that's what's going on. when president obama said i didn't know this and i didn't know that -- he thought it. again, thanks for watching us tonight. i am bill o'reilly. please always remember that the definitely looking out for you. welcome to a "kelly file" special report. a salute to our nation's gratest generation. in october 2013 a remarkable event took place on washington's national mall. the park service had barricaded the open air world war ii memorial in a move they blamed on the partial government shutdown. the reaction from our vets, their families, and supporters was swift, and it was angry. in the time it took to find some bolt cutters we were suddenly seeing pictures of defiant soldiers, many on canes or in wheelchairs, crossing those barricades with the kind of determination that reminded many in america again of the spirit that once helped us win a war

and preserve our freedom. over the next hour we will revisit the incredible sacrifice these men and women made to defend this country in the bloodiest and most widespread war in history. the average age of a d-day veteran is now 92. and now more than ever it is critical to listen to their stories, remember their bravery, and share their message with future generations. december 7th, 1941. the japanese military launched a surprise attack on the american naval fleet at pearl harbor. after 90 minutes of battle nearly 200 u.s. aircraft were destroyed, 2,402 americans were killed, and over 1,200 more were wounded. the next day the u.s. officially declared war. >> december 7th, 1941, a date

which will live in infamy. the united states of america was suddenly and deliberately attacked. >> everyday life in america changed dramatically. young boys became men in the blink of an eye and went off to war. communities mobilized, and women went to work outside the home. for nearly four years u.s. service members fought some of the bloodiest and most infamous battles. the battle of midway was only six months after the attack on pearl harbor. the u.s. navy dealt a serious blow to the japanese military and derailed japan's offense in the pacific. the invasion of normandy, where on june 6ing inth, 1944 the all forces began their campaign to liberate europe from nazi germany. >> 11,000 allied planes were in the air. the fighters keeping the german air force on the ground while the bombers saturated nazi

stronghol strongholds. naval guns pounded the shore batteries. >> the battle of the bulge, where the german army sought to turn the tide in hitler's favor. after six weeks of fighting the allied forces triumphed. months later hitler committed suicide and germany surrendered. it would take another four months for japan to do the same, and only after the u.s. dropped atomic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki. in the end over 400,000 americans were killed and nearly 700,000 wounded but some 15

million returned home. the department of veterans affairs now estimates a little over 1 million world war ii veterans are still alive. this past veterans day our country's oldest known service member from world war ii was honored with a standing ovation at arlington national cemetery. 107-year-old richard overton then returned home where he was greeted with cheers, handshakes, and hugs. just one of the ways a hometown and a nation pays respect to those who changed the course of history. [ cheers and applause ] >> wow. well, my next guest is a member of the greatest generation. just 17 years old when he joined the u.s. marines and fought in the battle of okinawa. more than 250,000 u.s. troops were engaged and the allies forces lost 12,000 men in a battle that lasted more than two months. dr. bruce heilman went on to become chancellor of the university of richmond and now serves as spokesman for the greatest generation's foundation.

doctor, thank you so much for your service, and thank you so much for being here. what does it mean to you, sir, to see, as we now are at a point where we have only 1 million remaining of the greatest generation in terms of the vets who served? >> it represents to me that the world has changed dramatically. and as i reflect back upon those 15 million you mentioned that came out of the military en masse in the late to mid '40s and went off to be educated and came back into the political scene, the business scene, the community activities in force for the next 40 years they ran this country. six of the presidents of the united states had been in this greatest generation. every corporate leader had been in the war. all of the political people in

washington and the states, the governors, almost all of them were of the greatest generation, and for 40 years their culture prevailed, and they worked together irrespective of different political motivations, they were able to pull together to make the country a better place because they had fought to preserve freedom and they believed deeply in it, and to me that really has moved on so others have taken over the running of the country, and we think it's stable but no better than these veterans were able to do it on their own after having brought freedom to the world. >> as someone who literally put his life on the line for our freedom, do you feel that freedom -- that liberty is taken for granted by many in today's generation? >> i think of the current

generation it is taken for granted. the million who remain from the greatest generation still do not take it for granted. we are deep believers in patriotism. as we go back to the places we fought as young men and that this is a part of what the greatest generation foundation does, we reflect and we remember and we give thanks that for 70 years some of us who fought those battles that long ago have been able to come back in this great country, raise a family, have grandchildren, great grandchildren, have lived a good life, have had an opportunity, many of us on the g.i. bill, to be educated, to serve the country. we are proud of our service. we are proud of the country. we wonder whether the generations of today are as proud as we are who feel as strongly about it and who would defend it as greatly, though we have every hope that that would be true.

>> i know your foundation takes veterans back to the sites of various battles and gives them a chance to pay homage to those who were lost and to their own service and their own memories. and you say in part one of the reasons you do it is to confirm it was not a dream. what does that mean? >> it means that i use my own example, as the many others i think would feel the same way. i was 18 years old when i landed in combat on okinawa. this followed 56 days aboard a troop ship after a lot of training. being out in the harbor of okinawa with suicide planes coming down, landing on the beach. 18 years old. i didn't know what was going to happen. i knew i was well trained as a marine. and then after having completed the battle of okinawa, preparing to invade japan, and then having the happy world change with the

dropping of the atomic bomb, which almost made all the troops go berserk because it said to us we're going to live. we did not expect to survive. and all of that was a part of the activities in the hearts and minds of the people who were there. we were young, we were inexperienced, each one of us who landed on the beach, did not know the reality of war, and we learned about it, but we went in there willing to die, not wanting to die, but totally convinced that we were right, and we tistill believe it today. so when we go back, we see the rock, iwo jima, we see okinawa, we say to ourselves it really happened. 70 years ago it was a dream. >> yeah. and i know that now you love to ride harleys. your wife gave you a second harley for your 71st birthday and for your 87th birthday you made the longest motorcycle trip

yet. here's to many more years, sir. thank you again for your service and for sharing your memories. >> thank you. >> all the best. well, on the 40th anniversary of d-day then president ronald reagan gave a speech that is widely regarded as one of the greatest tributes to the bravery and sacrifice of this greatest generation. coming up, the woman who helped him write that speech joins us live. plus, a former world war ii veteran talks to me about his experience as a prisoner of war and his message to today's young people. >> what does it mean to you? >> what it means, it means that i did -- my life was worth it, i i did -- my life was worth it, i didn't waste my [ woman 1 ] why do i cook? to share with family. [ woman 2 ] to carry on traditions. [ woman 3 ] to come together even when we're apart. [ male announcer ] in stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and more, swanson makes holiday dishes delicious.

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well, the world war ii memorial in washington, d.c. opened in 2004 and quickly became one of the most popular stops in a city packed with museums and memorials. we recently went to visit the memorial and had the privilege of meeting a world war ii veteran by the name of major gerald geiger. >> you were actually a prisoner of war? >> yes. for 24 hours. >> and how did you get out? >> well, we came under fire. and my guards ran and i ran the other way and i popped on. it played like it was there -- they came back looking for me, maybe they think i'm dead. and they didn't come back and i

made my way back to my troops. on the way i found my weapons and i ran into some germans and i captured them. >> wow. >> so anyhow. you've got to be young to do that. >> you're looking pretty good. all these decades later do you remember it well? >> like it happened yesterday. some things you never forget. it's a film strip right in front of you. right in front of me. it's like it's alive and in technicolor and it's always there. >> what does it mean to you? >> what it means, it means that i did -- my life was worth it. i didn't waste my life. i served my country. that's the most important thing, is to serve my country. and i did that and i'm grateful for the opportunity to have served. >> what did it feel like to be living in this country at a time when it was so united and the country was behind you? >> i could write you a book about that. it was -- we were all one, you

know. we wanted to learn. and we were eager to learn and to apply the knowledge. and nowadays i notice maybe some people are no longer that willing to learn from the older generation. it's a generational thing, you know. but we didn't have -- we didn't have this smart-ass attitude. we were willing to learn, and we learned. and we have respect for our parents and we obeyed. when mother called me, i came or else. >> when you see, the stars on this freedom wall, each one meant to represent 100 deaths in world war ii, i mean, for you those were actual friends. those were buddies. >> oh, yeah. >> do you remember their legacy? do you remember those guys? >> oh, yes. of course. i have their pictures. of course i remember them. i've written a legacy for my grandchildren. and all these people are in

there. the pictures and the names and everything. and i have the yearbook. so these people are all alive with me, and i'll never forget them. and these are the heroes, you see. the heroes are the ones we couldn't bring back. and the heroes are the ones who are in wheelchairs now. the rest of us are survivors. i'm not a hero. i'm just a survivor. >> and many years from now, you're 89 years old, many years from now when it's your turn to go, what do you want people to say about you? >> he did his duty. he served his country. that's all. >> major geiger, thank you so much, sir. pleasure. >> thank you, ma'am. >> thank you for your service. >> thank you. >> god bless you. >> god bless you. see you next time. >> god bless him is right. telling me mavon, which is the irish pronunciation of megyn. it wasn't an accident he went that way. tom brady, a witness to war, an

organization that records stories from combat veterans. and we can certainly see why you've chosen to do that. just meeting folks like the major makes you stop and lament the fact that there will come a time on this earth sadly in the not too distant future where we are no longer able to talk to these guys one on one. >> absolutely. we're losing our world war ii veterans at a rate of one about every 90 seconds. and our mission is essentially to capture those stories before they're lost forever. >> when you -- as somebody who's immersed himself in doing this near full-time, what do you take away from them? from our first two guests we heard that it's like a film strip, it's like a movie, to think back on what happened, and both of them talked about wanting to be remembered for their sacrifice and understanding that their life was worth something. >> one of the things i want to assure dr. heilman and major geiger is that there are younger folks who care. we've got awhole foundation and a team of volunteers that are focused on capturing these

stories and our mission is essentially to make sure that future generations don't forget, that future generations have a place they can go on the web and hear the voices and hear the stories of what it was like to be there and the sacrifices and to really understand the price that was paid for our freedom. >> they both talked about wanting the younger generation not only to know about their sacrifice but to learn from the attitude they had, the men and women who served us during world war ii had. you heard major geiger saying we didn't have a mart-ass attitude back in the day. and i heard in talking to some of these guys a hope, a wish that we could somehow return to, that that we could somehow return to a nation that respects its elders and is perhaps a bit more humble in their own approach to life and those who came before them. >> well, there's no question that things have changed. one of the things that i have enjoyed about meeting so many of these great world war ii-era veterans. and we've interviewed over 1,000

veterans, most of which are world war ii. it is a different generation. there's just a level of respect and humility. out of 1,000 gentlemen that i've interviewed, men and woman, i've yet to meet one that was arrogant or bragged about their deeds. they consistently are humble and just appreciative of the fact they had that experience. most of them wouldn't want to repeat it, but they certainly -- they're certainly glad they were able to do their duty. >> you know, that describes most of the men and women in military in general, even present day. but i want to ask you, how you're preserving the stories but how will people be able to access them? >> sure. well, essentially, we perform video interviews with world war ii, korea, vietnam vets and recently some iraq and afghanistan vets but our sense of urgency of course is to world war ii and korea. we perform these interviews in hd and we're moving to broadcast-quality video. we give free dvds to the families. and then we take those and professionally edit them and break them down to two to five-minute war stories. one of the reasons we do that is so they're more consumable for

today's media-savvy generation. and we put them on a website, that's witnesstowar.org. on that website we've got 3,000 or 4,000 war stories detailing the heroics and humorous events and everything else that occurred over just an extraordinary bloody war. >> good for you. thank you so much. thank you for doing it and thanks for coming on. >> it's an absolute honor to be here, and it's an honor to have had the opportunity to meet these gentlemen. >> all of us are -- witness to war preserves the stories as you just heard of world war ii. we will look at the group that helps vets travel to the memorial dedicated to them and their fallen comrades and see why such a simple trip can mean so much to the ones who sacrificed. >> excellent. beautiful flight all the way. we went out and asked people a simple question:

how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed much is the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪

16 million american men and women who served in world war ii. in fact, today 1 out of every 4 americans over age 75 is a veteran. many of them are here today. they are surrounded by 56 beautiful granite columns meant to symbolize the 48 states at the time in addition to the seven u.s. territories and the district of columbia, which stood together in an unprecedented showing of wartime unity. by the time that memorial was dedicated in 2004, many of the veterans were too ill, too old, or too poor to travel to see it. the following year a man in ohio who worked with aging veterans decided to do something about that. he asked one of his patients if it would be all right if he personally flew him to d.c. to see the memorial. that man broke down, cried, and accepted the offer. that moment led to the founding of what is now known as the honor flights network.

this group provides free travel for veterans to d.c. to see their memorial. recently, our camera crews were in d.c. when an honor flight arrived with a group of veterans on board. watch. ♪ >> started out here back in '44. and it's great to be home. >> i wasn't for coming down here. i've seen everything but this memorial. now that i'm here, i've got tears in my eyes. i can't say enough about it. >> i've been wanting to see this memorial all my life. i'm very pleased with it. >> it was great. very impressive. >> i've met a lot of good people. made a lot of friends. we're getting short of veterans. they're dying. every time i get a newsletter it's full of people that have left us. >> i am very fortunate.

because i am 91 years old. i'm just one of the lucky ones. i made it home. went to arlington and you saw all the cemeteries. i count my blessings every day. >> i think the worst time i had was when we got attacked by german u-boats. i was only a kid of 16. kind of scared me a little bit. >> we have so many unknowns in there. it's just not one veteran. it's a number of them. everyone. we were all young. today we're all old. and we appreciate everything that's gone on. behind us and forward. just look forward to a brighter world today. >> well, the goal of the honor flight network is to make sure every single veteran, whether from world war ii, the korean

war, or vietnam, gets to travel to washington to see their memorial. so far they have helped over 100,000 vets do just that. well, later this hour we will introduce you to a very special woman. mary louise kelly, a nurse who helped care for the severely injured soldiers from the bloodiest battles of world war ii. she will share the amazing story of how that experience reshaped her life. and when it comes to paying tribute to our veterans, few have done it as poignantly or beautifully as president ronald reagan on the 40th anniversary of d-day. his incredible speech. and a one on one with the woman who worked with him on it just ahead. peggy noonan will share her memories of the day president reagan delivered one of his most famous speeches. >> behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. and before me are the men who a subaru...

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1984. it was 40 years after the invasion of normandy. to commemorate that day and those men president ronald reagan went to the very spot where a group of army rangers scaled 100-foot cliffs under intense enemy fire and, as he put it, helped end a war. the president spoke in front of some of those very rangers. and here is a portion of that address, considered by some to be one of the great speeches in modern history. >> here in normandy the rescue began. here the allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history. their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion. to climb these sheer and

desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. the allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the allied advance. these are the boys of pointe du hoc. [ applause ] these are the men who took the cliffs. these are the champions who helped free a continent. and these are the heroes who helped end a war. 40 summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. you were young the day you took these cliffs. some of you were hardly more than boys with the deepest joys of life before you. yet you risked everything here. why? why did you do it? what impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs?

what inspired all the men of the armies that met here? we look at you, and somehow we know the answer. it was faith and belief. it was loyalty and love. the men of normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just god would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. it was the deep knowledge, and pray god we have not lost it, that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. you were here to liberate, not to conquer. and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. and you were right to doubt. you all knew that some things are worth dying for. one's country is worth dying for. and democracy is worth dying for

because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. all of you loved liberty. all of you were willing to fight tyranny. and you knew the people of your countries were behind you. here in this place, where the west held together, let us make a vow to our dead. let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. let our actions say to them the words for which matthew ridgeway listened. i will not fail thee nor forsake thee. strengthened by their courage, heartened by their value, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died. thank you very much, and god bless you all. [ applause ]

>> peggy noonan served as special assistant to president reagan, and they worked on that speech together. she joins me now, live. peggy, great to see you. do you still get chills when you listen to that? >> yeah, actually. >> and the way he brought those very men sitting before him to tears. and he said later about it that they looked like elderly businessmen sitting there that day yet these were the kids who climbed the cliffs. >> mm-hmm. >> this is one of the first times that a president in modern history had stopped and paid this sort of tribute, amazingly, to what we now know as the greatest generation. >> yeah. president reagan was very eager to celebrate the old fellows who had been young boys 40 years before, who had taken those cliffs, who were members of the u.s. army rangers. he very -- president reagan wanted very much to sort of get

his hands around and lift up a generation that until that point had not been completely specifically celebrated as the wonderful generation that fought and won world war ii. 16 million of them served in the u.s. armed forces during world war ii. and who also got through the depression before that. so that was some of the vibration that was behind the speech. >> and he had been -- before he was president he had been governor of california. >> sure. >> in the late '60s and early '70s at a time when treatment of veterans in the country, coming back from vietnam, the vietnam conflict itself was, you know, very heated and very controversial. >> yeah. >> and he wanted to send a message about our military and our veterans. >> absolutely. that speech, the pointe du hoc speech took place in 1984. ten years before, in 1974, the vietnam war had ended, and the members of the u.s. military were not being treated with so

much respect and hadn't really gotten their due from the people of the united states. for almost a generation reagan was determined to turn that around. he had great respect for those who fought in vietnam. he felt they had not been fully appreciated. he was governor when the prisoners of war, the hanoi hilton fellows, when the u.s. prisoners of war from saigon and elsewhere were finally freed it was reagan who came and welcomed them and had them over to the governor's mansion. he was keen on getting greater appreciation for the u.s. military from the american people. and he succeeded. >> and yet that speech, as much as it's known for the tribute that it paid to the veterans at the time, is also known for being very clever because at the time it was 1984. we were in the middle of the cold war. and it was a speech within a speech. explain that. >> the text of the speech, the ostensible thing that was being

said, was look, civilized nations of the west, look what you did 40 years ago when you held together, joined together. you defeated a terrible tyranny called hitler's germany. so that's what the speech is. underneath that reagan was really saying to all the gathered leaders of the west who were there that day, guys, look what your parents and grandparents did. if we hold together as they did, where going to defeat together the tyranny of our time. and that is soviet communism. so by lauding the world war ii generation reagan was also trying to inspire those who now still had to hold together. the berlin wall had not fallen. to push that wall over. so he very consciously i think used that speech to say look what we did last time, we can still do it. >> the words are so beautiful when you hear him speak them. and of course he was known as the great communicator. and you helped with that. you helped with the wording. did he ever come back and say, i

nailed that one? did you ever have a postmortem on the addresses that he gave and how they went? >> ronald reagan was funny. you would think having been in show business, having been in politics for a long time, that he would talk that way, i nailed it, i owned that room, stuff like that. >> yeah, a little bit. >> no, he never did. or not that i ever saw. reagan was amazingly modest. he had a lot of humility. and he didn't brag about his ability to get people. when people listened to him and they felt as he did, he felt it was because he felt like they did. he felt like there was a kind of communion going on. but he didn't brag. he was a fellow who had an ego who didn't brag. >> he is very missed by many people today, peggy. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> peggy noonan, everybody. president reagan may have brought the greatest generation to tears, but coming up we'll take a look at why some of the vets from that incredible era

say they are more concerned about what our troops are facing today. as our special saluting the greatest generation continues. >> there are hidden treasures throughout the memorial, from handwritten notes that family members leave for their loved ones who served to a little guy named kilroy, a picture of a man looking over a wall and the words "kilroy was here." there are two of them in the memorial and people are supposed to find them. it was an inside joke among our service personnel. they drew them first in the atlantic and then in the pacific theaters. supposedly named after a german superspy who could go anywhere he wanted. he wanted. hi honey, did you get e toaster cozy? yep. got all the cozies. [ grandma ] with n fedex one rate, i could ll a box and ship it r one flat rate. so i kn untilt was full. you'd be crazy not to. is tt nana? [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. stick with innovation. stick with power.

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stores nationwide. sleep mber. comfort indivialized. here you can see two 43-foot pavilions, one for the atlantic, one for the pacific on opposite sides of what they call the rainbow pool in honor of the over 400,000 troops, american troops, who died in world war ii. and despite the loss of life, many from america's greatest generation look back on their service as something special that helped shape their lives. and while their memories may have endured, some of those same vets are more concerned about today's soldiers and that they may be much worse off. >> the service is something special. being in the service is

something special that you'll never forget. very rough life in the military. and today the young kids that are in there have got it very, very bad. war is -- they say war is hell. >> you don't want to look back on it as bad times. you want to look back at it as good times. it's something that you learn. you profit from. if you have the right mind. a lot of people look back and they hate it. i look back at it as something that brought me through life. experienced life. being a better person. made me much better. i'm sure of that. >> i recently had the chance to speak with one of today's combat veterans. ceo of concerned veterans for america. pete, what about that? let me ask you that. because you've been dough employed three times since 9/11.

do you look back on it and hate it? love it? how do you feel about it? >> it's always a mixed feeling. there's such a sense of purpose in what you're doing with the guys and gals you're with, the mission you have, the country you're defending, a difficult task, complex situations, but you know what? he's right. you look back on the good stuff. and even the difficult stuff, you look back and realize what you were in the middle of, what you were attempting to do, how significant it was, and how important the sacrifices of those who left it all and gave it all and what they were giving it for. so i concur with what that world war ii veteran said. you look back with honor on what you did as difficult as it may be. >> how about the first veteran who suggests he's worried that your generation has had it really rough? >> i just look at that and kind of smile because i look at the world war ii generation and he's going to look at me and tell me i had it rough. here's the guy who, you know, deployed against the biggest, baddest military the world's ever seen, scaling beaches and pacific theaters, to defeat hitler's army, the greatest army

on the planet at the time. and you know, we did one-year tours. you didn't do a one-year tour in world war ii. you were in until you were wounded, killed, captured or the mission was complete. it's a very different dynamic. it's not to take away from the tours of today. but it was a theater, you were in for the duration unless something happened. >> and you were far away without the ability really at all to communicate with your loved ones back at home back in the day. >> a very difficult, different situation for both the service member and the family. i'm able to go to iraq or afghanistan and dial up skype at a local call center and call back to my family. my grandmother, whose husband was in a postworld war ii -- he was in world war ii but after the fighting was in germany for two months before she heard from him and that was a written letter, and they were married two months before that. i mean, the time, the patience, the uncertainty, the anxiety that comes with it is at a whole other level from what vets of today experience. and it cuts both ways. when you're not talking to folks back home, it's easier to be detached and more focused on what you're doing.

but man, that's difficult. and i wouldn't want to have been deployed under those circumstances. >> do you feel like we are losing something, some sort of not respect for our military but sort of love of our military. you know, back in world war ii it seems like the whole country rallied behind them. all of the states, everybody was behind the mission at that point because it seemed clear what we needed to do. and today we're so divided. and that's carried over. certainly we saw it in vietnam and even today to some extent toward our soldiers and those who fight. >> there's a reverence around that world war ii generation. i know part of the reason i joined in the first place, i don't come from a military family. i used to sit on the curb in minnesota and watch that memorial day parade, veterans day parade, and it was those proud world war ii veterans who would walk down the street and get the standing ovation. people looked at that sxad they did something, they saved the world and we're so proud of what they did. and unfortunately, we unlearned a lot of those lessons in vietnam but we've relearned them for vets of our generation. so some of that reverence is back. but it's a little different in

that these are the guys that saved the world. these are the guys that left everything behind, lost 400,000, megyn. you know, we lost almost 5,000 in our generation. it's not to take away from that. but think of the scale and scope of 400,000 families and communities who gave so much. i think there's a fundamental understanding of the cost of freedom as it's associated with world war ii. >> and yet you went and fought after 9/11, after 3,000 americans were killed on domestic soil. and you and others like you went over and fought for our country and what we stand for. and so it's very similar in many ways to what we saw in world war ii. happily, as you point out, with respect to our iraq and afghanistan veterans it does seem like there's been a turn since what we saw after vietnam. some lessons were learned by most people. and there was a story just recently that ended on a happy note about a bunch of guys, a bunch of marines who are coming back from afghanistan and not only were there some sort of makeshift tributes performed for them on their route because they had a stopover, but all the passengers in this first-class flight gave up every single one of their seats so the marines

could sit up -- >> i get chills just hearing that. that to me is an example of citizens who get it, who understand, who say hey, this is something these guys deserve. and you know, i try to do the same i have a 3 and a 1-year-old boy. every time i seaworld war two veteran, i true to get next to them to take a photo. i want them to touch that. how significant it was. and i've taken world war ii veterans every chance i get because of what it means and what they did. >> you see world war ii vet or a younger vet, pay it forward. thanks so much. up next, the war from a different perspective as we talk with one of the hundreds of thousands of women who helped in the fight for our country's freedom. >> raw casualty lists are growing. to meet the emergency at our understaffed hospitals, red cross is training patriotic volunteers as nurses' aids.

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over 400,000 women served in warld war two in noncombat roles from pilots to postal workers to nurses. one of them was mary louise kelly. >> she was a nurse for five years outside of london. she took care of a lot of soldiers and brought them back home safe. >> i cried. i didn't blame them. we will get you back to the united states. >> they said there were so many

casualties. they don't remember when day turned to night. i don't think people realized she did go through some military training and she was a professional nurse. and the service that she provided, the troops when she was outside of london. >> she is a young 96 years old. she is very appreciative that people recognized that the years that she spent in the war you know, taking care of all the troops. >> we honor her service as well. if you are a veteran of world war iiering with would love for to you share your stories with our viewers.

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we hope you enjoyed our special salute to the greatest generation. if you have a story or some old pictures you would like to share from the war, please go to the website. we look forward to sharing your memories. thank you for watching. this is the kelly file. faceboo.

facebook.com/the kelly file. thanks for watching. i'm megyn kelly. welcome to this special edition of fox news tonight. for the hour we pay tribute to the incredible life and everlasting legacy of the reverend billy graham. following the presentation, my hope america with billy graham, i will be joined in studio for a panel discussion about the reverend. sit back and enjoy this special commercial-free broadcast. >> for 60 years, my father billy graham preached the gospel of jesus christ and at 95 heas