of the cabinet, members of congress. give them six months training and then ship them over to a combat unit wherever we are fighting. everyone i asked agreed that it was a great idea. that's the way i think we would stop going to war when we are not attacked. say toould like to everybody, especially the members of the armed forces, i wrote a poem called wonderful dream. it was 1971 and i dedicated it to my three beautiful daughters. to dedicated like it to my five wonderful grandchildren and all the wonderful children throughout the world. host: david, remind us when you serve? caller: i served in world war ii

. and we have another big day coming up in two weeks, d-day. host: and we will be talking more about d-day later in the program. thank you for that call, david. we go to joe, next in seekonk, massachusetts, also retired military. good morning, comrade citizen. this is an easy question,, troops should only go into combat after a formal declaration of war. we should also get rid of this all volunteer army, go back to a full draft with zero exceptions. why do you think we have been able to -- the president has been able to send forces, again on friday, 1500 additional forces without as much congressional push back or oversight?

caller: because the congress and the senate are a disgrace. they have ignored their responsibilities and let the bucks lied to the president at the time. if we had an all volunteer army, i seriously doubt the troops would go into combat very often. thank you for the call -- host: they give a call. our first question, when u.s. troops be sent into combat? four active and retired military, for all others it's (202) 748-8001. for the political pushback on war, this is a piece from tom udall and rand paul, which ran in the atlantic a week ago or so, time for u.s. troops to leave afghanistan. they write this in an opinion piece. "soon we will reach a watershed moment in afghanistan as american soldiers again fighting

in a war that began before they were born. we must re-examine our approach to the longest war in the history of the letter they consider whether keeping tens of thousands of troops on a sprawling mission in afghanistan will make americans any safer going forward. we must listen to the american people who overwhelmingly oppose .ndless war in the middle east that is why we recently entered a bipartisan joint resolution in to returnan versus combat forces home in an order comfortable way while setting a framework or political reconciliation in afghanistan without a permanent u.s. ."esence part of an opinion piece by tom udall and rand paul. mike, retiredm

military, stamford, north carolina. good morning, mike. i don't think we should ever be sending troops to different countries unless we were attacked by someone. world war ii is the last war that actually mattered. we were attacked then and they got taken care of. i respect everyone that has served in the military. i look at fox last night and i was watching some program they had on at 8:00 where they had four that's on and that and they were saying it should be a happy day and they should have picnics and stuff and i was just, i kind of thought about it and i said, you know what? there's 300 and six to five days of the year, 300 and 64 you can be as happy as you want, but there's only one memorial day areas for those that have served and died, for those who are missing in action, i'm sure that their families don't think it's a happy day. anyways, i don't think we should ever send troops anywhere.

i don't think it's right. i served as a combat vet and i just don't see where it -- i'm not even sure if i went there. a buddy that got drafted, so i volunteered. list of the 52nd infantry division and i don't know. i just don't think we need to send people places. host: how long were you there, like? caller: i spent nine and a half months there. got an early out, got home, got back home. nobody ever -- i don't care about parades and that kind of garbage. nobody owes me nothing. i never asked for anything from the government. i just a think it's, we've got to do what we can for sure. but to go somewhere where you don't need to go? what they are doing now, they are not putting anybody anywhere. they are just sending some

troops onto a ship somewhere, they are not going into combat roles or anything. you know, sometimes they do things to enforce different things they would like to see happen. whether the government is right or wrong. most of the time they are probably wrong. pretty much wrong on about everything it looks like these days. host: mike, thank you for your call and your service this morning. a reminder that our coverage this morning, 10:30 we will be live from the arlington national cemetery for the placing of the reef and the ceremony that follows mike pence. earlier of aler world war ii veteran. a picture here of one world war ii veteran at rolling thunder, yesterday. the right for freedom. bruce heilmann greets a fellow marine corps veteran, herb powell, world war ii veteran participating in rolling thunder. it may notoo, that

be the last rolling thunder. hours before memorial day ride, trump tweets that rolling thunder will be back in 2020. the president tweeted yesterday will be great patriots coming back to washington, d.c. next year and hopefully for many years to come. it is where they want to be in where they should be. thank you to the great men and women of the pentagon for working it out. the news on that was that the national ride that started in 1988 gradually accumulated supporting netting more than half of a million participants last year, but in december they said that after 31 years this memorial day would be the last of the funding of 2018, where the ride to half of a million participants with increased harassment from the pentagon, police in washington, leading the group to decide the ride was no longer feasible according to

the founder, marty mueller, who ande yesterday at the event was part of the intent yesterday, obviously. we covered all of that event, you can find it at an.org. just search rolling thunder for the coverage yesterday of rolling thunder. let's go back to calls on when the u.s. should send troops into combat. dave is in atlanta on the others' line. hi, dave. caller: hello there, good morning, i'm glad i have the floor for a minute. i will try to stay focused. i want to see somebody come to take my son off to a war. i want my commander in chief to have been in a war. for some president to have had on father secure him a slot the air national guard because he's a rich man, that's kind of scandalous to me.

for that man to want to impress people with shock and off, you are going to shock and off a seven-month-old baby by the hundreds? you are going to do that to those people because you are not too thrilled about the color of their skin? i'm serious. i was drafted in 1968 and i didn't have the gumption of myself to stand up for justice like caches clay. i went over there. i shot a little boy in the foot. what else did i do? on memorial i was the tallest man in my battalion and i got sent back to division headquarters to hold the battalion colors and while i beer andthere drinking talking about how fun life is, my squad walks into an ambush and my friends got blown away but i wasn't there that day because i was the tallest drafty. thank you for letting me have this.

this vice president, the song and dance about there will always be war? that is dave in georgia, responding to the question, and should u.s. troops be sent into combat? this question is coming as a result, the president has authorized an additional 1500 troops to be sent to the middle east. the president was asked about that on friday. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> in the middle east we are going to be sending a small number of troops, mostly protective. we will see how and we will sue it happens. it will be about 1500 people. yes. we go back to calls.

ron, purview springs, michigan. go ahead. caller: good morning. good morning, i'm a vietnam veteran against war. i volunteered to go to the annan, i pushed up my draft number, turned down my deferment the war.gainst i actively working against the war in vietnam. host: how did you do that? caller: like i said, i was antiwar when i got there. i was receiving antiwar g.i. newspapers before i got to the an almond bundles. as long as they did not refuse them, or sell them, almost every , it waspproached acceptable to the newspapers. i got a g.i. to organize a sit in, a talk in. that's how i was dosed with agent orange at the maintenance

talking about antiwar activities, it started with 10 guys, it got to over 100 guys. it kept going, the military authorities tried to break us up, but we would not break up, they were armed. we were sprayed with agent orange on several occasions. on our base. host: it is sent home because of your antiwar activity? caller: no, they shifted me around to other bases because they tried to scare me. my me give you an example of -- of the effectiveness of my activities. there was a fracking incident on my base. ok? a sergeant survived. i used to write letters to antiwar newspapers.

fda, g.i. says, you name it. it went all over the world, wherever they were state -- were stationed -- they were stationed, the soldiers in vietnam refused the war policies of murder and terror against the vietnamese people. bring us to present day. 50 years ago, what do your fellow veterans think of your efforts now and, looking back, seems like it's still very present in your memory. caller: there was one right-wing guy that never set it to my face, and when i tell gis what i

did, they say i wish i had done that. the whatever. almost to the man that i talked to, a veteran, they accepted and they knew it was the right thing. that is why these veterans, like he's crazy bikers out there, they want to continue this war, they know it was wrong, they are out of their minds. they went there to murder and slaughter innocent people. people we never should have raised a hand to. my father was in world war ii and he survived. quick,ast question, real i want to get other callers, but based on your experience when should the u.s. sent troops into combat? caller: like that last veteran said, i don't know, i don't think we should ever. then maybe we will go over there to help them.

host: lewis is next. berwyn, illinois, retired military. go ahead caller:. good morning. -- go ahead. caller: good morning. i have the feeling that we should not go into combat unless we are specifically invaded or somethingry ships or are straight out attacked. don't put the young men and women in harm's way for no reason. what drives me insane is when a chicken hawk that just wants to make money from the war machine and a war economy is willing to just start a war for money. young people are dying when it happens. like when bush went into in iraq . it was unbelievable. make it a legitimate reason. don't make it a reason that it's

for money or someone's gain. that's all i got to say. i'm four years in vietnam era marines. , but they said to pull them out before they got out of boot camp. needless to say i was very thankful of that. that's what i got. minnesota, vicki, when should u.s. troops be sent into combat? like myself people would say have her it i'm 63. the 49 of the death of a helicopter pilot in vietnam, i think so many victims are out here and they are not just the veterans. i think a lot of the families like myself still cry when we see the people that we lost in vietnam. so many in vietnam, even the , it's hardofficials

for the american people to trust that we aren't in wars for money. ago, they said that when we went to germany it was a good time to go to war. the president at that time hesitated and hesitated. a lot of us are immigrants of germany. some of these people may have been a relatives, but we never should have been in vietnam. and now this president and some of the other presidents have us in wars that a lot of us really, truly believe is for the big corporations who are making tons of money. , all thent to say is veterans out there, thank you, i'm so sorry you had to go through what you went through. patrick polly was a hero, his helicopter was exploded as he tried to save his men that were

stranded in cambodia. let's not have war. thank you. asking you when should u.s. troops be sent into combat? four active or retired military, for all others, (202) 748-8001. news this morning, the front page of "the washington times this morning, trade deal of japan on shaky ground, trump-khan feud theention, writing that japanese prime minister's efforts to charm president trump in tokyo appeared to pay dividends --

host: president trump holding a news conference with shinzo abe in the overnight hours this trade andalking about other issues. let's take a look. chairmanhink the board is looking to create a nation that has great strength economically. i talked to him a lot about it and he believes it like i do, north korea has great economic

attentional like perhaps a few other developing nations in the world. to developis looking that way. he knows that with nuclear that's never going to happen. he understands that. he gets it well. he is going to try at some point -- i'm in no rush , we have our hostages back. we are continuing to get the remains. a lot of good things are happening. most importantly, there has been no nuclear testing for two years . during the past administration that were many numbers that were very high. 10, 12, 18, having to do with missile launches and nuclear testing. it was zero and zero. i am very happy with the way that it's going. intelligent people at. >> you are not bothered at all?

>> i am personally not. that was the presidency news conference this morning with shinzo abe. we will show it later this morning, in our program scheduled closer to home, terrible storms scheduled, severe weather in tornado alley. they said it was a terrifying , tearing ay weekend path through our he no, developing much of the american budget value in and two of the neighbors. new york times" writing that some of the devastation was caused elsewhere across the midwest. other news from overseas this morning, the european elections, dominant hearties hit in european elections, the european major center and left of center right are set to thousands of seats in the combined majority.

the eu and u.k. most of the highest in 20 years. the brexit party is heading to a significant limit losses for conservatives and labor areas the question this morning is about u.s. troops in combat. (202) 748-8000 for those of you who served the military or are retired military. .or all others, (202) 748-8001 military veteran and mayor of indiana, democratic candidate was askedgieg him this week about when he would decide to pull troops from afghanistan. [video clip] >> when i left, i thought i was

one of the last troops turning out the lights as i went. we need to leave. the reality is we are leaving. its pre-much the only thing that the american left, right, afghan government, telegram, and international community agree on , it's time for us to go. >> do you have a plan for how to get out? >> we have got to isolate the threats that are specifically remitted to the homeland. host: jim, good morning. caller: i will echo of previous caller. it's defend america and protect national interests.

i would like to hear definition of national interests. i am afraid that national interests or business interest. motive, what is the profit percentage in the boeingy budget? when sells the air force, do we get a different -- discount at a cheaper price than when we sell we to the so-called allies? have got 300 fire arm bearing rednecks running around this country. who is ever going to attack us? troops, this from "the washington post," patrick shanahan said that he approved a request "from central command that oversees activities in the middle east to deploy patriot missile battalion intelligence and surveillance inc. --

aircraft with engineering capabilities. the measures would help safeguard u.s. forces, given the ongoing threat. retired military. good morning. good morning. you viewe sure that your television, go ahead with your comment after that. caller: my comment is on when we should send troops. i think that whenever the commander-in-chief deems that it's necessary to send troops, being in the military, we don't make policy, we just follow policy. host: and you are currently in

the military now? caller: i'm retired. host: as a civilian now, are you comfortable without congressional approval or oversight? caller: it depends on the intelligence report. being that i'm a civilian, but i will never be a civilian, i'm always going to be military. i have problems with people coming down on the president. not just president trump, when they were even beating on obama and everything. our job is to go out and do whatever. john, topeka kansas, hello.

i am a vietnam veteran. i spent 24 years in the air force. the people that disagree with me have earned the right to disagree with me, but i agree with the last caller. if we end up like the romans and hire mercenaries, people that don't even love the country they are fighting for, if the commander-in-chief makes a call and sends you an harm's way and you are in the military, you signed up to be in the military. you are not the person making the decision. following therson orders. you understand? host: yes, i do. we asked these people, when i came back from over there, we landed in san francisco and they said don't wear your uniform downtown, people will spit on you.

i was amazed, you know? i thought i was doing the job my country sent me to do. the people back here were not supporting us at all. it wasn't that they weren't supporting the decisions made by the commanders and all of that. they resented the people that went to do the job. host: appreciate that, john. a couple of comments about presidents past, they are ordering troops into combat situations. from the pbs newshour, about when the president can use military force , the answer is complicated. she believed a couple of things about the bottom line on when the president can call troops into combat. the constitution offers conflicting guidelines, she writes, on when the president can use military force. in article one it states that

congress has the power to decide, but in article number to it states that the president shall be commander in chief when called into actual service of the united states.

host: here is gary, naples, florida. caller: i have in listening for quite a while now. i heard a lot of folks today, for any type of military action at all it seems, except when the u.s. is attacked. a couple of colors back to said that with all of the guns in this country, who is going to attack the u.s.? he seems to have forgotten 9/11. my point is that the government should, and does, surveillance all the threats across the planet. the cia and the national security agency and other are involved. they determine the fast and bring them to the president.

where the national interests are going to be a problem for us in the future so that we can avoid the future of 9/11. this is why article two is very important. to answer your question, should we wait until it is genocide, should we wait until, you know, 6 million jews are killed, until planes fly into u.s. buildings? the answer is no. appreciate your input this morning. is the number for active military --(202) 748-8000 is the number for active military. craig, either. appreciate your show, you are doing great job. in thinking on this, this is a

good thing that we have two ways of using military force. there's an actual declaration of war to congress, but that is kind of going all out. then there's that thing you talked about where the president might say that we will send troops into the situation to cool it off or to back it off. that's actually a good thing. we don't want to always just declare all-out war in a situation. this allows us to be incremental and be more towards leaning towards peace if possible by allowing a president or an authorized use of military force , allowing them to do that. it allows us to be incremental so that things are not just all out every time. it deserves he's on the earth. i would say that it's good that the president, in recent times, have been able to do that.

like in an event where vladimir putin overreaches or something, it would be foolish to only have --gress declare absolute or war on russia. it preserves peace better it we can just authorize some military force, some people that show up to back them off, it preserves us from having to go to an all-out war. but they back off, we are good. host: do you think that congress has given it up more easily? not just president trump, but george w. bush and even before that? caller: i dig it's wise to have the incremental ability to try to keep from all-out war to preserve as much peace as possible. i think they are allowing this two-part option, a wise use of our power.

i think that people misunderstand donald trump when he does a tweet. he's not tweeting about going against john bolton to say it didn't violate the treaty. he didn't say that. he's not addressing the laws of principles. he's talking directly to kim jong-un when he does these things. it's good that he does these things because him saying that that doesn't bother us? that's an assertion of american power. what he is really saying to kim jong-un is -- you don't have anything over us. we are still the all our you can't scratch us and i am not afraid of that. it's important for a president to be bowled like that, to let a dictator no that that is nothing. trump, you misunderstand when people say, you know, he's talking about the principles and saying it didn't violate.

trump didn't address that. he was speaking to the leaders and saying don't mess with us, what you did has no power, we are not afraid of it. i think we want a president to do that. to say -- you've got nothing. day and thismorial morning we are asking you when the u.s. should be sending troops into combat. four active and retired military. all others, (202) 748-8001. in the lead up to memorial day weekend, we were joined this of goeek by the cofounder that's and dan caldwell, advisor for america. both veterans joined us on the program and addressed should be sent into combat. [video clip] >> if i could ask any question, i would say when to ask u.s. troop to die in a foreign country and i would hope that

the answer would be never over the indigenous population of the country. that doesn't mean that the love and support autocratic regimes across the world that abuse the human rights of people, but it does mean that when you look at the problems u.s. troops had in somalia, a rack, a variety of other places in the last part of the 20th century, the early part of the 20th century, you have got to start to look for why things did not fall apart for us in bosnia you had a political .greement in place i think that the will of the people is important and i would argue that there is no real role for u.s. troops in the middle east until you can really get the saudi's, iranians, and russians and the gulf states together to have a conversation about what the future of the region is. in reality they are fueling a huge version of the war against each other that u.s. troops are caught in the middle of. >> we believe that our liberal

democratic system of government and our free market system is the best system of government. but as part of that, like the caller alluded to, we don't think it's right to impose that on the world. we hope that people can one day build a society of mutual benefit that is based around the same values we have, but when we try to impose that in places like iraq and afghanistan, the results are disastrous. not just for americans but also for the people there. at the end of the day, in afghanistan, for example, based on their culture and other dynamics in the country, they are just not ready for our system of government and trying notmpose it by force does lead to good outcomes. we believe that you should leave -- use force only when there is a clear threat to american national interests. calls on the line for current and retired military. lee, clearwater, florida. good morning. caller: hello, sir, how are you

doing question mark host: fine, thanks -- doing? host: fine, thanks. i spent many years in the military, all active-duty, i think that the current president is the most egregiously inept president we have ever had, ok? someone that is a draft dodger, who had a chance to serve, who does not take the time to get to know the facts of anything? he blows off-the-cuff and he thinks that this is ok. i was in europe for about two months last year, in four different countries. in our allied countries. as soon as they knew i was american? right away they went out for this egregiously inept guy in office right now.

does article to give him the power, but article one is united its congress the power as well. you need both of them in conjunction with looking over the evidence and saying to themselves -- ok, we agree with you on this but disagree with you on that, just taking that deliberative approach to the problem. iran is a dangerous country. i really do believe that. that we hadbelieve them contained with the agreement that we had with our allies. the people out there who are hawks? listen, i have been to war. i can tell you right now, i hate to see other americans get put in a position of danger when there is another option out there. host: let's hear from beverly, next. bedford, ohio. caller: hi. before itt correctly,

was the department of defense, it was the department of war. and it was the department of war when fdr was president. , butchanged it to defense the way things are going, we invade so many countries, they should change it to the department of war again. or change it to the department of offense. i want to say, as the man was talking a couple of calls ago, thewe lost -- we lost vietnam war. everybody knows that, i'm sure. dida ended like world war i . armistice. day,ber 11 was armistice then they changed it to veterans day. world war i ended with an armistice. the korean war, we didn't win

that war. that ended in a truce. beverly, take vietnam specifically, do you think it was a mistake to commit u.s. combat forces to vietnam? can somebody tell me why our troops were in vietnam? we lost. what difference does it make whether we lost it or one it? ?- won it i don't see any difference. host: coming up this morning we will be live at arlington national cemetery with their -- with the ceremony there. vice president pence will be there, as will acting defense secretary mike shanahan. on the drive into arlington, you may see the women in military service for america memorial. jennifer steinhauer, writing about the struggle for the

memorial for funding. writing that the women in memorial and military service for the more ale is constantly scrambling to stay afloat as the nation seeks to canonize more and more of its war dead. as we go to our next caller, centreville, virginia, go ahead. caller: i was curious, troops are usually sent abroad when there is a threat to national security. stemming from the resolution. when the shah was removed from power because of a negotiation for iran contra, the turmoil and that's when the

problem began. essentiallylem and theom radicalism subjugation of other rights and civil norms. outlawed here, causing great problems in the middle east. on the others' line, larry, virginia, when should u.s. troops we sent into combat? i think that the president of the united states stand in the middle of the arlington cemetery and address the american people and make the case why it's necessary to shed american blood. subsequent to that, when the congress authorizes said war,

[indiscernible] host: one quick call here from hermann, baltimore. caller: i'm a korean vet. we had a problem with presidents lying us into war. we were lied into war in vietnam. we were lied into war in iraq. there is a big danger of losing a lot of troops through lies. herrmann, appreciate your calls, appreciate all of your calls this morning on memorial day. coming up, we will spend the last two hours of our program focusing on the 75th anniversary of d-day, coming up on june 6. up next, virginia to speak with alex kershaw.

--alex kershaw. and later we will talk to mary louise roberts about her book about the battle of normandy. we begin with a reading of dwight eisenhower's june 6 message to troops as they prepare for the assault at normandy. [video clip] soldiers -- >> soldiers, sailors, and airmen, you are about to embark on a big crusade . the eyes of the world are upon you. the hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. in company with brave allies and brothers in arms under their fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the german war machine, the elimination of nazi terror, and security for ourselves in a free world. your task will not be an easy

one. you're in the me as well-trained, well-equipped, and battle-hardened. he will fight savagely. but this is the year, 1944. much has happened since the nazi tramps of 1940 and 1941. there was great defeat in open airle, man to man, and our offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and capacity to wage war on the ground. our homefront has given us an overwhelming superiority in and place at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. the tide has turned. the freemen of the world are marching together in victory. i have full confidence in your devotion to duty, skill, and battle, and we will accept nothing less than full victory. good luck, and let us all beseech the blessing of almighty god upon this great and noble

undertaking. guest: this morning on "washington journal" and "american history tv" we are the national d-day memorial and bedford, virginia, joined by alex kershaw, author of nine books, including his latest, "the first wave." alex kershaw, thank you for joining us this morning from the d-day memorial in bedford, virginia. like we us why -- looks may have lost our signal from bedford, virginia. the d-day memorial located there in bedford, near blacksburg, virginia. we hope to get our guest alex kershaw back up here momentarily. we will be opening up the phone lines for your calls and

comments. here is how we're going to do that. once we get the signal reestablish, on the seven if it that a verse or he of d-day coming up june 6, the phone line will be (202) 748-8000 for those of you in the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001, mountain and pacific. and for all others, world war ii veterans, i'd should say, and families, that is (202) 748-8002 . so we look forward to your calls as we way to reestablish contact with alex kershaw and they bedford, virginia. we want to give you a look at a newsreel, and you have probably seen some of this footage before. imagesf the fir visual american sought as they reported from the d-day landings on june 6, some six days later here in the u.s. let's take a look. [video clip] england, last-minute

instructions before taking off 100 miles across english channel. .hese are the heroes as the transports take off, the general wishes them godspeed. another set of brave men, zebra striping's on the aircraft and invasion equipment, and they await the terrific allied powers. backing up the mightiest shipson by air, 4000 carried the war to the enemy by sea. because good, navy, air forces

land hundreds of -- the coast guard, navy, and air forces land. they isolate this strategic harbor is the immediate objective. [blasts] president roosevelt said, let our hearts be soft -- enemy's defenses are had, the supreme moment of invasion. this is the assault. [gunfire] guest: film of the invasion of 1944.dy on june 6,

that film did not get to the u.s. until 60 years later and would have been showed in unity -- movie theaters and such. startedis when american seeing the film reporting of d-day. alex kershaw's new book is called "the first wave: the d-day warriors who led the way to victory in world war ii." this is ahead of the 75th anniversary of d-day, the normandy invasion. for facts and figures, the number of trips that landed on normandy beaches, 156,000, including 73,000 americans. the allied armada ships included 6900 ships and landing crafts, 50,000 vehicles, 11,500 planes used. ,-day casualties that day killed, missing in action, and wounded, 2000. 4000 of those were killed.

the overall casualty count for the normandy county -- campaign, 425,000 allied killed, wounded, or missing in action. d-dayth anniversary of coming up in a week and a half, june 6. lines are (202) 748-8000 for the eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001 for mountain and pacific. and for world war ii veterans, families, that line would be (202) 748-8002. jack from first from providence, rhode island. sorry we not with our guest, but go ahead with your thoughts and comments. hi, thank you. the reason for the call is i wish we would get into the real history of how world war ii was actually decided. it was decided on the eastern front, ok?

the fighting over there made the western front look like a firecracker. you know this, sir. you are an expert and a very bright man. ist i find so perplexing what is put on tv. the german army was so good, so good, that you needed three nations to beat it. and the fighting, for example, in one battle was the bigger -- was bigger than the entire western front. if the germans prevailed on the eastern front, there would not have been any d-day. it was the best army, and everybody knows it. why isn't this gentleman -- why didn't this gentleman write about that? guest: in your opinion, why do you think this has not been told as the war of the western front? caller: good question. they do not want to show how really good the german army was. it was the best. they were just beaten because

the force ratio was 25 to one against it. guest: our next call is from franklin, north carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. a big shout to my grandfather in heaven, a world war ii vet. i am a vet from desert storm, and to go back to the question when do we send our events to combat or our troops to combat? senior say whenever our officers tell us to. thank you to all the veterans out there for your service. and i think that that caller from florida who called our president inept on this memorial day needs to get out of the hot sun. your: where did grandfather served in world war ii, crystal? caller: he was in germany, and

he actually got lost in austria. civilian train, and it was an open car, to try and get back to base. and he told us that it was a good thing that our grandmother was such a sweet and lovely woman, because the austrian girls were so pretty that he thought about staying over there. influence in any you serving in the military? caller: you better believe it. i went to the navy though, and he was in the army. we think everyone. guest: appreciate it. john is next, trenton, new jersey. unfortunately, we lost our signal to bedford, virginia, with our guest. we apologize for that. when we get the signal back, we will be speaking with mr. alex kershaw. john, go ahead with your thoughts on this memorial day. caller: i am a vietnam veteran. my father was a pearl harbor survivor.

before that, my grandfather was in the army. lady that just got in making a comment, she does not know what she is talking about. donald trump had bone spurs. i question that highly. for him to be out of the country on the memorial day, he should be up there laying wreaths on the unknown soldiers and paying attention to business. instead of going out and building a wall, he should go to the vietnam wall and figure out how many people died to keep him free and to keep his family free. i have very, very hard feelings because of that. thank you for your time. guest: the president is on a state visit in japan, returning

to the u.s. to speak at the air force academy on thursday, but more travel ahead, including travel to the u.k. and to france. he will take part in the 70 foot that a verse or he ceremony -- anniversary -- the 75th anniversary ceremony of d-day there. ohio on this in memorial. good morning. caller: yes, thank you. i would like everybody to know that i am a military army brat of 18 years and a two-year army wife. my father served in the south during warbora-bora making pills 12 hours a day for our soldiers to go back into combat. guest: what kind of pills did he make? did it deal with illness in the jungle there? caller: everything.

he was a pharmacist. stalatto,anthony j. came to this country and spent two years at ellis island with his parents. he signed up in the u.s. military as a medic. he worked hard that day and took a bullet to the shoulder, and other medics came and helped him. he felt better, he jumped up and tore out the lines and helped the other soldiers on the beach. a the end of the day, he took naziet to the side from a soldier. he did survive, and this was june 6, 1944, on normandy beach. so much fors sharing that story on this memorial day morning.

we are rejoined once again from bedford, virginia, by alex kershaw, who has written about d-day. his latest book is "the first wave: the d-day warriors who led the way to victory in world war ii." kershaw, for the power outage. we are now back here life appeared what is the significance of you being there in bedford and the memorial you are sitting near? host: this is one place in asrica that gave more to me a european -- i am 63 years old, and i spent 53 years in europe and have enjoyed enormous prosperity in unity, and this one community here, bedford, virginia, saved more lives and sacrifice more than anyone else in america on d-day, june 6, 1944. 19 guys from this community of 3000 in 1944 died in the first wave on omaha beach.

bedford, virginia, gave more than any other allied community on d-day, and that is why the memorial is here. i have very happy to be sitting right in front of it. guest: i have always heard that bedford gave more than any other american town, but you said more than any other allied community. host: yes, that is what the national d-day memorial proclaims, and that is true, yeah. company-a a d-day, from the 116 infantry regiment, national guard in the 1930's, we can warriors, they never envisioned that by 1944, they would be in the very first wave of the most critical assault of u.s. history. 180 guys who landed on omaha beach, and we believe 102 were killed in about half an hour. of those, 19 were from bedford,

virginia. but there were 34 guy still in the company-a on d-day from this community here. guest: your book focuses on the individual stories, personal stories come of that first wave of soldiers, airmen, and marines, you write early in the book that it was 12:15 am, june 6, 19 44, the most important day of the 20 century, the first americans had arrived in france. was theou think d-day most important day of the 20th century? host: because it led to a europe you see today, civilization, human rights, democracy, the foundation of atlanta schism -- the foundation of the relationship between the u.s. and europe, the most important relationship in the modern world history. it led to the freedom of millions and millions of europeans in western europe. 19 million civilians died in europe in world war ii.

when americans, british, french, and canadian slanted on d-day, gave countess millions hope that ,he barbarism and nazism the terrible genocide, would finally end. guest: our guest is alex kershaw. we welcome your calls and comments ahead of the 75th anniversary of d-day. for (202) 748-8001 -- (202) 748-8001 eastern and western time zones per mountain and pacific, (202) 748-8001. world war ii veterans and family, (202) 748-8002. we will get to your calls shortly. i want to start with a photo most all of us have seen at some point or another in our lives, the famous jaws of death photo, what is the significance of this photo that you have included in a similar version on the front of your book? is --it host: it is probably the best

photo you can find what it was like for the first wave of troops at omaha beach. craft approaching one of eight centers on omaha, the second deadliest sector, and guys of that boat would be killed. it is a very atmospheric shot of what it was like to approach bloody omaha. over 900 americans would be killed on that beach, far more than any other allied soldiers and any other beach on d-day. it is a moment anticipating eminence of violence and slaughter and death. guest: alex kershaw, we have callers waiting period first to ralph in kentucky. served in world war ii, but he was part of the occupation force after combat. but i was wondering, how many men did we actually lose on omaha beach that day?

--t: well over: well, we know it was 900. over 900 on omaha beach. compare that with the other american beach at utah, you had less than 200 casualties killed, wounded, taken prisoner. over 2000 killed, thousand casualties, so very different stories. utah beach was a huge success. omaha was a bloody disaster. host: joseph next in plano, texas. good morning. caller: how are you doing? host: fine, go ahead with your comment. guest: great, thanks. caller: one of the other callers said it was inappropriate to talk about the president on this memorial day. first of all come the sacrifices of the greatest generation has little to do about it.

you have to remember, the president did his recruitment and his bone spur controversy, and somebody had to take his place. host: thanks. we have kind of moved on that topic. talking about d-day with alex guest, andr his new book "the first wave." next call. caller: thank you. i was privileged to be at the memorial a couple years ago unmemorable day, and they brought the schoolchildren next to that landing craft. those children went by, and there must've been 100 veterans there from various campaigns, and it was fantastic to see those children think those veterans in person. it is a great thing. it is a shame that it took so long to get that memorial built there. what do you think the difficulty

was, mr. kershaw? guest: i think there is a difficulty with many memorials. the national world war ii memorial in d.c. was built far too late as far as most people are concerned. i think it took a long time for people to realize we needed to memorialize the second world war. it is a shame that we have to remember it is here. it has been open since 2001, opened by president bush in 2001, and we now have beautiful national memorials all over the americanin europe to sacrifice and loss in world war ii. host: in general, how are the men selected to be part of this first wave? were they looking for specific experience, character traits, or did they just need raw numbers? guest: a mixture of both. it is a great question. for omaha beach, it was a mixture of two divisions. the first division had been in combat before.

some guys that landed in the first wave of omaha were in that -- had been in north africa and sicily and into omaha beach. other divisions included a division that was completely green, a national guard division, and not one of those guys had seen combat before. the problem was we only had so many men we could put in the battle that had actually seen, before. two thirds of the americans on d-day had never had a shot fired at them. it was a combination. the third key objective was difficult and challenging. we used elite troops, rangers. 101st airborne were elite trips, but most of those guys had never seen combat before. the vast majority of americans on d-day had never been in combat before. host: one of the green troops was a man you write a great deal

about, lieutenant john spalding, leader of the 16th infantry regiment, the first division of the first wave of men on the beach. you write about lieutenant spalding and his second-in-command, a surgeon of the first infantry division, the big red one. what was their relationship? describe those first couple of moments when they stepped off the boat, lieutenant spalding stepping off that higgins boat into the water. guest: you have to remember that when they came in towards the bombinghe american would have been affected and all they had to worry about was the germans counterattacking. so when they dared to look over the edge of that landed craft about 200 yards from the beach, their hearts fell. they were utterly dismayed to see that nothing had been touched by preinvasion bombing. the ramp came down. spalding was at the front of the

landing craft, and 28-year-old guy who had never seen combat before, from kentucky, had been a sportswriter before the war. he had to shout at his men that he was going to go first. noise level was absolutely extraordinary. veterans have described it to me as a constant wall of noise. every now and again you would cloth being torn by a machine gun, which would kill an entire platoon and could have killed spalding's landing craft in seconds. he goes into the water, and it is cold, a jolt. he goes under the water. he tries to get rid of his pack. comes back up and manages somehow to get to the beach. he then crawls across a foam shingle beach and finds protection finally by the ruins that had beenla

heavily shelled. tok about an hour and a half get off the landing craft and lead his men 300 or 400 yards to flat sands and then across shingles and up a minefield that was part of a blood, and finally emerged at about 8:00 in the morning, becoming the first american officer to lead americans off the bloodiest beach on d-day. host: taking calls for alex kershaw as we look at the 75th anniversary of d-day here on "washington journal" and "american history tv." our call is from winston-salem, north carolina. yes, i had a granddaddy in world war ii, but they cannot find him because they locked him up.

this happened to american people all over. [indiscernible] war,people missing in the and they were keeping them in jail. what happened to my granddaddy. they had him. and people saying something about donald trump. don't you know donald trump was a corporation men? new: walter next from albany, indiana. you are here with alex kershaw. caller: for everybody paying attention to this broadcast, no one thing,- know when it comes to losing a war or winning a war, that is a geopolitical matter. when it comes to the man on the ground eating the fire, it is more simple than that. when it comes to winning or losing a war, the winners walk out and the losers don't.

a combat veteran. thank you for your time. host: alex kershaw, your thoughts on walter's perspective of what it took. was a well, there critical moment on omaha beach for the entire invasion. so many men had been wounded and killed, there was very little communication. thend 10:30, 11:00 in there was serious consideration of pulling american troops off of omaha beach. done, i believe d-day would have been a great disaster and it would have been a great defeat, not a great victory, for allied forces. the difference was made by individual americans, young officers getting their guys to stand up, walk into the line of fire, and have the courage to sacrifice their lives and lead others into enemy fire.

it came down to individuals, maybe four or five dozen young officers on omaha beach. that made the difference between victory and defeat on d-day in omaha and for the entire battle. yes, we can reduce this massive invasion. two critical moments, and you can say key americans, american guts and courage, made the difference. host: i was amazed in lieutenant spalding's case and a couple other figures, how much gear was lost right away. spalding was waiting in the water, they tell him to ditch the machine gun and all sorts of gear, and they wind up on the beach with barely any equipment at all. does it surprise you that they were able to continue to fight was so much of their gear in the water or lost or elsewhere? one of the problems is that on omaha beach, there was very high surf. the night of june 5, there had been a storm, so when the guys came in, some had been in the

water for three or four hours. some had circled several times. one landing craft, one veterans wereve out of six guys there for six hours before even landing on the beach. they did not care how many bullets were coming at them, they just wanted to get their feet on dry ground or on the beach. they should have gone in lightly armed. carryangers that did not massive equipment because the job was to get there fast and effectively and with minimum armament, minimum weight. when you jump into water with a 70-pound back, a rifle, and radio on your back and that gets as, that equipment gets wet, a spalding said, his uniform felt like lead weight. it slowed them down, the fact that the uniforms were very wet. spalding said when he looked to his left on omaha beach during the first wave, he saw guys

staggering as if they were walking into a very heavy wind that morning because of the weight of their packs and of their wet uniforms. host: the book is "the first wave: the d-day warriors who led the way to victory in world war ii." alex kershaw's argus joining us from the d-day memorial in bedford, virginia, welcoming your calls and comments. we showed earlier the comments of do dwight d. eisenhower, his letter to the troops just before the invasion. a famous photo of him speaking with the 101st airborne. he was looking confident, but you write that he was quite concerned afterwards. and you said, afterwards he broke into tears after he wrote this. there was a womanr-old anglo-irish

who he got into the jeep with after he paid farewell to everyone, and she said he had tears in his eyes. he said to her that it was very hard to look the americans in the eyes and no he is sending that guy to his death. it is a famous cliche, but i love him, the front he showed, the charm, when you look at the original film, the blue eyes, and the smile, not a moment of fear or intimidation that he shows to these young americans. he was a great leader and showed great confidence, but he was not confident at all. that were so many orders he had to use a lead pencil. he had a constant ring in his right ear. many cigarettes a day, very little sleep, basically a nervous wreck. but he was stoic for the generals and the men that were about to fight and die for him.

needed to show confidence because it was a very, very risky operation. for the02) 748-8000 eastern and central time zones. (202) 748-8001, mountain and pacific. for those of you with world war ii relatives or world war ii veterans, (202) 748-8002. david from pennsylvania, good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i would like to remark about d-day. my father went in on utah beach, a sense itlucky in was utah beach. people focus on omaha, which rightly they should, but let's look at the whole picture and look at the canadians, the british, and utah and omaha. and everyone that stepped off the landing craft were as brave as anybody else.

thein the a private war, look of the draw makes a big difference. it does not matter what happens. i mean, you can be lucky or you can be brave and you can be unlucky. it should be all those guys that stepped off that thing. i am a vietnam veteran, and my son served as a ranger during iraq and afghanistan. so i appreciate all those forward that stepped and did their bit. thebad we have someone in white house that don't. thank you for taking my call. host: alex kershaw? guest: yes, we have to remember that utah and omaha dominate the american narrative, but juno beach for the canadians, 900 americans killed, more than 900 in omaha, but over 300 canadians were killed at juno beach, the

second deadliest beach on d-day. and we have to remember something very important about the canadians, our neighbors, great allies, very strong allies, they were all volunteers. every single guy, every single canadian that stepped out of a landing craft onto juno beach, every canadian that jumped out of a dakota on d-day was a volunteer. they do not have to be there, so that makes their courage special, i think, and unique. allieds a story of cooperation, superb ally cooperation, the pinnacle, you could argue, of allied operation. it was a joint effort. we fought side-by-side and died side-by-side, and the victory was brought by several nations. guest: one of the british soldiers you write about -- a picture of him here from 1942 -- it says he would lead a force on d-day of commandos with legendary panache and courage to

tell us about him. old, a scottish aristocrat. that was only his third day in combat, d-day, a legendary commander leader. even by d-day, he was legendary among his troops because he cured out two very effective -- [no audio] like we may looks have lost our guest again we apologize about that. we will try to get alex kershaw back and pick up our conversation where we left off. we will continue to take your calls and comments. if you have a specific comment or question for mr. kershaw and can write it down and note it, we will continue taking your calls until we restore the signal. we are focusing on the 75th anniversary of d-day, which is a week and a half away, june 6, of course, here on this memorial day on "washington journal" and on "american history tv." sabrina is on the relatives

line. sabrina is calling from ohio. we apologize that we lost power to our moat in bedford, virginia. go ahead with your comment or question. caller: thank you for having me call in. a worldranddaughter of war ii veteran, as well as my uncle fought and died in vietnam. i am now currently married to an individual in the army. i don't have any relatives related to d-day, but my grandfather fought in the pacific. one thing that i found that was interesting is that my grandmother was a woman explosiveworker in an factory in triumph, maryland, and she joked about how she used to make the duds that my grandfather used to use on his cruiser back in the day.

host: so your grandmother was a veteran in her own right. she worked in the factory. caller: yes, correct. and it was a very dangerous factory. they only allowed women to work for so long because of the exposure to the nitrates that they were producing there. i have always thought that i would love to see some kind of national memorial for the women who worked in the factory and to the families who supported their veterans back home during this time. i know that there are various memorials out there for women who have worked in the factories, but there is not one that i know of on the national level. i think that they have made sacrifices themselves and would love to see something in their honor, as well. host: sabrina, thanks for those comments. howard is next in new york. good morning.

caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: ok, i am actually in helena, montana. army airson of an corps sergeant, and i would like to think mr. kershaw for his book, especially for the cover. i do read section of it to my dad, and when he saw the front tony copewondered how was doing. tony was a friend of his who was .n omaha beach his whole lending craft was being shot up, and the -- his whole landing craft was being shot up, and the only way he survived that -- he did take a shot in the shoulder and was pulled off to the side by his insurgent. aft -- by his sergeant. after that on a hospital ship

over the next day or so, he identified that only two out of his whole army craft were still alive, and that was only because his sergeant pulled them off to the shore. there is a lot more to that story from tony when he told me, but that is about all i have. host: howard, have you written down or recorded some of these conversations? caller: yeah, i have over 80 world war iiad's events and his friends', yes. host: appreciate that. we apologize for the interruption with alex kershaw. your biggest full of first-hand accounts from veterans. what was your primary source, alex kershaw, letters home, personal diaries, interviews with surviving veterans? guest: a combination of many things.

interviews with veterans, of course. unfortunately there are not many alive today. there were several guys during the five years when i was working during the book. but we were lucky in the u.s., britain, and canada. we have interviewed world war ii veterans at great length there is the national world war ii museum, imperial war museum, library of congress. i was able to delve into a history.trove of oral hundreds and hundreds of hours of oral history. we have done a good job of preserving the memories of these great warriors. scentlet me ask about the of theodore roosevelt, teddy hisevelt, jr., and participation in the invasion of normandy. incredibly, 56 years old, the oldest general officer on d-day. he basically begged to go in on the first wave on utah and

actually did arrive in the first wave on utah beach. 6:28 was the time the first americans waded. there was a captain who remembered looking to his right and sing this 50 60 guy with a bad heart and a walking stick huffing and puffing his weight on utah beach on the first day of d-day. an extraordinary guy. i think he had a sort of complex and wanted to prove that he was courageous like his father, and that day he became a what -- one of only four americans who received honors for action on june 6, 1944. extraordinary courage, extraordinary american leader on d-day. host: teddy roosevelt, jr., and his son was actually in the invasion, as well, right? guest: amazingly, the father was

in utah and the sun was on omaha. ongically, the father died july 12, 1944 come of heart failure. i think the stress of combat and leadership, the savage combat date injured after d-day, basically killed him. couple hoursjust a before his father died, was able to see his father and see how he was doing. calls fors go back to alex kershaw. this is janice in michigan. caller: mr. kershaw, my dad was a sergeant in the army air corps. and d-day was his 24th birthday. a scottishmy mom, girl, in a pub in manchester, inland, and they got married 1943. he put her on the queen mary when they learned she was pregnant with me, so his first child would be born in the u.s.

but i have always been curious about the second wave. blakeman, was a photographer, and he went in on and published a book after the were called "over there," which was a collection of photographs he could -- he took. it is out of print, of course. but i was just wondering, what happened in the second wave? we have heard the stories about the first wave, and i look forward to reading your book. but what did the people in the second wave do, if you could please tell me that? thanks. guest: first of all, it is great to be talking to a fellow -- someone related to a british lady, to put it that way. the americans that came to england still an awful lot of

our most beautiful young roses. the queen mary took around 7000 or 8000 british women back to the u.s. at one point after the war. the second wave, it depended where you were. let's go back to omaha beach. i am in bedford, virginia, right now, and when i was writing about the lads here, the boys who died on omaha beach, there was a guy from the second wave from lynchburg, virginia, and he said he came in on the second wave and when he landed on omaha beach after the bedford boys come after the first wave, all he could see was dead bodies. so you were as likely to die in the second, third, and fourth wave as you were in the first wave. by the time to second and third waves arrive, the germans had their machine guns and knew they were coming and it was target practice. and dark green sectors, so

it was literally target practice. we have been talking a good deal about the landings on the beaches, and you write a great deal about the paratroopers and the gliders, the aircraft used two lane soldiers behind enemy lines. and how those gliders many men were delivered that way. guest: you have to imagine that you are in a glider -- say that tookritish spectacularly the first successful operation were let and they loose basically in a wooden and canvas glider at about 6000 feet around midnight on june 6.

30 guys crash landed. they crash landed at 90 miles per hour in the glider. it literally was a suicidal operation, and they knew it. guys got concussions and were injured. there were many casualties in that operation. in that one case -- [inaudible] -- the first successful operation of d-day. you are crash landing basically in canvas and wooden plane. incredible to think they would volunteer to do that, let alone succeed and live. host: and the british and the americans used these gliders, correct? guest: yes, they did. americans and the british used the gliders. being a glider pilot on d-day was perhaps -- i would argue it was the most dangerous job you

had. whatever happens, you are crash landing, and you better make sure that you were a damn good pilot, because you are then under enemy fire. trees.as hedgerows, think about it, you have lives in your hands and you're in a glider being fired at constantly, and you are landing with 15 feetd polls with barbed wire attached. there was not a more difficult job than being a glider pilot, no more dangerous on d-day. host: let's go back to more calls for alex kershaw. this is spencer in maine. caller: my grandfather was at omaha beach. he joined the navy when he was himself old and found in a little talked about group called the navy six beach battalion.

they called them the sailors that looked like soldiers. they were attached to the army for the d-day landing. i believe in the first five seconds of "saving private ryan," the beach battalion is featured in the opening scene. i was just wondering if there is any -- if anything has been written about the six beach battalion? if there is anybody out there from that battalion, i did tweet to "washington journal" a picture of my grandfather. he made it. my father, his son, join the marine corps and went to vietnam. he did lose a leg, but he came home like my grandfather did and raised a big family. my grandfather is gone now, but any information on that battalion would be appreciated. host: if you want to tweet that, that would be great.

we are @c-spanwj. guest: i am in bedford here, and to my left, you can see plaques for each of the individual units on d-day. you grandfather landed in the most lethal place and at the most lethal time on detail that any allied trip could find himself on at omaha beach. he actually came before the first wave. when you look at the 20 minutes in "saving private ryan," the amazing carnage and death and slaughter, your father belonged to those scenes. your grandfather was in those scenes, as were the bedford boys. he landed in a very dangerous place, indeed, and it is pretty much a miracle he managed to survive, especially since he succeeded the first wave, an extraordinary achievement. he would have seen an enormous amount of trauma and death. you should be extremely proud.

host: there is a picture of your book of a captain, and almost looks like it is out of a movie. there he is with the helmet on and the cigar. you write that jumping with a cigar for that captain was pretty much standard for him. tell us about his role in the opening invasion, the first wave. guest: he was from upstate new york, 28 years old on d-day, and he had made 43 practice jumps before d-day. only on one, as he was about to amp out of the plane, he was pathfinder and he was officially recognized as the very first american, very first cowboy yank, to put his feet on the ground in normandy on d-day. extraordinary achievement. he made many practice jumps, not once in combat. on one occasion his men were looking at him as they were

about to jump out, and they so that he did not have a cigar in his mouth. one of his men looked at him in --ck, looking very wordy worried because they were superstitious, and lillyman grabbed the cigar and put it in his mouth and jumped. atjumped from about 500 feet 12: 15 am, first american to land, took about 25 seconds to drop about 500 feet, and when his parachute hit that field in normandy, he still had a cigar in his mouth. style, and a and great warrior. he survived the war but was wounded later on d-day at market garden. he finished the war with many decorations. host: about how many allied in?ps paratroopped guest: about 125,000.

you had the americans and also the british and canadian elements. host: suzanne is next in sacramento, california. caller: good morning. i thought of my mother when the previous woman mentioned the need for documentation of women mother was, and my at the navy yard. my father went to north africa of thely, and what saddest memories for my father was the fact that when he was on troop trains -- he was a black soldier, and they were not given seats. they were made to sit on duffel bags on the floor. when they had events with the uso, they sat behind the defeated of the people. really until president truman stilln, the army was

segregated, and they suffered terribly. that story has not really been told, so i hope you might consider that for one of your future studies. guest: definitely. i think one of the great achievements of americans fighting in world war ii was that it transformed american society. the america we know today was built out of that transformative experience. segregation, for example, started to break down, the first segregation came from the expanses of black soldiers in world war ii, and it showed they deserved to be equal citizens. they were just as brave and competent as any other american fighting in the great conflict. host: we had the caller talk about the navy six beach battalion, and he has tweeted the photo of his granddad. here is a picture of his grandfather. navy six beach battalion at omaha, the sailors that looked like soldiers, my grandfather.

york,hear from pennsylvania, next. linda, go ahead. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i have a question or comment for mr. kershaw. every now and then they show a movie on cable tv called "d-day," and tom selleck stars as eisenhower. i am sure it does not get into all the nitty-gritty, but it shows how much pressure eisenhower had on him to plan this, especially with the rotten weather in england, and he had considering the least loss of possible on these landings. there was one scene that i was whenuite clear on, eisenhower went to talk to the french president at that time, the french president was very difficult and said that he would

and theow ike's plan french would do their own plan. i was not sure about that. of the covers the basics pressure faced in this war. i found it a very compelling movie. i am sure there are more horror stories. but i wonder if mr. kershaw has seen this movie or was aware of it. thank you. movie.i have seen the i am a big fan of tom selleck, but i do not think he has the same dreamy blue eyes as ike did . yes, we did have the british, canadians, and the americans. there were serious problems, and we do not expect him to be the national leader of the french. he was not an official we could negotiate with officially.

your point about eisenhower, i do not think any man in the 20th century faces as much pressure as eisenhower did on june 5, 1940 four, when he alone was able to make the decision to go. not churchill, not marshall, washington, roosevelt, not the king of england. the french president might have wanted to influence ike. allied supreme commander, only he could give that decision to go, and it was a serious decision. when he gave the decision, a storm was brewing. the was pelting against building in which she was holding his conference with the commanders. when he looked out the window at around 4:00 in the morning on june 5, 1944, and was giving the decision of final orders to go, he was thinking, my god, what am i going to do? what am i doing? what am i sending these soldiers to?

he was under crushing strain. let's not forget he had been under growing strain since january of 1944 when he came to london to take control. was so important, and so much was riding on the outcome. eisenhower himself told a friend in washington, d.c., a few weeks before d-day that it was a huge gamble. everything was on one number, no never, and i believe we would have gone back again. had we failed, it would have been the greatest failure in modern history for the u.s. and the allies. host: debbie is calling from south dakota. am calling from mitchell, south dakota. yes, i simply want to thank all the veterans of all the wars

that the united states soldiers have fought in. uncle that and happened to have served in the u.s. navy in world war ii and were not directly near the d-day invasion. but my uncle harold informed me more of the history than even my own dad did. i have one question, mr. kershaw. do you think the fact that they had -- first of all, after pearl harbor, every available young man pretty much signed up, but they had the draft also. do you think that helped with the success that we had in world menii because the young were from so many varied backgrounds? the draft, without the draft we cannot have had victory in the pacific, and do

not forget the european theater. american was waging two very intense wars over 3000 miles away from this country, from where i sitting today. hardly any americans suffered domestically. i think a handful were victims of japanese bombings on the west coast. americans did not experience war as the europeans did. yes, the draft was essential, and all americans from all different backgrounds gave pretty much everything to the second world war. . do not forget, it was a question of survival. host: we are joined this morning by the author of "the first wave." he is joining us from the d-day memorial in bedford, virginia.

the bedford boys was one of your devious books. what made you want to focus on d-day, particularly the story of the individual soldiers? honest, they be gave me an amazing life. i was born in britain 53 years ago. i met my wife in london when i was 28. i have lived in this country for 25 years. my son was born in los angeles. i grew up in a united and peaceful place. we've enjoyed 75 years of peace in europe. that's the longest time in history. there has been killing in war and death through history. i have been extraordinarily lucky. i have benefited from the sacrifice and liberation of western europe. englisher myself

american and very much european. i can't say thank you enough. i can't ever say thank you enough for the young men who gave their lives from where i am sitting right now to allow me to enjoy the freedoms that i have been able to achieve in my life. it's a beautiful gift. host: let's hear from my in colorado. toler: i just wanted congratulate alex on another wonderful book. i wanted to share that my father from ireland was in world war ii. i had five other uncles fight in world war ii. one was killed, one was a pow. the books really hit home for me. i wanted to ask alex about a scene from his book "the bedford

boys." what was it like for that western union operator, a female who started to receive the notifications of the boys who were dying in bedford, there were so many. they were people that she knew. i would love to hear his comments about that. guest: thanks for calling in. was 21viewed her, she years old in 1944. i am going to go to the graveyard not far from where i'm sitting this afternoon. i will visit the graves of many of the bedford boys. in 1944. killed half of them are here. they are not far from where i am sitting. thehe 21st of july,

drugstore still open today. she went to the western union telegram office. she told me that it wouldn't stop for at least a couple of hours. these names just kept terming -- coming through, killed in action, killed in action. there were so many names and all she could remember was it there were a lot of johns. what was so powerful about that moment, the teletype machine spitting out messages of travel tragedy, it was repeated several weeks later by the telegrams spitting out the messages in bedford. it devastated this community. it was a grief stricken, tragic time. you have to remember that people in america knew we had invaded

normandy. it was a huge story, the biggest of the war. new that theirrd sons were involved in some way. they had to wait weeks to find out what happened to them. letters didn't come back. there were rumors. one woman told me that it was like waiting for an earthquake, week after week after week. finally that morning, she turns on the teletype machine and the truth came out. host: was that the late fairly typical? you mentioned mid july when the bed for boys news came to that town. was that typical about notification of kin. guest: it took several weeks for the next of kin to be notified

by telegraph. you knew your loved one had done involved in combat. the first telegraphs appeared in the u.s. that's what it was like to be on the sharpened of d-day. on omaha beach. openedin bedford, they life magazine in june and saw these extraordinary images of carnage and death and intense violence. they knew that their sons had been involved in that combat on that beach. they still had to wait another month before they found out what had happened, even though they could seen images of white -- what might have happened. host: we've got 10 more minutes with our guest. bill is in south carolina. caller: good morning.

i would just like to say thanks to c-span for a great program. my question to you is supposedly general eisenhower wrote a letter in the car about bringing troops off the shores because the invasion had failed. can you comment about that? aest: i think if you want moment of grace that the demise is great leadership from any , onican in world war ii his backhad a note in pocket. he found it several weeks later. it had been written by eisenhower before he gave the order to go. , our men haveoops

done their very best. they showed the very most courage. unfortunately, the invasion is failed. i alone take responsibility. he was going to take it all in his shoulders. acceptailed, he would responsibility, solely him. he was a great man and a great president. host: joining us this morning from the d-day memorial in led a tour of normandy. who joined you? guest: it was a group of americans. there with the national world war ii museum a few weeks ago. we visited all the places i've been talking about. sector, thehe red sector where the bedford boys came ashore. powerfult's a very

place to go if you are an american. when i take them into omaha place i say there is no that any american can go on the planet where you will feel more proud to be an american than omaha beach war normandy. that's where americans enjoyed their finest hour. was d-day.best , overve american lives 900 on omaha beach. 20,000 americans were killed. world the new world -- the new world came to liberate the old. sacrificed their lives so others could enjoy freedom. i want to stress one thing. in 1944, by june 6,

americans were in no danger of being invaded. american freedom was assured. the americans who laid down their lives, who jumped out of the landing crafts, they lay down their lives for europeans. not in terms of freedom for americans, they lay down their lives for europeans. it's the greatest act of american all tourism in history. host: this is mike in west virginia. sayer: i would just like to fory being memorial day and the people that have served, i am a veteran myself. my father was in the sixth army rangers. they made a movie about him called "the great raid."

mom costs brothers were in germany. i know a lot of people that served in world war ii, we would not be here today. i am so happy to say that my family served. it makes me feel good today. thank you. host: tell us about one of the many men you write about, james redder. one of the many many americans, combat commanders. they had serious jobs to do on d-day. he was in charge of the second ranger battalion. it was called the most difficult job on d-day. they had to scale eight 100 foot

cliff. -- a 100 foot cliff. they did a wonderful job on d-day. guys, they suffered over 60% casualties. i have been to the top where he was wounded twice on june 6. he kept fighting and leading his men. were 48 hours, his men relieved by fellow americans. battalion,ranger they were relieved midday on the eighth of june. imagine that. 72 hours of combat, peaking and flowing, losing your brothers, guys you treated like your real brothers as they were in combat

with you. they did an extraordinary job. a&m's bestwas texas ever president. when he was decorated, when he was awarded a couple of weeks later, he cried. he said it, this is for you. you did this. back, youm shouted keep it for us. he was a wonderful combat leader. it's extraordinary how men found their moment, how ordinary americans and working-class americans when the task was supreme, they performed miracles. he performed a miracle. host: is that the distinguished flying cross? guest: the distinguished service

cross. for omahaved it beach. there were only four medal of honor recipients read three belonged to the big red one division. i think a few more guys deserved it on d-day. that's passed out. host: let's take one more call from michigan. hello there. caller: hello there. my name is mark. my father was at omaha beach on d-day. he was in the second wave. they had already seen what was happening on the beach. -- they were the ranger division. they were talking about the beach being bloody. he had seen the movie tom hanks made.

he said it was just like being there. he was also at bastogne. some final thoughts? the 70ththink anniversary of d-day is very important. i think it's a unifying event for americans. needs unity country more than has in a long time. every american should reflect on the 70th anniversary of d-day, what this nation achieved. life,as given with human the most precious thing, so america could stand by its founding values. that is something we should remember. americans unified and fight together.

they were together, they were not divided. host: the book is "the first wave." our guest alex kershaw is joining us from the d-day memorial in bedford, virginia. thank you so much for your time. guest: thank you so much for a great honor. host: our focus on world war ii and d-day here on american history tv and washington journal will continue as we turn to mary louise roberts. book abouting at her the battle of normandy through the eyes of the french. from 1945, a film of a french civilian describing the liberation of paris after the d-day invasion. of august,eginning

the middle of the month, the germans started to leave the city. germans whohe same signed 25 year leases on their apartments. our police went on strike. day, a police car opened fire on the germans. french flag was hanging from every window. they were made out of scraps, rags, everything. people were screaming. when we got to the closet, i

kissed my husband because he was tired. begin to realize how unhappy we had been. it was great to be alive on this august evening. she is a history professor at the university of wisconsin madison. she is joining us in our focus on d-day to talk about her book "d-day through franchise." eyes."ch take us back to before the invasion. what was normandy like on june 5. what was it like? guest: the french had been under german occupation since 1940.

in normandy, the food situation was the rest of france. it was the dairy land of france. it was the wisconsin of france. food.was more abundant at the same time, the germans took pretty much the majority of dairyod, the milk, the that they had produced. there was hunger, there was a lot of fear. gestapo, members of the resistance were taken away. it was a very grim normandy which greeted the invasion. most french norman citizens have an idea it was coming at some point, but they did not know when? guest: exactly.

the year between 1943 in 1944, after the tide turned in italy. the french new the invasion was coming. this filled them with great hope. they did not know where and they did not know when. the bombing of various parts of france took place all over. the americans had bombed just normandy, that would've given the germans the belief that the invasion was going to come there. it to comeexpected farther east than it did it. idea.ad an they did not expect it to be in normandy. she is the history professor at the university of wisconsin at madison, author of the book "d-day through

franchise." that is our focus, the experience of french citizens on d-day. if you are in the eastern time zones. four mountain and pacific time zones. for those of you who have french ancestry, that line is (202) 748-8002, we are particularly interested if you have a story of relatives or ancestors who lived in normandy or france at the time of the invasion. just a couple of reminders on the timeline, we are talking about june 6, 1944. the original inflation was postponed. it happened and schaumburg was secured 24 days later. thehowed you some of

liberation of paris in august 1944. mary louise roberts, the cover of your book shows a scene that many talked about, this dreamlike quality of the paratroopers falling into the night. were american soldiers in british soldiers prepared for what they would encounter in terms of what the citizens would be like? were they given any warning or advice on how to deal with citizens in those first hours of the invasion? the americans and the british were both told that the majority of people still living in that part of france would be collaborators. everyone else would have moved away or migrated to get away from the war.

the collaborators would be protected by the germans. view of the french was negative. far as the paratroopers were concerned, they were mostly injured. it was the normans who took care of them. the planes had to fly very low. they released him to low sometimes, many had broken legs and broken ankles. if it more and the normans going out into the night and rescuing these people trying to get them lines,hind american there would've been a disaster. host: 3000 norman citizens died in the first two days of the invasion, nearly 20,000 by the end of the campaign. what was the largest cause of

death of those citizens? guest: by far, bombardment. term "collateral damage" was invented in the second world war. good aboutwere not hitting their targets. within the time it was one quarter of a mile. there was a lot of collateral damage. many french people who were in cellars were killed. often they would take refuge in the castles of small towns. they were behemoth buildings with thick walls. despite that bombardment killed many people, some people got caught in the crossfire. normans would go out to milk their cows even though it was a

battlefield. they would get killed that way. bombardment, their homes in backyards turned into a battlefield. some of them just didn't have the resources or the time given the uncertainty of the location to pick up their belongings and get out. host: you talked about the presence of the stop low a couple of moments ago. you write in your book about a looking atce officer the soldiers, the german soldiers who were stationed there. he did not think much of them. he said they were old with little fight in them. was that a common impression of who was there manning the bunkers on the beaches?

it was true that hitler's ofy of 1944 was not his army 1940 when they first invaded france. settler had bled his hitler had let his population dry. you can see that most of these young people were 15 or 16. they were inexperienced. there were older men as well. it's important to keep in mind that only about 30% of his army was in normandy. the vast majority of troops were on the eastern front against the russians. there was a small proportion of troops, either very young are very old. is for202) 748-8000

people in the eastern and central time zones. those of you in town and pacific, (202) 784-8001. if you are an american of french dissent, that line is (202) 748-8002. our guest is from the university of wisconsin. we go to kentucky. this is brad. good morning. forer: i do have a question professor parker. say thankst have to you to all of our veterans. i'm very aware of the fact that the totally blessed life that any american's living today is thanks to a long line of noble blood shed, of young men and toen who gave us the ability

have this life that we do. that and am very thankful for that. to all of the veterans out with, they came back home otherwise,sical and you are appreciated, you are loved. i appreciate you. i love you. ihope you have a good day and think things are ok with you. host: did you have a question? go ahead. go ahead with your comment. caller: at any rate, i apologize. professor, the role of the french resistance.

i've been interested in that since i was young. i've never been able to find any ord resources on activities affairs of the french resistance. i know it was a strong factor. could you recommend any resources? could you detail something dealing with that? thank you. resistance played in the d-day invasion. one of the reasons i wrote this has alwaysause d-day been seen as an american story. it's been told within the national frame. when i tried to do is turn the lens around. envisioned the i picture where the gis are going up the beach. what was it like for the french,

looking down on the beach. there were civilians. men, aere also a lot of lot of resistance men who were equal to 15 military divisions. we are talking about a force. createob on d-day was to acts of sabotage, particularly to stop trains from coming to normandy, bringing supplies, bringing troops. bridges, they crippled the transportation to the area. they also changed some of the signs in normandy from the right to the wrong it the befuddle the germans. they were active in the struggle. we tend to forget them.

i would recommend one book by julian jackson which is excellent on the resistance. to diminish the great role that the americans played, it's really important to include the many lives that were lost on the part of the french as well. host: we have a line for french americans or those of you with ancestors who were at normandy, (202) 748-8002. this is cherie on that line in virginia. caller: good morning. i am french american from my french mother who was a war bride. was trainednt who as a nurse to deal with the injured troops.

she and her husband were forced to leave. they were warned that the germans were going to leave. to the origin of her birth. they joined the french resistance, the two of them. guise of aunder the social worker so she had access to the countryside. they had two purposes. one was to move messages from the french resistance fighters to receive them. harbor britisho pilots who would been shot down by german planes. i have a mother who was sent by

her family from paris to the area of marseilles. carry automatic and semi automatic weapons from one place to another. involved with her group in blowing up trains and troops. is there anything else that would be helpful to you? host: that is quite a family legacy. thank you. any thoughts? all, thank you very much. you do have an amazing family legacy. is ayou are bringing up subject close to my heart, the many ways in which women participated in the resistance.

toy were not fully able participate in military resistance area when the americans arrived, -- resistance. arrived,americans their roles were shaped by gender. they did the things you so beautifully described. one of their advantages was they were not under suspicion the way a young man would be. ory carried the newspapers the bombs. when they got through checkpoints, they often acted innocent, they flirted. is avorite example of that -- who was who was in brittany. she was with her mother and they

were carrying parachutes. thatwere participating in trained it would take british let'set's -- british high -- pilots to england. silkhad all of these parachutes and their suitcases, trying to hide them. they get to the train station. anybody who is been a french train station, there are no escalators. they have to go up these huge steps. at the top is the gestapo. the young daughter loses it. , excuse me, i'm

not going to be able to carry my bike and suitcase up the stairs, can you help me out. carryot the gestapo to silk parachutes up the stairs. seducers,men wore they were beautiful, they knew how to that as a weapon, they got away with a lot that young men never could. thank you for bringing that up. host: that caller mentioned marseille, after the invasion of parents -- paris, many fled to the countryside? true, it wasas more true in 1940. as the germans moved east, citizens of paris began a mass exit us. every car and train. the idea was to get to some

place south of france and away from the germans. aty occupied the north first. in 1942, the germans realized the threat could be from the south and north africa. they occupied the entire country in 1943. host: bob is in north carolina. great job on the book. my father was an american g.i.. he got to normandy in late july. he met my mother over there.

they had no food. they could not get any food. she had nothing. they had to grow food in mine fields. there was no open field and the occupation was heavy. her uncle got shot by the germans. she met my father. my father was in the supply and end of they -- army. he brought them food. she said the germans that were there were very nice. they were young. i think we lost you.

thank you for your comments. guest: i would just add again that he is absolutely right. most were starving by the end of the war. said the sounder of france was the sound of a growling stomach. the germans took most of the produce and most of the wine. there were always things that were buried in order to save them for the liberation, a beautiful bottle of champagne, a beloved bottle of wine. one young man when he meant an african american g.i. dug up his jazz records in order to show him how much he loved american music.

it was a time of great deprivation for the french. it continued for another year. of 1944 and 1945 was quite hard. is largelyance destroyed. , these townswns were 80% destroyed. it was very hard. life was very hard for the french. most think the french were collaborators or they lived on the fat of the land. if you lived in the city, it was harder than in the country because you could not grow your own food. it was very humiliating. guest, we are talking about her book "d-day through

eyes."se." -- french we will hear from joshua next in brooklyn. caller: we talk about d-day as a starting off point. i want to talk about what beforehand, specifically with the combined operations. the portable area that was put , there was aers lot of innovation. talk to me about the preparation and the technical innovation that went into preparing for d-day. thank you very much. hitler constructed what

he called the atlantic wall. it was a series of fortifications on the beaches of northern france. this included all kinds of barriers, artillery. there were very large guns. that's why the rangers were going up there, to take those. when they got up there, they had already been removed. there was a mighty fortress that hitler deemed impenetrable. it was built by forced laborers, many of them polish or ukrainian born in concord countries and were forced to

come to france. host: i don't speak french. correctreciate a pronunciation. what does the word mean? why is it so important? good question. realized i didn't really have to use the word. landing.eans it was the french word for the landing. everyone onered to the morning of june 6. the landings are coming. word. just a wonderful story in my book about a young girl.

she did not understand what the word meant. it was an adult word. it was very specific to the war. remember, there was always the hope the americans would,, the british would come and rescue the french. -- come, the british would come and rescue the french. arrived, it brought a tremendous amount of anxiety. this is it. this is the moment. if they fail, all hope was gone. there is a specific kind of anxiety. ofthis was the moment testing. no one knew they would triumph.

until the middle of july, there was a lot of anxiety that this would fail and they would be under the not see fist forever. zi fist forever. host: this is how they refer to d-day? guest: that's correct. host: joe is in connecticut. caller: how are you? guest: happy memorial day. caller: my question is more of a personal one. my grandmother was married louise roberts. her sister married a frenchman and lived there for quite a while. is that a common name? are we somehow related? think roberts is my

father's name. he was from maine. was the descendent of the drunk of plymouth colony. he was on the mayflower. colony.icked out of the that is my ancestry on my father's side. it's a welsh name. i don't know. aboutof you have talked marriage is between americans and the french. that was one of the happy results of the gis being on the continent. the french women and american gis often fell in love. , thethe war was over

americans came back to get their brides. calledou wrote a book "what soldiers do." what reaction did it get? inst: i just got interested the relationship between the american gis in the french. i went over. archives.t the french i also looked deeply into the american i cargo -- archival situation. when i found surprise to me actually. 1944, relations were brusque. once the french realized the

americans were going to triumph, they were joyful. the summer of 1945 was different. back.oops are now coming they are suffering from what we now would call ptsd. they are waiting to go home. they are war hardened. in places like that, there was a lot of drinking, a lot of alcohol abuse and prostitution. read was theings i correspondence between the mayor and the colonel who was in charge of the troops there. the mayor had some complaints about g.i. behavior. there was an interesting shift

their. -- there. that's the difference between soldiers going into a war and soldiers coming out all the war. int: next we go to peter massachusetts. good morning. everyone want to wish a happy memorial day. people.ly a couple of i am sitting in the hospital room right now. is very ill with cancer. ago,t to save it to weeks my father passed away. there was a very interesting development. my grandfather was part of the

in new york, staff just prior to the deployment of europe during world war i. there was a time when my dad thought he was going to fight in japan. state it i will statesity, -- iowa university, training as an officer. instance where we changed our priorities. we invaded the philippines in great numbers. do you have a question for our guest? is was thereestion

any lingering sense of support that the french captain to and into from world war i to world war ii. many of the people who fought in world war ii had fathers who had fought in world war i. home to a land of wine and beautiful women. when the gis got there, their expectation was if they got off the beach, they would meet beautiful french women who would thank them for their liberation.

reputation as sort europe,abylon of beautiful women who were loose women. inasmuch as their dads exaggerated that set of expectations, there was a lot of prostitution in france. by 1944, the american army was worried about the than aerial disease rate among the troops. connect thei would wars in terms of the american army. host: let's go to teresa in north carolina. french i don't have ancestry. i was born in 1946. i was not a part of the war, it was over when i was born.

when i was in high school, i took french classes. i had a french teacher who taught us up home. -- a poem. us the first line of oem was used in the normandy go order. do you know if that's true? is that the name of the poem? guest: yes. your teacher was exactly right. -- poem is by a french poet. it was a signal to the resistance. was broadcast by the bbc. it said they should go out and

start to do the sabotage. the invasion was going to happen in the next week. 5, thenight of june second line of the palm was given. oem was given. that's when they knew it was going to come within 24 hours. verse thatench signaled to them that the invasion would come in a week or so. host: this is rachel in virginia. , my name is rachel. my uncle was a pilot. the fighterber of group.

he took part before and after d-day. dogfightvolved in a over paris. he chased the enemy under the eiffel tower. he was able to claim that victory and get out of paris. low and avoided the anti-aircraft fire. tolday he told us and has the press and everybody else, this helped to re-energize the resistance. the french ambassador to the gave him the legion of honor in a wonderful ceremony. find anyon is, did you documentation of this? guest: no, i didn't.

i will tell you why. all, it's a terrific story. it really is. ofs very common in the sense thele getting rescued by french. my research really focused on normandy. archives.two there was a special archive which is a memorial to d-day. it's a great story. there are many such wonderful stories. my favorites is when a pilot was downed in central france. five people on the airplane died. one survived.

because there was a standard number of people on the planes, the french people decided they needed to create a coffin for the fifth person. people on ther plane and put sand in the fifth coffin so they would not be suspicious someone survived. they made sure that pilot got to safety. host: we've got one more quick call from hill in california. bill in california. caller: a book like yours is fantastic. these facts taught in french schools today qu? the french are the most

ungrateful people on the face of the earth. of thousands of young men freeing them. i don't think the young french especially realize the sacrifice of the british and the americans . thank you. i'm going to have to disagree with you. wanted toi really ew, moste viewers kn , if you stepparis outside the big city and you go to the countryside, particularly normandy, you are treated

special because you are an american. i was in normandy doing research, somebody mistook me for a german. i found myself eating yesterday's bread and being scorned upon it. . leave, i said i was american. they were very apologetic. france if you go to outside of paris, you will see the french are very very grateful. , her car broke down in the south of france, it was fixed on a holiday because this on a mechanic remembered the americans. mechanic remembered the americans.

i think the young people are also quite grateful. a lot has happened since 1945. the: joining us from , we'veity of wisconsin been talking about her book about d-day. sofessor roberts, thanks much for being with us this morning. guest: thank you for having me. i appreciate it. host: tune in to c-span three to see an archival film looking at how troops trained and executed their mission on june 6, 1944. continuescoverage tonight when we replay our washington journal interviews.

it's a special memorial day it for "washington journal" on this memorial day morning. we invite you to join us tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. an author joined by of the war and discussing foreign policy and defense, and we will be joined by a guest from the center of social freedom. we will have those guests tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. enjoy the rest of your memorial day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

a live picture from arlington national cemetery, the location of today's memorial day ceremony. in 40verage begins minutes with the replaying of the tomb of the unknowns. tired supreme court justice anthony kennedy received an award from duke law school. after the ceremony, a news conference with president trump who is still in japan meeting with prime minister shinzo abe. what commencement speeches all week on c-span starting tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. speakers include patrick shanahan at the u.s. naval economy -- academy. indiana republican governor eric holcomb at anderson university. michigan democratic government whitme t