nation, once this task completed, would to rediscover its liberty. we need to be true to their memory and to do that we must never sacrifice what -- we must never renounce what their sacrifice united. the promise of normandy will be supported by france with all its might. i promise that this will be the case. this is at the heart of america's destiny too. president of the united states of america, ladies and gentlemen, all along the roads of france, the beaches from carenton, from metz, along those roads taken by the heros we're honoring today as of the summer 1944 all along we see hundreds of milestones. they are decorated with the

stars of the american flag and with the flame of the statute of liberty. that statute that one of our greatest skuculpt teres gave to the city of new york. these stone monuments serve as a reminder, an indelible reminder, inscribed in the countryside of france, a reminder of what our country owes the united states of america. their presence resonates, it's an invitation for us to continue to renew the secular pact that unites, france, the united states of america and freedom. i am ready, mr. president of the united states of america, dear donald trump, the people of france are ready, ready to renew this friendship between our

nations that has contributed so much to the history of humanity and the world expects so much from. we are ready and we will do this. thank you. long live the united states of america. [ speaking foreign language ] long live the friendship between our two nations. >> a beautiful and powerful speech by france's president macron. he talked about how the promise of normandy will be supported by the people of france with all of their hearts. they will remember what we owe to our homeland, what we owe to democracy, and what we owe to the world. david ignatius, for any american who has not had the blessing to

visit these beaches and talk to these people, the phrase that really rings the truest to me is france has not forgotten and you feel that every time you drive into normandy, whether it's the fluttering of american flags or the french people coming up to you and thanking you for what your country did 75 years ago. >> it was a powerful speech by macron, i thought worthy of this 75th anniversary of d-day. that phrase, joe, france has not forgotten, he expressed in so many ways, kissing the veterans who so bravely came ashore here. i thought what was wonderful about that speech was the way he expressed the empathy he feels as france's president and i think the french people feel for the americans who came here to

defend france. that sense of empathy. they came from the hills of kentucky and pennsylvania and georgia. he got inside the heads of those young kids who came up on to the omaha beach plane. i thought it was a fine speech. one i hope americans will look at and remember. >> and what you're watching right now are five veterans, one posthumously getting france's highest honor. this is what macron was talking about in his remarks. >> it was also a pointed lesson in there for the united states and specifically for the president of the united states of america, in that passage that you referred to, joe, we owe you more, because he said on the beaches and our armed forces were united, french, norwegian, dutch, british, the united states, never cease. we owe you the fact that we will never cease to perpetuate the alliance of a free people. he was talking about nato.

>> willie, he also promised to be true to the memories of those men buried here in normandy. >> yeah. i thought it was an absolutely wonderful speech because he got to the humanity as david was saying of those young men who landed on the beaches there, more than 9,000 of whom are laying behind you in those crosses. he expressed what i'm feeling this morning, what you all have been talking about all morning, which is a sense of awe for what these young men, boys in many cases, teenagers, and a deep sense of gratitude. france has it, we have it here sitting in the comfort of the united states. as you look at these images right here, just think about what these young men encountered. they were in those boats. they could look out over the horizon and turn and look at the beach to see what was waiting for them, which was a horror scene. the nazis on the beach cutting down other young men like them. yet, they moved forward. the doors of those boats flew

open and they stormed the beaches of normandy to begin to free the world. my heart is just completely full of gratitude for those young men there and for the old men now who sit on that stage, the faces perhaps for the last time gathered in normandy as many of them now in their 90s. i am grateful today. when you look at these pictures and see the remaining veterans getting france's highest honor and you realize how we talked earlier, joe, about how this day being so much bigger than one person, and so much about unity and one of the most momentous moments and days in history, for those who are concerned that president trump perhaps might have a lack of knowledge of history, this day will be quite an education for anybody who wants to learn of the sacrifice that was given 75 years ago today. >> i think every president,

michael beschloss, that comes to normandy, every american that comes to normandy, leaves a more fervent believer in american democracy and also just in the power of the american spirit. michael, we will actually -- >> one second -- >> we have the president of the united states coming to speak. we will go to you on the other side of the remarks. here is donald trump, president of the united states. >> president macron, mrs. macron, and the people of france, to the first lady of the united states, and members of the united states congress, to

distinguished guests, veterans, and my fellow americans, we are gathered here on freedom's altar, on these shores, on these bluffs, on this day 75 years ago, 10,000 men shed their blood and thousands sacrificed their lives for their brothers, for their countries, and for the survival of liberty. today we remember those who fell and we honor all who fought right here in normandy. they won back this ground for civilization to more than 170 veterans of the second world war who join us today, you are among the very greatest americans who

will ever live. you're the pride of our nation. you are the glory of our republic and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. [ applause ] here with you are over 60 veterans who landed on d-day. our debt to you is everlasting. today we express our undying gratitude. when you were young, these men

enlisted their lives in a great crusade, one of the greatest of all times. their mission is the story of an epic battle and the ferocious eternal struggle between good and evil. on the 6th of june, 1944, they joined a liberation force of awesome power and breathtaking scale. after months of planning, the allies had chosen this ancient coastline to mount their campaign, to vanquish the wicked tyranny of the nazi empire from the face of the earth. the battle began in the skies above us, in those first tense midnight hours, 1,000 aircraft roared overhead with 17,000 allied airborne troops preparing to leap into the darkness beyond

these trees. then came dawn. the enemy who had occupied these heights saw the largest naval armada in the history of the world. just a few miles offshore were 7,000 vessels bearing 130,000 warriors. they were the citizens of free and independent nations united by their duty to their compatriots and to millions yet unborn. there were the british whose nobility and fortitude saw them through the worst of dunkirk and the london blitz, the full violence of nazi fury was no match for the full grandeur of british pride.

thank you. [ applause ] [ applause ] there were the canadians whose robust sense of honor and loyalty compel them to take up arms alongside britain from the very, very beginning. there were the fighting pols, the tough norwegians and the intrepid aussies, the gallant french commandos, soon to be met by thousands of their brave countrymen ready to write a new chapter in the long history of french valor. [ applause ] and finally, there were the americans. they came from the farms of a

vast heartland, the streets of glowing cities and the forges of mighty industrial towns, before the war, many had never ventured beyond their own community. now they had come to offer their lives, half a world from home. this beach code named omaha was defended by the nazis with monstrous fire power, thousands and thousands of mines and spikes driven into the sand so deeply. it was here that tens of thousands of the americans came, the gis who boarded the landing craft that morning, knew that they carried on their shoulders not just the pack of a soldier,

but the fate of the world. colonel george taylor, whose 16th infantry regiment would join in the first wave was asked, what would happen if the germans stopped right then and there, cold on the beach, just stopped them? what would happen? this great american replied, why, the 18th infantry is coming in right behind us, the 26th infantry will come on too. then there is the 2nd infantry division already afloat and the 9th division and the second armored and the 3rd armored and all the rest. maybe the 16th won't make it, but someone will. one of those men entailers the

16th regiment was army medic ray lambert. ray was only 23 but he had already earned three purple hearts and two silver stars fighting in north africa and sicily, where he and his brother bill no longer with us, served side by side. in the early morning hours, the two brothers stood together on the deck of the ""uss hen rico" before boarding two separate higgins landing craft. if i don't make it, bill said, please, please take care of my family. ray asked his brother to do the same. of the 31 men on ray's landing craft, only ray and six others paid it to the beach.

there were only a few of them left. they came to the sector right here below us. easy red it was called. again and again ray ran back into the water and dragged out one man after another. he was shot through the arm. his leg was ripped open by shrapnel. his back was broken. he nearly drown. he had beenen the beach for hours bleeding and saving lives when he finally lost consciousness. he woke up the next day on a cot beside another badly wounded soldier. he looked over and saw his brother bill. they made it. they made it. they made it.

at 98 years old, ray is here with us today with his fourth purple heart and his third silver star from omaha. ray, the free world salutes you. [ applause ] [ applause ]

[ applause ] thank you, ray. [ applause ] nearly two hours in, unrelensing fire from these bluffs kept the americans pinned down on the sand now red with our heros' blood. then just a few hundred yards from where i'm standing, a breakthrough came. the battle turned and with it

history. down on the beach, captain joe dawson, the son of a texas preacher, led company g through a mine field to a natural fold in the hillside still here. just beyond this path to my right, captain dawson snuck beneath an enemy machine gun perch and tossed his grenades. soon, american troops were charging up dawson's draw. what a job he did. what bravery he showed. lieutenant spalding and the men from company e moved on to crush the enemy strong point on the far side of this cemetery and stop the slaughter on the beach below. countless more americans poured out across this ground all over

the countryside. they joined fellow american warriors from utah beach and allies from juno, along with the airborne and the french patriots. private first class russell pickett of the 29th division's famed 116th infantry regiment had been wounded in the first wave that landed on omaha beach. at a hospital in england private pickett vowed to return to battle. i'm going to return, he said. i'm going to return. six days after d-day, he rejoined his company. two-thirds had been killed already. many had been wounded within 15

minutes of the invasion. they lost 19 just from the small town of bedford, virginia, alone. before long, a grenade left private pickett and he was gravely wounded, so badly wounded. again he chose to return. he didn't care. he had to be here. he was then wounded a third time and laid unconscious for 12 days. they thought he was gone. they thought he had no chance. russell pickett is the last known survivor of the legendary company a and today, believe it or not, he has returned once more to these shores to be with his comrades. private pickett, you honor us all with your presence. [ applause ]

[ applause ] tough guy. by the fourth week of august

paris was liberated. [ applause ] some landed here pushed all the way to the center of germany. some threw open the gates of nazi concentration camps to liberate jews who had suffered the bottomless horrors of the holocaust. and some warriors fell on other fields of battle returning to rest on this soil for eternity. before this place was consecrated to history, the land was opened by a french farmer, a member of the french resistance. these were great people. these were strong and tough people. his terrified wife waited out

d-day in a nearby householding tight to their little baby girl. the next day a soldier appeared. i'm an american, he said. i'm here to help. the french woman was overcome with emotion and cried. days later she laid flowers on fresh american graves. today her granddaughter stephanie serves as a guide at this cemetery. this week stephanie led 92-year-old marion wynn of california to see the grave of her brother don for the very first time. marion and stephanie are both with us today and we thank you for keeping alive the memories of our precious heros. thank you. [ applause ]

[ applause ] 9,388 young americans rest beneath the white crosses and

stars of david arrayed on these beautiful grounds. each one has been adopted by a french family that thinks of him as their own. they come from all over france to look after our boys. they kneel, they cry, they pray, they place flowers and they never forget. today america embraces the french people and thanks you for honoring our beloved dead. thank you. [ applause ] [ applause ]

to all of our friends and partners, our cherished alliance was forged in the heat of battle, tested in the trials of war and proven in the blessings of peace. our bond is unbreakable. from across the earth americans are drawn to this place as though it were a part of our very soul. we come not only because of what they did here, we come because of who they were. they were young men with their entire lives before them. they were husbands who said good-bye to their young brides and took their duty as their fate.

they were fathers who would never meet their infant sons and daughters because they had a job to do. with god as their witness they were going to get it done. they came wave after wave without question without hesitation and without complaint. more powerful than the strength of american arms was the strength of american hearts. these men ran through the fires of hell, moved by a force no weapon could destroyp the fierce patriotism of a free, proud and sovereign people. [ applause ]

they battled not for control and d domeny nags, but liberty, democracy and self-rule. they pressed on for love of home and country, the main streets, the schoolyards, the churches and neighbors, the families, and communities that gave us men such as these. they were sustained by the confidence that america can do anything because we are a noble nation with a virtuous people, praying to a righteous god. the exceptional might came from a truly exceptional spirit. the abundance of courage came from an abundance of faith. the great deeds of an army came

from the great depths of their love. as they confronted their fate, the americans and the allies placed themselves into the palm of god's hand. the men behind me will tell you that they are just the lucky ones. as one of them recently put it, all the heros are buried here. but we know what these men did. we knew how brave they were. they came here and saved freedom and then they went home and showed us all what freedom is all about. the american sons and daughters who saw us to victory were no less extraordinary in peace.

they built families, they built industries, they built a national culture that inspired the entire world in the decades that followed. america defeated communism, secured civil rights, revolutionized science, launched a man to the moon, and then kept on pushing to new frontiers and today, america is stronger than ever before. [ applause ] seven decades ago, the warriors of d-day fought a sinister enemy who spoke of a thousand year

empire. in defeating that evil, they left a legacy that will last not only for a thousand years, but for all time. for as long as the soul knows of duty and honor, for as long as freedom keeps its hold on the human heart, to the men who sit behind me and to the boys who rest in the field before me, your example will never ever grow old. [ applause ] your legend will never dark, your spirit, brave, unyielding and true, will never die. the blood that they spilled, the

tears that they shed, the lives that they gave, the sacrifices that they made, did not just win a battle. it did to the just win a war. those who fought here won a future for a nation. they won the survival of our civilization. and they showed us the way to love, cherish and defend our way of life for many centuries to come. today as we stand together upon this sacred earth, we pledged that our nations will forever be strong and united. we will forever be together.

our people will forever be bold. our hearts will forever be loyal. and our children and their children will forever and always be free. may god bless our great veterans, may god bless our allies, may god bless the heros of d-day, and may god bless america. thank you. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> president donald j. trump delivering what at least i believe to be his most powerful speech he's given as president of the united states, from certainly the most moving setting. it followed a remarkable speech as well from president macron.

president trump began by talking about gathering here on freedom's altar. the speech had to be reassuring to the allies who he had been -- been in at least pitched rhetorical battle with over the past several years talking about an alliance that is unbreakable, talking about british resolve, french valor, the fighting pols, the intrepid aussies who made this possible. now the laying of the wreath and the moment of silence.

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♪ ladies and gentlemen please remain seated as presidents macron and trump greet the world war ii veterans. >> mika, as president trump and president macron greet the d-day vets, your thoughts. >> i think the entire ceremony was beautiful and it is an education within itself. you really feel the magnitude of this moment in history, even 75 years later, and to see the veterans who were there sitting on the stage is something you hope to never forget in your life. trump's speech itself was very good and measured up to the moment and really was a true salute to the unity of this day

and he spoke about not only the sacrifices that were made, but our allies and the importance of unity. it was a really good speech. >> it did measure up to the moment as you said. it seems that ronald reagan in 1984 on the 40th anniversary really set the stage for these commemorations. it was remarkable, the words that he spoke that peggy noonan helped craft about the boys of pointe du hoc. other presidents did not fair quite as well. bill clinton and george w. bush come to mind. but willie, the president, president trump, had several high moments. of course we'll all be talking

about the men that he spoke of. but there will be headlines from this speech and certainly i think across europe at least among our allies, they will be positive headlines. the president, again, talking about british resolve and french valor, talking about the fighting pols, talking about the intrepid aussies, but also talking about an alliance that was forged in war, strengthened in peace, and is unbreakable today. that, those are words that our allies have wanted to hear from this commander in chief for some time. perhaps it was this remarkable setting that finally got the president to say what they had been wanting to hear for the first two and a half years of this presidency. >> one of the last lines of that speech, joe, was god bless our allies, right before he said god bless america. we'll see now if his policy and

further rhetoric lives up to that. i totally agree with both of you. i thought it was a terrific speech. i thought he did a great job telling the story of d-day through the men and women who were sitting there behind them. i thought it was preceded by another great speech from president macron who expressed the awe and gratitude we're all feeling today. the line ta president trump delivered, quote, you are among the greatest americans who will ever live. you are the pride of our nation. you are the glory of our republic. isn't that the truth. michael beschloss, i thought he weaved together, also i'm glad he acknowledged marian wynn who became a pipe welder to join the war effort as 6 million other did, whose brother died and lays in the american cemetery there behind the ceremony today. >> yes, i sure agree with you, willie, this day is really about the vets and especially because this is probably the last time

we will be able to have a ceremony like this with so many people who were active in the war effort and the war heros of d-day. the thing i thought was interesting, especially contrasted with all those other celebrations, were american presidents attended was before donald trump spoke when we heard from president macron it was almost a lecture to our president and kept saying, dear, president trump, and he would say things like, america's never better than when we're fighting, america's fighting for freedom and for democratic ideals and he offered to renew the friendship with france, that's something you would never have had to have a french president do before in our history. i hope that this is something that closes the circle with some healing and that when president trump said those nice things about our allies and about our alliance, i hope he really means it and hope he will remember what he said beyond today.

>> let us hope that tweets do not follow. >> let this moment breathe. it's a good one. >> well, let's hope this moment continues and all i will say of president macron's words, and challenges to the president, i also, david ignatius, am glad that president chose to have the discipline to stick to script and deliver what, again, i believe is a strongest speech of his presidency. there was one especially beautiful moment and i loved the thought because any world war ii documentary you see, any vietnam documentary you see, when the interviewer starts talking about them being heroes, they will tear up and they will say, the heros were the ones that never came back. well, president trump said that that's what these heros were saying. the heros were the ones buried

here behind us. yet, he went on to say -- to talk about the remarkable life that was created by this generation. tom brokaw called the greatest generation and you can take the ending of saving private ryan where tom hanks' character said to private ryan, earn this. as he lay dying on that bridge. that's what this generation did. they eerpd this. >> i thought president trump hit pretty much every note right in this speech. it was well written. it was well delivered. i think he came here understanding that this was an event that required him to tell the american story, not donald trump's story, not a personal, but something about really resonates through presidencies, through we

heard it and as we heard the president tell the stories of these veterans behind him and that frail rising to receive the applause of the audience, i think all of us felt that president trump, on our behalf, was thanking these brave, now old men, who came here 75 years ago. today was a day when president trump got it right and i think we all feel that watching and listening to him. >> he got it right not only by talking about what the united states did, but, mike, i think most importantly, raising our allies up. lifting our allies up just as macron had lifted us up, lifting up those who made victory over hitler possible. >> he did to that. the speech was much more than just appropriate and that's a high bar for donald trump that we've all become familiar with. now the question is, off of what

he said about the alliance that was formed, literally here, with the lives of these people, these young men behind us, buried now for 75 years, the crux of that speech is going to be when angela merkel leaves here today, when macron leaves here today, when the leaders of norway and poland sitting, watching the speech, in dublin watching the speech, are they going to -- what are they going to be saying? they're going to be saying which donald trump are we going to get tomorrow? which donald trump are we going to get next week in negotiations about nato? which donald trump are we going to get when he comes to talk about tariffs? are we going to get the donald trump we've become used to or are we going to get the donald trump who is clearly more than appropriate today here in his remarks. >> i wrote earlier in "the washington post" about separating the ground noise from

the signal. there certainly was a lot of ground nice leading in to this trip. talking about supposed insults and debates, whether the princess was insulted or not. if you look at signal how does he treat our allies when he's overseas. you look at actually, mika, the generosity of spirit he showed to teresa pay, someone that he has been quite fierce with in the past and what he said here today, i think it's safe to say this is one of his more successful trips abroad if not his most successful trip abroad. but let me say -- >> but, but, but -- >> thus far. >> thus far. as an american, i'm hoping we can all say that when we are in the studio next week. >> this is an event that's about much more than him and we have much more ahead to cover.

incredible stories, including andrea mitchell will be joining us with more on the story of the woman who is here -- >> can we get final thoughts from michael beschloss. >> sure. >> really quickly. >> we understand he has to go. michael, final thoughts. >> this was d-day, the most important day probably of the 20th century, and it's very important that we keep on coming back to this, not only when their veterans tell us about their own story, as we still have thankfully today, but 20 or 40 or 60 years from now, you know, americans have to go back and say to young people how important this was and, you know, the fact that this country might not have survived if this had not happened on this day 75 years ago. >> michael beschloss, thank you very much. our coverage continues here from normandy. we're joined by former secretary of state john kerry in just three minutes. as we go to break, general dwight eisenhower's message to

american and allied forces taking part in the d-day landings. here it is, courtesy of the u.s. army. >> soldiers, sailors and airmen of the allied expeditionary force, you are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have driven these many months. the eyes of the world are upon you. the hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. in company with our brave allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the german war machine, the elimination of nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. your task will not be an easy one. your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. he will fight savagely. but this is the year 1944, much has happened since the nazi

triumphs of 1940, '41. the united nations have inflicted upon the germans great defeat in open battle, man to man. our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and our aero fence sieir offensive reduced their war in the air. our home front has given us superiority in weapons and missions of war and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. the tide has turned. the free men of the world are marching together to victory. i have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. we will accept nothing less than full victory. good luck and let us all beseech the blessing of our mighty god in this great and noble undertaking.

welcome back to our special coverage of d-day 75 years later. and we are watching right now as french president emanuel macron and president trump and their wives listen to "taps." let's listen in.

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>> we're joined now by former secretary of state john kerry. also obviously a veteran of war. what were your thoughts today? what are your thoughts coming

back here yet again? >> well, this is the most sacred land that there is, i think, and i think people feel it. "taps" is always the hardest thing to listen to. i think the overpowering sense that you get from this entire ceremony is -- was captured to a degree by the president in the stories of each person. remarkable courage. i know the saying is that only the heroes are buried here, but those guys were heroes, and there were remarkable -- the whole generation, i mean, tom brokaw appropriately labeled it this generation because these civil soldiers started the war in 1941 and they went all the way through. there was no one-year tour, no

flying over, flying out. you went and didn't come back until you got the job done. and i think anybody watching this today has to be just overwhelmed by the mission, by the size of the scope of what they did, and the imminency of your own death, that the moment you approached that beach the chances were high that your life was going to end. that's sacrifice. >> and the president's speech, also president macron's speech, very unifying, so moving to hear the president of france saying, france will never forget, and of course, they do not. if you come to normandy, you know they are forever grateful for what we have done. and president trump, i think for the first time in his presidency, resoundingly speaking of this north atlantic

alliance that defeated hitler, freed the world, and can protect this country from future harm. >> well, i think, joe, the key question will be what is the policy that is instituted over the course of the next months and years? what is said here today has been very different from what has been enacted and played out. i think this is obviously a dramatic and extraordinary moment with the flyover. >> willie geist here in new york. we're watching the flyover there in normandy, france as the president of the united states and the first lady, joined by

french president macron and mrs. macron look out at the sea where 75 years ago today, american troops, british troops, french troops landed on the beaches of normandy, joe and mika. >> so, secretary kerry, continue. >> well, i think that this moment is particularly relevant to celebrate this now because it represented such an extraordinary effort by allies to come together and stand up for freedom, to stand up for democracy, to fight for a common set of values and to recognize what was at stake. and i think there are those currents loose today in the world, which raise a question again about fascism, a question again about authoritarianism, a question again about not coming

together but breaking apart. brexit, europe. so i applaud the sentiments express expressed. the next test will be what happens over the course of the next months? is this really the policy and where do we go? >> willie geist, do you have a question for the secretary? >> yes, secretary kerry, good morning. i'm just curious as to your personal thoughts. i didn't realize your family connection to the events that followed d-day. you had a special ceremony yesterday. could you tell that story a bit, mr. secretary? >> well, i first came to this beach two years after the war in 1947. my father brought me here. i was four years old. and it's one of my very, very first memories, literally, was this beach. i didn't completely understand it. my father told me what it was, but i saw some of the burned-out

hopes of war on that beach at that time. i came here to this beach many times after that. i came here for the 50th, 60th, 70th, now the 75th. most importantly, i came here alone or with somebody from the family very special and just walked around and learned the history of it and i read most of the literature on it. it's a great lesson. honestly, as a veteran, as somebody who fought in the war, there was such a difference between the war we fought and where you would wait to be ambushed. you didn't know when it would happen, so there was a certain impermeability to that, a certain comfort. here you saw what was happening all around you. boats blowing up beside you, tanks sinking in the water. the guys in front of you just disappearing from view and never rising again because the water

was too deep. the effort to just step out of that boat cold, wet, seasick from several days at sea and carry on is amazing. >> you know, mike, we ran a package earlier this week leading up to d-day and the 75th commemoration as the presidents of the united states and france continue to look at tributes to those who fought this war 75 years ago. bombers overhead. mike, it was very interesting. again, mainly starting with the 40th anniversary when americans would come over and celebrate and it would be a glorious celebration. i found it so interesting

hearing the words of david brinkley in 1974 on the 30th anniversary reminding americans that there was a time when the united states military was honored but that politicians -- flyovers continue, but the politicians had made such a mess of vietnam that that was not possible. and the veterans that would come over and actually speak to the cameras saying they couldn't believe that people actually appreciated what they had done here 30 years ago. so much has changed now where now it is a military that is the one institution revered by the american people. >> yeah, you know, in the flyovers, you just saw part of what you were just speaking to, joe. the world war ii airplanes that

flew over slow, lumbering, easy targets. we had the 21st century version of military weaponry just flying over us at less than supersonic speed filled with more power in one plane than they probably had in the entire fleet that was out here 75 years ago this morning. but i would have to tell you, listening to secretary kerry who i know who has been here since he was a child, would it be possible for every american to walk this hallowed ground, i deeply believe we would be living in a different country today. because if you walk this ground and you look at the tablets, the stone tablets, the stars of david, the names carved out in there, the states represented, you see who we are. this is who we are.

this is the united states of america behind us. men of all faiths from every state, every region of the country came together here. the dead are here, the living, the elderly living were represented here today. this is who we are. we have lost our memory. we have lost our memory to google and snapchat and twitter and this instant gratification age that we live in. this is who we are. not twitter. this is who we are. >> it is hard to walk here and not feel a sense of unity. >> completely. >> and of course being moved but an extraordinary sense of unity as a people and also as a member of this alliance. >> alliance, absolutely. the pictures try to do it justice, but being here is different. it is an unbelievable experience. and as we look at the sacrifice

and the bravery and the commitment and the unity that were shown by the young men pouring out of those boats -- >> that's the french. so beautiful. >> it's hard not to keep in mind the elements of that day and how much coincidence was on the side of the allied forces, from the weather to luck in many ways. >> there was an enormous amount -- obviously, nothing diminishes the courage and the thinking and the planning and the preparation, which is astonishing that they were able to leave port, go back to port and come back. and the germans didn't know what was happening. but you talk about elements of luck. it happened to be at a time when the generals in this region had all gone to a city south of here

and convened there for the weekend. rommel had left his headquarters, driven by car all the way to germany for his birthday. his wife's birthday, i guess. and celebrated it was gone. the pans were a division east of here, i guess, did not move and could have come in to counter. just so many different coincidences. the weather, the break in the weather -- >> mike, you also talked about the extraordinary misdirection play that the united states had enacted against the germans. >> stunning. and it began way ahead of time with counterintelligence turning german operatives agents, making them double agents, putting misinformation back into germany, making sure they really believed that the invasion was going to take place further up

the coast. they had young boys here and older conscripts here, and they had older germans with lugers ready to shoot them if they didn't stand and fight. really, all of this was a consequence of hitler making one fundamental, enormous, catastrophic decision which was to open up the second front, declare war against the soviet union and stalin, and therefore have to put so much of his air power and fire power. so by the time this invasion took place, we controlled the air completely in france. i think only two german airplanes were airborne during the course of that, and they made one or two passes and took off famously shown in the lo"th longest day" movie. extraordinary events like that. >> a footnote, of course, was

that from the time we entered the war in december, in '41, of course, the germans -- >> beautiful. >> go ahead, mr. secretary. >> well, the missing man formation where the one plane takes off. >> of course, we came in december of '41. i believe the germans went into russia in june of '41. and so from the moment we got into war, of course, stalin was pressuring churchill and fdr to open up that second front. and always felt that we waited a little too long, because again, this is one thing we should mention today as we're talking about the defeat of hitler. the sacrifices made by the russian people throughout world war ii was so horrific.

>> 30 million people in russia alone died. and russians are sensitive to that, and they should be sen sensitive to that. they always feel they never get the credit for their role in winning world war ii. >> it could not have been won the way it was without them, and there's no doubt as we sit here and remember the heroes and the sacrifices from our allies, what they sacrificed on the eastern front. >> absolutely. what i think in big terms what is key to take away from today, and it's relevant to today, as we see facts being erased from the public dialogue, as we see extremism being embraced in certain places, as we see, really, elements of fascism reappearing by virtue of the one

idealogy statism, lack of individuality, all these hallmarks of fascism, it is appearing in europe. at the moment we are celebrating this, and the british will be here tonight celebrating at j e juneau beach, brexit is occurring. for the last two years, nato has been under attack. the value of the eu is under attack. the eu came together not as an epic program or fly by night thing, it was the outgrowth of world war ii in order to stop europeans from killing each other. that was the fundamentals of this. so we need to remember that and why there was such an historic value after centuries of millions of people dying. finally we created this unified entity and that unified entity represents the western values that these men died for. we have to remember that. >> mr. secretary, thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you very much. >> thank you so much for your

sf service to this country. this night 75 years ago, president roosevelt addressed the nation, and he delivered his reaction to the d-day invasion and his words of prayer. >> my fellow americans, last night when i spoke with you about the fall of rome, i knew at that moment that troops of the united states and our allies were crossing the channel in another and greater operation. >> by the time franklin roosevelt came on the radio, the d-day invasion was the talk of every small town and big city across america. >> in this poignant hour, i ask you to join with me in prayer. >> the ailing president wanted to be in london with churchill for the operation. instead, he stayed at a house near thomas jefferson's

monticello and composed a message based off the book of common prayer. >> almighty god, our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor. a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our civilization and to set free a suffering humanity. >> according to his story and michael beschloss, eleanor roosevelt said his message fortified our confidence, and in great crises, he was guided by a strength and wisdom larger than his own. israel had long known that when d-day finally came, thousands of american boys would suffer for it. the president asked god to intervene. >> they will need thy blessings. their road will be long and hard.

the enemy is strong. he may hurl back our forces. success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again. >> americans listening that night were hopeful that hitler would soon be defeated and prayed for the safety of the sons of their hometowns, whose fate would not be known for days. >> they will be tried by night and by day without rest until the victory is won. the darkness will be rent by noise and flame. men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war. but for the end of battle they return to the haven of home. some will never return. embrace these, father, and

receive them, thy heroic servants into thy kingdom. >> roosevelt wouldn't live to see another year or even the end of the war. but he knew it would come. >> with thy blessing, we shall preva prevail. overly unholy forces of our enemy, help us conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogan arrogan arrogan arrogance. lead us to unity that will spell a sure peace. >> newspapers printed the president's prayer that evening and thousands read along with his words before they turned in. speaking as one nation, united in solemn sacrifice.

>> thy will be done, almighty god. amen. >> joining us now, a member of the intelligence and armed services committees, independent senator angus king of maine. it's great to have you with us for our special coverage. >> nice to be with you. >> tell us your thoughts as the symbols and images, as they take them in. >> it's sort of overwhelming, but i couldn't help but think as we were looking at the veterans on the stage and thinking about what happened, nobody who came a ashore that day thought about being a democrat or republican. nobody thought about arguing politics, it was one unified cause. i'm here for the general celebration of this solemn event, but also a particular. we have a guy, charles shay, a native american from maine who was a medic on the beach at 6:30 in the morning on d-day. he was one of those guys

swimming out, saving people's lives, pulling them in, and as i said, he's a native american member of the penobscot indian nation. he's 95 and looks about 65. to be able to meet him, talk to him was a real thrill. and this is an extraordinary day. >> david ignatius? >> i want to ask senator king, we all listened to president trump's speech. i think most of us found it powerful. he was talking not about himself but about the country and its sacrifices and its alliances. and i'm wondering whether you as such a sensible observer of this administration, what confidence do you have that he's really going to carry out the words that he spoke in deeds going forward, whether we're going to see better alliance management, if you will, from this president? >> i certainly hope so. and i was watching him. i think he was caught up in the moment. >> i agree with you. >> i think the emotion and those stories that he told were really

exceptional. i mean, you know, i guess maybe i'm a little naive, but i hope he's going to carry from this moment the importance of having friends, the importance of having allies. it wasn't just americans throughout that day, it was canadians, british, and of course, the nation of france. so i thought he and macron seemed to really have a little thing, a positive. he gave macron a big hug after his speech, so i'm optimistic that -- i don't know, i don't want to overdo it and say this is some kind of turning point, anglo-american or european-american relations, but i thought it was good. >> senator, i agree with you, you can't stand on that ground and not feel something. we all agree that hopefully the president may feel that, too. but is it asking too much of one day or one moment or one speech to change the entire direction

of the president's view of the world, the view of alliances, the view of america's role in the world? >> i don't know if you can say that one day is going to change it fundamentally, but as i said, if you watched, and you could probably see the close-ups at home, i got the feeling he was very taken with this moment and had a connection to the president of france that i don't think i've seen before. who knows. we'll see whether there are tweets on the plane on the way back or something along those lines, but i think for today, it was hard not to feel that he was captured by the spirit of this extraordinary place. >> all right, senator king, thank you so much. >> it was a good speech. >> it was a good speech. >> it really was. >> senator angus king, thank you very much. >> appreciate it. >> always a pleasure. >> we're awaiting, i guess, more

dialogue with president macron and president trump is to happen shortly. still ahead on this special edition of "morning joe," thousands of american troops lost their lives on d-day 75 years ago, but one small town in virginia was hit especially hard. mike barnicle has the story of the bedford boys ahead this morning on a "morning joe" special live from normandy. m n'. 2. unlimited data. use as much as you want, when you want. 3. no surprises on your bill. taxes and fees included. still think you have a better deal? bring in your discount, and we'll match it. that's right. t-mobile will match your discount. i went straight to ctca. after my mastectomy, i felt like part of my identity was being taken away.

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up through omaha beach to pun tir puntihawk, you pass one road that says virginia. that's because when one of the boats pulled up to shore and the gate dropped, 31 men from bedford, virginia were among the men charging up omaha beach. all 30 were killed from this one small town in virginia. it's a story that has resonated through our history and the history of this day. take a look. the american cemetary, normandy. 172 acres. headstones bleached white by sun, wind and time. >> normandy from the peninsula eastward to the mouth of the same showed a tremendous battle.

>> 150,000 allied soldiers. they came ashore at 6:30 in the morning of 6 june, 1944. the noise, stunning. the carnage horrific. the bravery constant. omaha beach was a fortress. machine guns had clear interlocking streams of fire from pill boxes. men dropped in the water, caught with a buzz saw of bullets as soon as the gates opened. some drowned. some barely made it ashore. at day's end, more than 1500 american soldiers had been killed. one of them was private ray stevens of bedford, virginia, a town of 3200 folks. private stevens and his twin brother ray belonged to company a. they were one of 30 that hit the

beach. by dusk, 19 of them would be dead. two brothers would perish in the campaign, one small town still carrying history's heartache. the monuments of history are all still here. puntihawk where american rangers scaled a 1,000-foot-high sheer cliff. the hedge rows thick, dangerous and ever present. the villages still looking much like they did when the allies came calling. and the largest of the cemetaries, the one that sits on the bluff above the beach where world war ii in europe began to end. omaha beach. for those who died in europe serve as a daily reminder of the horror of war and the price of freedom and democracy. and it is here and out of the season no matter how many years

pass, the sun still sets on sacred ground, where heroes look west toward home, toward america. >> willie, it's hard to imagine the sacrifice that that town and so many towns across america experienced, and especially in these days when so many americans seem detached from the challenges of the men and women who wear the uniform and fight for this country day in and day out. but i know from talking to my parents and my grandparents that certainly during that war, it was a war, it was a crusade, as they said at the time, that everyone felt connected to. >> yeah, we talked a little bit earlier just after the president's speech. you talk about everybody being connected, everybody back home knew someone or was connected to the war somehow.

marian nguyen, the 92-year-old who sat behind the president of the united states, who i thought he did a great job of acknowledging, her brother landed on the beach behind you. she went to work, she became a pipe welder as a teenage girl. learned how to do it and helped in the war effort as 600 other women did while the men were fighting on the beaches. as we heard that beautiful piece from mike barnicle, i'm going to embarrass him a little bit. he's written so many beautiful columns about the events of d-day, and he wrote, it was 25 years ago on the anniversary of the boston globe. it was a military story but it was also a mhuman story and he wrote this paragraph. these were heroes who all died young. they missed baptisms. they missed new year's eve. they never stood at the door anxiously waiting for their daughter's first date to arrive or witness their kids' junior

proms or college graduations. they never saw men landing on the moon or a fax machine. they weren't allowed to walk on the beach with the girls they loved or hold the hands of grandchildren who would have asked about their great crusade. that's mike barnicle writing 25 years ago, and i think about them and all those men, 9300 or so, lying behind you guys. >> mike, now 75 years later, listening to your column from 25 years ago, every man that you see that fell for the rest of us, for generations they never saw that, never -- as you said, never waited up for their daughters to come home or walk them down the aisle. but what we saw behind here during the president's speech, and there were some cutaways, was little children running

through the cemetary that have no idea what went on behind here and have not known war the way these young boys did since that time. >> and hopefully those young people that we saw running through past the headstones here, they will never know war, either. that's the objective, i think, of how we live and who we are. but thank you, willie, for referencing the 25-year-old piece. thank you very much. but it brings to my mind something that we've talked about frequently in this program, and it starts with an i -- and i'm not blaming teachers here, certainly, but we don't know our own history here in america. in public schools, private schools, high schools, colleges, we don't know our own history. this is our history. it's woven into who we are as a country. again, we referenced this earlier.

the united states of america, the usa, the first two letters are u-s. us. we came here. us. we. >> well, you know, we had a discussion with richard haas a few weeks ago. i read an article in foreign affairs that talked about a very conscious decision by many universities 25 years ago to stop teaching american history with the focus that they had on american history, and this article was imploring them to reconnect this nation with its past. yes, the many sins, the original sin of slavery, the sins of racism and all the other things, but at the same time, remembering what those who went before us did so we have a better understanding how we go moving forward. and yes, examining the sins --

the many sins of some of our founders and other men, but also understanding the ideas that were passed along that were powerful enough to allow lincoln to move this nation forward during the civil war and allow these young men, as president trump said today, to have something worth fighting for, something bigger than themselves that pushed them up those cliffs to liberate normandy, to liberate europe, to liberate the world from nazi tyranny. >> joe, you just put your finger on a potential solution to one of the words in our language today that comes into politics today, reparations? and people walk around the entire country from coast to coast saying, what are reparations all about? what does it mean? what are you talking about? if we taught the history of slavery in this country, the real history of slavery, what

happened, how it happened, who was seateded to it, who went alg with it, there wouldn't be a question of reparations in this country. what form it would take would be argued, but it wouldn't be a question. >> we won't open that up on this day, but having a better understanding of your past helps you face your future and answer questions just like that. and david ignatius, as we talk about the future, let's look forward to a president who i think most of us agree did very well here today, rose to the occasion, but what is next? >> i think that's the question we ought to take away from this really extraordinary day of remembrance, a rededication. we heard the words from president trump that moved us, even people who don't often feel all that much enthusiasm.

but we have a world that's in great disorder. we're near military confrontations with iran, with north korea. in venezuela we have a crisis that could quickly spin out of control. but i think for myself, having heard the president speak the words, tell the american story, tell the story of our alliances, tell the story of what american power really is all about, i'm looking now to see how he can apply the lessons of the time we've all been alive about american power to this series of very dangerous crises. i hope he goes back and reads mike barnicle's columns. i hope he reads his own speech and thinks about it. he's got some big issues ahead, and anybody who heard him today is going to pray he makes a new start in dealing with these issues in a more positive way.

>> it's some real challenges that require alliances, alliances that were strained during vietnam, alliances that were strained during the iraq war, but alliances that have remained steadfast through all of those ups and downs and with the great challenges in front of us, this president and this country needs those alliances today more than ever. >> coming up, we have a u.s. combat veteran from another era, bronze star recipient congressman jason crow joins us here in normandy. plus the d-day invasion by allied forces took months to plan, but much of its success came down to the weather. bill carens will join us with the forecast that changed history. we'll be right back. history. we'll be right back.

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a break between the germans forces about 35 miles southwest of lahafra. the british landing american

operations from the western coast of europe in the sea and in the air are stretching over the entire area, a distance of about 60 miles. >> some of the initial reporting that took place as allied forces stormed the beaches of normandy, setting the stage for the beginning of the end of world war ii. joining us now, u.s. army combat veteran and member of the house armed services committee, democratic congressman jason crow of colorado. he is a recipient of the bronze star for his actions in iraq. thank you very much for joining us for our special coverage. >> thank you for having me on. >> congressman, thank you for being here. obviously, it's always such a somber time, such an extraordinarily powerful event, but you can't help but notice behind us now that this american cemetary has come to life with celebration, with laughter, with

little children running through. >> flags. >> flags, people remembering from all over the world what these young men sacrificed 75 years ago this morning. what time is it? it's 1:40. by now we had gotten up on shore. i find it fascinating that omar bradley at one point actually thought pulling the troops off of omaha beach because the fire from the german positions was so with withering. >> absolutely. this was at this point a battle that was far from won, right? we had several waves of soldiers coming in, thousands that had been wounded and injured, but they kept on going. the message that we heard today from all the speakers, i think, was the right one. it was a message about the sacrifice of the folks, the boys that left colorado and north carolina and oklahoma and wisconsin, left their farms and their families, and got off the landing craft on the beaches

behind us and never returned home. and they're laying in the field behind us now. and we have an obligation to make sure that we are carrying their memory forward, that we're remembering that sacrifice. when you think about words like "duty" and "service above self and sacrifice," those are more than just words. it's a way of life, it's a way of living your life. the boys that lay behind us now knew that, and we ever to make sure we're honoring that and carrying it forward. >> were you heartened by what you heard not only from the president of france but also from the president of the united states, the president of france saying france will not forget? and our own president, reluctant in the past to embrace our allies wholeheartedly, certainly did so today with his speech. >> the messages were the right messages. there wasn't politics. this was a message about honoring the soldiers that lost

their lives, about honoring the veterans that were here today, about the importance of our alliances and partnerships. it was the right message, i thought, and i was glad to see that. >> david? >> congressman, we today have been thinking about how much we cherish our military, the sacrifices that it makes. several weeks ago we had a bizarre incident when the president was visiting japan in which somebody in the white house thought the president would get upset to see the name "u.s.s. john mccain," a ship honoring a great war hero himself, the late senator mccain. as we think about going forward, how do we make sure that we keep the military we all cherish from being caught up in politics in a way that hurts the military? how do we do that? >> i think we have to make sure we're separating the soldiers, marines, and airmen from these

politics. i always make sure i go out of my way and thank the vietnam veterans, because they returned to a country that was not home to them, they were treated as shameful. when you think about that conflict, and certainly history has not been kind to it, these were men and women who stood up and did what they were asked to do by this country. i think we have to make sure we are always honoring that. we need to be asking the tough questions. you know i do that on armed services because the biggest responsibility congress has and elected leaders have is the decision to send men and women in harm's way. it's one i take very seriously, it's one that keeps me awake at night. because when people talk tough, you've heard me say, it's 18 and 19-year-old men and women from aurora, colorado or fayetteville, arkansas that have to pick up rifles and do something about it. that's an obligation i take seriously and we have to make sure we are supporting those

soldiers. >> willie geist is with us in new york and he has a question for you. >> hey, general, it's good to see you. having served three tours in iraq and afghanistan with the 82nd airborne, i'm curious when you hear the president of the united states, when you hear people like john bolton and others talk casually about a war with iran, for example, then you look behind you over your shoulder and you see 9,338 crosses marking the cost of war in very stark terms, what would be your message to those who seem to be ramping up to some other conflict for the united states and sending young men and women overseas? >> you know, we have to have a strong national defense. i believe in a strong and robust national defense, but i am more of a speak softly and carry a big stick type of person. i think we can have a strong military. we rely on our partnerships and our alliances, but talking tough has very real consequences. i saw it in iraq and

afghanistan. i know people that gave their lives for this country, the crosses and the stars of david behind us are yet another reminder of that. we have an obligation as elected officials and people that can make that decision whether or not to send our sons and daughters, our mothers, our fathers, our brothers and sisters across the world to fight for us on our behalf who we have to make sure we're doing that in the right way. and we're asking the tough questions. >> congressman jason crow, thank you very much for joining us. we still have a lot more ahead here in normandy, on this, the 75th anniversary of d-day. we'll be joined by nbc's andrea mitchell and tom brokaw. you're watching a special edition of "morning joe." we'll be right back. right back.

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we will get back to joe and mika in normandy in just a moment with more on the 75th

anniversary of d-day. some 2020 campaign news now, presidential candidate bernie sanders confronted walmart executives yesterday in an effort to raise the, quote, starvation wages of employees. senator sanders addressed the group at their annual shareholders meeting in arkansas, urging them to hike minimum wage workers' salaries from $11 an hour to $15 an hour, and to allow for them to have a presence on that board. >> despite the incredible wealth of its owner, walmart pays many of its employees starvation wages. wages that are so low that many of these employees are forced to rely on government programs like food stamps, medicaid and public housing in order to survive. frankly, the american people are sick and tired of subsidizing the greed of some of the largest and most profitable corporations in this country. >> senator sanders' proposal was

subsequently voted down by board members. instead, walmart ceo doug mcmillan called on congress to raise the, quote, lagging federal minimum wage to close the growing gap between employee and the minimum gap between employees and we have the latest issue of the magazine entitled building a better bernie on the road with a rebooted bernie sanders. whether bernie sanders can finish the revolution he started the second time around. >> gets us to something you've been writing about for a long time. inequality in america so i guess the question is, why does there need to be a better bernie sanders in 2020? zplo it's a great question. you know, i think there are very few people in american history who can take credit for changing

the conversation the country has and bernie sanders is undoubtedly on that list. the fact that we are talking about on this show and others over the last few years about n inequality, billionaires, capitalism itself, socialism, their relationship to democracy, in many ways bernie sanders is responsible for forcing that set of issues which he championed for decades. and so now he finds himself running for the second time with those ideas actually in the main stream, in the blood stream of the country, a lot of people talking about them and this create as problem which is other people have come around to parts of the bernie sanders' view of the world. a lot of his positions that he says are radical four years ago are not radical now. he has someone similar in elizabeth warren, very different

in demeanor, so in the world where you've succeeded by changing the coalition, he has an amazing die hards in his campaign. i found a view in his orbit that he's going to need to evolve if he wants to change the conversation. learn to tell his story more, i think navigate race and gender with greater 2019 dexterity and frankly get over a siege mentality that besets activists and make a transition from being the gadfly to a leader. >> as you point out in the piece in 2016 as an alternative to hillary clinton, he was much different from her and voters could make that decision. now in a field of 22, 23 people someone like elizabeth warren can also live a life based on the same principles and you write that the woke primary is

he -- does he get he may have to evolve a bit from four years ago? >> i think so. i kind of focus in the piece on three areas and i think on the question of telling his story more he agreed that he's trying to daytona more. i talked to his wife a lot for the piece. a lot of his advisors thinks he need to do that more. on the question of race and gender stuff, he says clearly it was too white, too male. they have made big moves around th that. there's an expectation in 2019 that you understand the particular communities have particular experiences and bernie sanders' world view is one in which everything is fundamentally about the very rich, using divide and conquer

to screw the worker and while that has a lot of power and has done him very well, there are certain issues, police violence against unarmd black men, you know, issues like reparations, issues like what women face in the work place which are not strictly speaking about politicians screwing the worker and i think sanders has struggled on those issues but i think he is learning. he certainly has people around him this time that he did not have around him last time. i think one of the questions here is when you've actually spent four decades championing a message that first very few people listen to for most of those four decades and then people really, really listen to in this incredible improbable way right at the end, what does that do to your soul? can you still grow at that stage in a career?

>> and it's early on but a lot of growing to do at this point to catch joe biden. the new issue of "time" magazine is out with the excellent cover story. always great to see you. coming up next, we'll go back to joe and mika live in normandy, france on the 75th anniversary of d-day and we'll take a look at thery vetters who played a role. andrea mitchell joins us with that story ahead on "morning joe." ahead on "morning joe.

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this this poignant hour, i ask you to join with me in prayer almighty god, our sons, pride of our nation, this day of sadly a mighty endeavor, our religion and our civilization and to set free a suffering humanity. help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances, lead us to the saving of our country and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace. a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men and a

piece that will let all men live in freedom. reaping the just rewards of their honest toil. >> on this day, 75 years ago 10,000 men shed their blood and thousands sackry fiegsrificed ts for their brothers, for their countries and for the survival of liberty. >> two american presidents 75 years apart on june 6th, 1944. fdr offered a prayer to the nation as allied forces stormed the beaches of normandy. this morning, donald trump called the men who fought here the greatest americans who will ever live adding quote, you are the pride of our nation. welcome back to "morning joe." it is thursday, june 6th and we continue our special coverage of the 75th anniversary of d-day as

we celebrate and honor the heroes of this day and honor their sacrifice. with us here in normandy we have david ignatius, nbc news chief correspondent and host of andrea mitchell reports, along with willie geist who is joining us from new york. >> so your thoughts on what you heard from the president of france and donald trump as well as everything else that's unfolded here this morning on the 75th anniversary. >> i thought we heard two excellent pieces first from president macron and then from president trump that captured the moment, that captured the gravity of this day. i thought president trump rose the the occasion. you are the pride of our nation, you are the glory of our republic, what a beautiful line and just to see the faces of

these men as weave been saying all morning, joe, who perhaps are gathered for the last time. these are some faces we may not see again. most of us will not see again and i have a humble suggestion for teachers who have students still in school right now in june. show the entire semowceremony t. let the students know what these great men did back at home, 6 million of them. let them know what this nation did. let them know what this nation still can do what it gets together. >> and andrea, what the president spoke of today with a particular emphasis on alliances was unusual for him. >> hopeful. >> and could be hopeful. and is what so many of our allies that came together to fight this war have been missing

for the past two noof years. for them, the speech at least was a reason for hope. >> absolutely. he hit the right notes today saying our bonds will never be broken, saying that to france despite continuing tensions with france. the relationship with macron started on a very high note and it went downhill from there and the relationship of course with the uk, with the brits, and now significantly with mexico so he has spurned these alliances and his negotiating tactic is to tell our nay tor partners that they're not anteing up enough. the offensive grew, interrupting people and telling them to put their money up in really strange ways. also not being well briefed or not taking his briefings. his conversation -- the public conversation, the comments to the irish prime minister

yesterday was really strange because he said, you know, with brexit, you know, you at least have your borders controlled. you've got your wall. i'm paraphrasing here but he was suggesting that there needs to be a wall. there is an irish problem and an economic problem but certainly not a wall between ireland and england. >> which is what made today's comments so striking when he not only talked about the importance of the alliances but he talked about the resolve of the british, the valor of the french. he talked about the fighting poles. he talked about the aussies. we will take it where we can get it and we got it today, the president of the united states talking about this alliance that so many people gave their lives for and so many diplomats, so many leaders starting well with harry truman, moving forward,

fighting commune nichl and working to bring the alliances together. this was a day to celebrate the greatness of the past and also at least for the moment be hopeful for what we heard from this president has it pertains to our allies. >> president trump hit all the chimes of -- of the traditional order of alliances. >> you just said the important word. and if i were groucho marx, what would it come down? the tradition came with nato and containment and all the things that -- >> the marshall plan. >> as we've discussed over the last three years, this has been a president who sought to disrupt the order that was created in 1945 and 1948.

that's the way he styled himself. i'm the destruct tor. i'm going to challenge this international order. it was sort of the politics of global selfishness. today we heard something larger than that. the politics of working with allies to achieve the common good and i think going forward i'm going to look and see if this man is really giving up the great disrun tor thing. what's the next tweet going to be? >> one can only hope but you saw it. i mean, you could see him being actually moved by the moment and when he approached the 95-year-old veteran and embraced him, you could see a real connection there which is important. it's good to see this impacts president trump in a way that some might have worried that there was a lack of connection with it. >> you know, willie, it was not

only the words of the president but also some of the actions up on the stage and yes -- yes, many will say this is a lobar we're setting for the president of the united states, but there have been other presidents that have come to these anniversaries that have fallen short, that have given speeches that were not memorable. this speech was memorable. also there were touching moments when he hugged those veterans and as andrea mitchell can tell you, there's nothing quite like the embrace of a commander in chief regardless of whether he or she is if your party or not. >> yeah, i think the reason it was a good speech and the reason president macron's speech was because they got to the humanity of the men behind them. told the stories of those coming from small towns and ends on the beaches of europe. i think the more you can talk

about these men as men and not as part of some larger military enterprise, but men with stories, men who gave up a lot and more than 9,000 of them who lie behind you. 9,338 lying behind you who gave all and left behind so much and left behind so much potential so it's hard not to be moved when you visit the place where you all are right now and i think the president must have been feeling this as he spoke this morning. >> we'll be talking about not just about the men but the women who served, or the women who helped the home front. you also spoke exclusively with speaker of the house, nancy pelosi before the ceremonies about today's significance including how past presidents focused on the importance of our country's allies in their own speech so let's take a listen to your interview with speaker

pelosi. >> i was here when ronald reagan was here in 1984. i was here for that and for all the disagreements over how to handle missile deployments in europe there were a lot of tensions then, but we didn't have the divisions with europe that we have now. america is less respected in europe than at any time in post war history. >> well, let's throw on what the positive possibilities are. i think everyone should reread ronald reagan's speech of that day. it's so beautiful and it talks about the importance alliances and working together. i'm really proud that we have -- i think the largest congressional delegation for international travel ever for this visit here. we have nearly 60 from the house and around 20 from the united states senate bipartisan delegations and our delegation is one third of them, our veterans.

so again, it is pretty exciting to be able to acknowledge what happened then with the ability to thank those who have more recently fought for our freedom. >> you know, andrea, you and the speaker putting to mind that it seems so many significant normandy anniversaries come when the united states and europe when their alliances seem to be fraying and of course 1984, people forget ronald reagan deploying the persian missiles. millions of people going on the streets protesting reagan, many calling him a fascist and in 2004 we were here for the 60th and there was george w. bush and not really good partners and here we are again in the 75th and yet, the two sides seemed to be able to come together. >> well, coming together here

with the significance of what was sacrificed and the men who are buried here today and those who are still not named on a wall of remembrance who were never identified. thousands of lives lost here. for a shared purpose the goal of saving western civilization. nothing less than that. >> and it's such a good reminder. speaker pelosi was also very careful to point out after the interview that she made a commitment. she has made a commitment to these congressional bipartisan delegations when they were at the security conference here, wherever she leaves them, never to criticize the president of the united states on foreign soil in these bipartisan moments so she resisted any talk about impeachment or anything else today but she does hope that we can pull together and this speech i think certainly set that tone. the president's speech today.

>> you also spoke to a couple of real life rifters. >> reporter: a cultural icon of world war ii, a symbol of the millions of women who stepped in when the men shipped out. mothers, wives and sisters who entered the work force and learned how to build the weapons and transports used overseas. >> a new version of the old song "that girl i left behand has the job i left behind". >> reporter: more than 75 years later these women have made it their mission to remind persons about the crucial role the rosies played during the war effort. >> these things had to be done and who's going to do it? it's going to be the women. >> reporter: every week they get together to share their stories with viz sores to the rosy the

riveter. >> we put our own under direction by the fore master draftsman. that's kind of powerful stuff, you flow, because they built the ships with our directions now. >> her older sister became a welder after hearing about the bombing of pearl harbor on the radio. >> i probably knew about as much as welding as some of those guys they'd just hired so one morning i just as my leadman would point out, you know. >> do this. every time he'd point i'd say, i can do that. so he said well -- and it was a vertical weld and he said okay. give it a try. and from that time i was part of the crew. >> the shipyards ran round the

clock daycare for rosies like agnes. >> because i worked graveyard i -- i left my little girl on two shifts. she'd have her pj's on and would have been asleep and wrapped up in a blanket and the women would take her in and put her to bed on a cot. there was this huge room full of kids. >> another welder went to work in 1944. the same year her brother was killed along with 10,000 other allied troops in the invasion of norman normandy. >> going into the back door of the house and we saw this brand new car driving in with two service people in it. so we knew something happened. so they came in and told us that he had gotten killed. >> reporter: now 75 years of receiving that devestating news,

reunited with her brother, becoming the fist member of his family to visit his grave at the american cemetery in france. >> finally here. he's waited a long time. >> what an incredible -- so many incredible stories of so many incredible women who served in their own way, stepped up and i'm surprised that daycare was so available. >> more advanced than things are now. i was just very moved by them and they've been un-heralded and they came this time for the 75th and frankly it's probably their last opportunity and one of them was 99 years old. and they just valiant and so full of -- full of pep and vim and very proud of their achievements as they should be.

>> proud of stepping up. >> and what lessons, david, we could take from this where it was such a united front, such a united effort. at that time it was the men who came to war, women, the rosiero the entire country was mobilized to do one thing, to win the war in the pacific. >> there was that total concentration of effort across every industry, every family. this was a life or death struggle and i think anybody who lived through that still carries this memory. i loved it. i'll just briefly mention my own father is now 98. he was a veteran of the war in the pacific and i asked him last weekend what he remembered on d-day. what did he know on his carrier

steaming toward what would soon be the battle of lady gulf, the greatest naval battle in history and he said i don't really have all that many memories except we knew that we were going to get more resources in the pacific because the war in europe had turned. it was this sort of, you know, everybody was focused on their mission, so if you were in the pacific on a carrier as my dad was, you thought, okay, we're going to get more after what we need to do our job because they've done their job here. >> thank you. we'll be watching at noon eastern today. willie? >> so guys, another aspect of the story we haven't talked much about is that the successful d-day invasion would not have been possible without the collective planning and brave expertise of six meteorologists. a team of royal navy and american military meteorologists

advised allied commanders to postpone the invasion from its original day of june the 4th as they watched a brewing storm. while their forecast methods differ on how long that storm would last they did agree it was too dangerous for the mission to proceed that day. sufficient seas could sabotage the vehicles, cloud cover could triple air support and they asked for a delay to ensure the plan's success. eisenhower postponed d-day by two days where allied troops had calm waters and a surprise on the germans. let's bring in bill karins. these meteorologists without the benefit of satellites. >> no radar. >> they called this right. >> it could have been so different, willie. president elect kennedy on his way to inauguration asked

eisenhower, why was d-day so successf successful? and he said frankfully, because we had better meteorologists than the germans. this is a map put together by the uk met weather office and this line shows you where that big storm was that cancelled the invasion plans on the fifth and the big debate is what would this storm still have on the 6th? the window was very small. the allies wanted a full moon. they also wanted the tide's low enough so the window was the 5th to the 7th of june and if not, it would have to wait until the 19th of june and that would have given the germans a little longer for the defense positions. the germans saw a second storm and they thought this was going to come right in, so the germans didn't think the invasion was going to take place. they said the seas would be too high so the general rom mel drove all the way back to give a birthday gift to his wife

because he didn't think the invasion was going to take place. that's where he was when the invasion began. one of the biggest twists of faith, on the 19th those same meteorologists predicted good weather and it ended up being one of the worst wind storms of a century in the english channel. if it had taken place that way thousands of troops would have end ped up in the seas. >> you're right on june 6th so sure were the germans that the allies were not coming that some of them left their post i along the coast but as you said, it may have changed the course of human history. we're awaiting a joint appearance by president trump and president macron in france. we'll bring that to you live as soon as it happens on "morning joe."

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welcome back to "morning joe" live from normandy. joining us now director of the institute for international studies at stanford, michael mcfall and director of the interin the observatory and the former chief security officer of facebook, alex stamos we'll get to their book but first -- >> mr. ambassador we were talking before about the soviet union and we're sitting here overlooking the beaches of normandy, but it's hard to talk about victory in world war ii. without also talking about the extraordinary losses that the russian people endured. losses, a scale of which we as a country can hardly even imagine. >> i'm glad you brought that up because it's a bit of a bitter

point today in russia. the coverage of normandy and what they were saying -- the government just a couple of days ago that why are we not there, we should be together and remember our sacrifices, the battle of stallen grad in particular, they probably lost somewhere between 26 and 30 million people including 12, 13 million soldiers and we were allies then and they did the bulk of the fighting. of course what we did was also instrumental, but the war was really won on the eastern front. >> well, they did -- they certainly endured the bulk of the losses and you can't explain what happened here. you can't explain june the 6th, 1944 without explaining as you said, what was happening on the eastern front as well. and wasn't there a tension throughout the war as stall len

wanting us to open up that western front sooner than we did. >> that's right. i attended many of those commemorative ceremonies in russia, but then they called it for a day, back to stallingrad, he thought we were delaying on purpose. let's not forget that he was part of the problem. he had an alliance with hitler and he invaded poland and the baltic countries in finland. the soviet people, the soldiers and the people that endured that sacrifice, they should be honored today as well. i'm glad you're bringing it up. >> all right. we're looking at live pictures of president trump and macron and their wives. they're in france where they are going to be having a working lunch. so this is the moments before i think they're going to be

meeting privately. >> let's go to david ignatius. he wants to ask about your report. >> perhaps i'd begin with alex about what's your advocating in here, you were the chief security officer of facebook. facebook some argue was an important part of how our election process was undermined in 2016. i wonder if you could speak how going forward we can avoid the mistakes that facebook and the country made last time around. >> so part of the goal of our report is to point out that there are three major groups in the united states that need to respond to the russia attacks. there's facebook and twitter and the other tech companies, there's the government and the media overall. so in our report we lay out, which is 108 pages, we lay out recommendations of how they can work together. i'm glad we're talking about on this anniversary of d-day. my grandfather was there off the

coast of nor man day 75 years ago and those young men on that ship had all of american society behind them when they were fighting the enemy so we have not been able to motivate american society to fight what is a real influence. so we not to stop blaming each other for 2016 and start implementing bipartisan issues before the next presidential election. >> ambassador, i would like to follow up on the point that alex just raised. so once again, we are under attack. the united states of america is under attack by a sworn enemy of our government. president trump putin's people, president putin's government. why is it that we can't engender more outrage, more mittmecommit

about rebutting this positive attack. it seems we can't do it. >> it's a tragic mystery to me. i want to shea that first and foremost and i want to remind everybody that after we were attacked in pearl harbor, after we were attacked on september 11th we had major bipartisan commissions that investigated those attacks and tried to prepare us for the future. we didn't do that after this attack for partisan political reasons because the president did not acknowledge the attack. remember if last time he mote with vladimir putin he wouldn't acknowledge that we were urn attack. remember the the mueller report was not that kind of investigation. it didn't look at all aspects of the attack. it didn't look at what the obama administration did and did not do. it didn't look what alex did and did not do. out here it didn't look at what the media did so what we've

trying to do with this report is add the recommendations part. the prescription part that was missing in the mueller report. >> alex there's a government side of this which ambassador mcfall has been talking about and there's the private business side. how aggressive should facebook be and how different are people at facebook than they were four years ago to prevent this from happening again? >> there has been a significant chae changes at google and facebook, they've changed their rules to decide who can run political ads. first, none of these changes have been legally mandated so they are optional. those companies can do the least amount necessary to get the media off their back and there

are thousands of employees, for this not to be something that's decided in secret rooms inside of googed and facebook. we're asking the tech company to implement new standards that restrict the use of very fine grain targeting for political ads. that's about insent vising good use of political advertising by the campaigns. we're asking the companies to increase their transparency on this con techtencontent. so we need to have a safe space created for academics such as ambassador mcfall to see the content that's being pushed by our adversaries so there's a lot the company can till do even

though they've made choices since 2016. >> let's talk about some of the challenges we face domestically. of course there's the constant battle for the truth. what is the truth? it's much easier to spread falsehoods across social media platforms if you don't have the government and we don't want the government going in and regulating with a heavy hand but if there's not the self-regulation, we did not see that from facebook when there was a doctored video of the speaker of the house, the third -- the third highest ranking constitutional officer in the united states of america. making her look like she was drunk and yet facebook refused for several days to self-police themselves and take it down. why and what do we do moving forward to protect the truth? >> so i think there's a couple of things the company has to deal with.

there's a big scandal involving youtube deciding what their moderation policies are. and these companies are acting as quasi governments. they are making decisions that we used to have democrats make and the way they're making these decisions is not transparent for us. it's impossible to decide what their reasoning was and the pelosi video, i don't think that should have been taken down. we give a huge way in our society to make fun of political figures. what happened there is actually legally protected speech in the united states. in fact, fox news business ran a very equivalent video and they are protected to do so under the first amendment. the appropriate response is for the company to use interventions that are less aggressive than going around and using ai

systems to sensor every video. so whether something has been posted by a late night talk show host, by a parody channel or by in this case as intentional misinformation that they are informing viewers that these videos have been intentionally made misleading and that a bunch of changes are made to be allowed to share. we have to be careful the power we give these trillion dollar corporations. while we want them to inform people and harder for this information to spread, we also don't want these companies to be the arbitors of truth. that is a dangerous place to go and i think that is a freedom that huge american people should not outsource to huge factories directly. >> thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> i want to talk about that,

david briefly as we move forward. the u.s. government got involved, they break up the bells when the phone services were king. they broke up microsoft. are we looking at the possibility of that happening with facebook and other social media giants? >> i've come to think that it's a question that really should be on the agenda. as you say, the breakup of the bell monopoly opened the way for this ex- closive telecommunications, cell phone licenses, cellular technology. in the mid-1990s, it's rightly thought if microsoft and this brilliant management is left alone it's just going to gobble up everything. we won't the have the internet that's not the microsoft

internet so they brought that suit and were successful. we need to think now about the same issue involving the social media companies. we need to let 100 flowers when we've seen how beneficial it is for our economy, i think it's time to think about that. >> and still ahead, the greatest generation. nbc's tom brokaw joining us next here in normandy with what he says he has been his proudest accomplishment. and as we go to break here is president trump and french president macron sitting down for their working lunch. let's listen in real quick before we go to break and see if we can hear anything.

>> i think your presence here and their presence form the best evidence of workable speaking of all nations from the very beginning of the american nation and over the difference. i think this message they convey

to us is to protect freedom and democracy everywhere and this is always why i'm happy to continue washington and everywhere, because we work to come together. our soldiers worked together in iraq and syria, each time freedom and democracy is at stake we will be together and will follow. that thanks for the friend ship. thanks for what your country did for my country and thanks for what we will do together for both of us and the rest of the world. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. and i will say we've had pretty success working the other two. whether it was the califate or a couple of other things we did. my people report back, they say

it's absolutely excellent, that they work very well together. this was a very spaeshl decial . i want to thank you for inviting me to something that was -- we read about it all our lives, normandy and there are those that would say it's the most important ever, not just at that time, but ever. and to be a part of it and to have number 75 -- 75 years was very, very special so i very much appreciate it. we met some great people today, some very brave people and i look forward to coming back. hopefully over the years we'll be coming back. it's a very special place. it's an amazing place and it's somewhere when you think of nations of great importance, this is certainly one of the p

top. in the eyes of some it's the new top in terms of what it meant in the terms of the turnaway. so i really enjoyed it. seeing it firsthand, it was something and we'll be now discussing the place where we ended up. i hope everybody can appreciate, i'd like to tell the folks of the media just quick like you did to me, and as you know, france has many interests in places but we'll be discussing -- it will be just as interesting as trade and military and also spend some time together and then i'll be going back probably tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon. we've finished up, we met a hectic schedule. most of you have been with us from the beginning but it's been a beautiful schedule. we got to know the queen.

the the queen is a great woman as you know, and we had a very, very good talk with the united kingdom and we know what's going on over there. it's a complex subject because of brexit. nobody knows where it ends up but i know it's going to end up very well and we meet here and a lot of people are anxious to see what we're going to be doing together because as you know, we know, we're doing a lot together. and the relationship between you and i and also france and the united states has been outstanding and i don't think it's ever been -- maybe it's been good sometimes and sometimes it hasn't been, but right now it's outstanding so the relationship that we've had together has been really terrific and i appreciate very much. thank you, mr. president. >> what were you talking about in the cemetery, you looked

inward at one point and turned away. >> we're talking about the depth and the number of people killed. you know, we had a -- they called them the guides and they were guiding us. they were telling us what happened and when. and talking about the first wave came in, 92% of the first wave were killed and then the second wave came in and there was 80% were killed. and then 3rd wave and 4th wave and then the 6th wave they broke through. it's like a dam. they broke through and it was so incredible and so fascinating and then you talk about bravery. that when you think 92% of the people were killed in the first wave. so it kept going down, down, down with every crew and it's a lot of courage and a lot of heart break, but an incredible victory this one of the most important victories. so you might want to respond. >> no, i -- you're right.

we had a lot of conditions on d-day and all the people, i think the very important thing particularly for a young generation, a lot of things indicate for grampnted. we're slightly protected by this guy and a lot of these veterans and i mean, i think you told during your speech, came back for the very first time and they came here and they keep the life out of us. and for all freedoms and i think for young generations for the u.s. and in france it's important to see these veterans as actual heroes. >> in 2004 it was said we would

do it again for our france. would you say that too? >> yeah. i would. >> well, i would certainly recommend that. this was a great unifying situation. it was probably been seldom in history. but especially when you heard about the waves of people coming in most of them knowing they were going to be killed, most of them. it's an incredible thing and then the result was -- as many people died, we have what we have today because of things like that. and it's very sad but i would absolutely be right there. i would be right there. we have a very good partnership. we really have a partnership i guess is the best word to talk about allies.

we have a great partnership, france and the u.s. >> reporter: mr. president when will you decide to include the additional tariffs on china. >> you mean we're going to put the extra $35 billion worth of tariffs? >> i'll make that decision after the g20. i'll be meeting with president cheek and we'll see what happens, but probably plan it sometime around g-20. okay? [ speaking foreign language ]

>> we are of course listening toby lateral meeting between president trump and president macron in france which was an extraordinary important military goal for the allies. one of the few goals they did not reach the first day, the longest day, june vith, 1944,

the resistance from the germans was so strong there. but david ignatius, we have just heard the president of the united states and we can at least say threw 2:48 p.m. normandy time, the president remains and again, i say this hopefully. the president remains very gracious and in fact, more gracious towards not only our allies in france, but any of our allies than he has had -- than he has been since becoming president. this obviously was an ex- tordnarily moving day for him. >> it seems to have been. he spoke again about the personal valor of the people who stormed the beach, whose crosses and stars of david are behind us so i think it was personal for him. i was very interested in his discussion of the french/american military relationship. he said several times, you know what i'm talking about to

president macron, talking about it sounded like current cooperation. it was a second reference, you know what i mean. we don't know what that means, but i thought it was interesting that the president was in a animated specific way talking about u.s./french military cooperation now. not in 1944. now. >> the french have been, mike, the french have been there side by side with us at times actually pushing the united states for a stronger response sometimes. and what president obama wanted to provide. but certainly with donald trump, they have been with us in syria. when we fired missiles into syria to respond to chemical weapon attacks. and now one must -- can only imagine and david, correct me if i'm wrong, that the president is referencing possible cooperation in the persian gulf.

>> you know what's interesting is the president's relationship with macron has been up and down. it's been down a couple of times. but on the whole, it seems macron has a good affect on donald trump. >> they're talking about iran, whether there's a disagreement about it. and trump said no. let's listen in to this. >> and it was all about iran. they were behind every one of them. they're not doing that anymore. they're doing very poorly as a nation. they're failing as a nation. and i don't want them to fail as a nation. we can turn that around very quickly. but the sanctions have been extraordinary, how powerful they've been. and other things. i understand they want to talk. if they want to talk, that's fine. we'll talk. but the one thing that they can't have is they can't have nuclear weapons. and i think the president of france would agree with that very strongly. i think that he would agree they cannot have nuclear weapons.

>> i think we do share the same objective on iran. what do we want to do? first, you want to be sure they don't get nuclear armed weapons. we had an instrument in 2025. we want to go further and have full certainty in the long run. second, we want to reduce our ballistic activity. and third, we want to contain the -- three approaches, three objectives are important. we have the first common objective. peace in the region. so we have to deliver together the four objectives. this is the point. this is the point and all the other debates are about technicalities. in order to build that, you need to start the negotiation and i think the words by president trump are very important. we need to open the negotiation in order to build and to get

these four objectives. thank you. >> thank you, everybody. thank you. thank you very much. >> so that's president trump and president macron speaking. and david ignatius, fascinating, the news coming out. there had been suggestions earlier, well, suggestions last week that perhaps the iranians wanted to speak with the president of the united states. and we heard the president confirm that today. >> he said i understand they want to talk. you always need to be careful about what they means there. does ayatollah khomeini want to talk? but there have been reports in the last week that the iranians through channels we've been using to send messages back and forth over the last several

weeks have indicated a willingness to get back to the table. you heard president macron describe what sounds like the common objective the french have signed on to. basically three-part. he mentioned four, but it's strengthening the jcpoa, the nuclear agreement, making it tougher. second, doing something about ballistic missiles and third, about iranian regional activity. if europe is brought back into that as a united bloc, that's significant. >> that's a look back to 75 years ago today. aside from those who fought and died here, few people know more about d-day and the greatest generation than nbc's tom brokaw. tom first came here to normandy 35 years ago for the 40th anniversearies of d-day. and it was then that the inspiration took hold for what he calls his proudest accomplishment. >> here's a guy that got it started. tom brokaw. >> nice to see you. thanks for coming. >> when he wrote his book, that

got the thing moving. >> i didn't come across the phrase "the greatest generation" immediately. i traced it to the first day i walked on the beach on the 40th anniversary of d-day. >> this large stretch of beach is largely empty now, but 40 years ago, this was one of the bloodiest battlegrounds in american military history. this was omaha beach. the landing area for the 1st and 29th divisions. and on that day, there was confusion and death all around. now you guys haven't been back here in 40 years. >> right. >> that's right, tom. first time back. >> i walked down to the beaches with two veterans of the first wave, and they were modest, hard working, very humble people. >> give me kind of a word picture of what this beach looked like. >> well, as far as you could see, there were men, there were tanks, there were trucks, jeeps, all over the beach. >> you could hear the shells screaming overhead. and then you could see the assault craft coming in all

along the edge of the beach. >> i thought, oh, my god, these are the people who raised me. these are the people in my hometown, my parents' best friends, the people that i care the most about. they've been out there all this time. >> did you think to yourself when you hit the sand, what am i doing here? why can't i be back home in pennsylvania? >> how true. how true. but there was an objective to be done. america needed us. >> there were young men from pennsylvania, 19 and 20. and i said to them, dwhowhat do remember? the door went down. what's the first thing you saw? >> we saw a dead medic floating in the water. and believe you me, i was petrified. i couldn't talk. i couldn't move until the sergeant gave the orders move out. >> i think i was just praying to stay alive that day. i didn't even think about going home. i just wanted to stay alive.

>> i believe the landing here on d-day case hardened me in a point in a matter of 20 minutes that i was ready to do battle with anything that came along the way. would you go back and do it all over again? my answer is, absolutely, i'll do it all over again to let you here in america stay here. >> and i came out of there shaken by how much we didn't know about what happened to them once the war was over. >> let's take a breath. and i thought i've got to write about this. it was like a eureka moment for me. when i realized this country was built on the backs of those people who came out of the depression and fought the greatest war in the history of mankind and came home and were only eager to get on with their lives. and one day on the "today" show with katie couric, i thought a little bit about what i wanted to say. it was the 50th anniversary of d-day. so i took her through all that that generation had done. >> the fact of the matter is what we're celebrating,

commemorating is more than just a military success. it's really the passage of a generation of people who are at the heart of the 20th century which has been called the american century. they won the war. they came back to america. and they built the greatest political and industrial economy ever known. and they come back here now with enormous humility and dignity. i mean, i just can't imagine that there's been a finer group of men and women anywhere. >> and then i said at the end of it, i think it's the greatest generation that any society has ever produced. >> they were selfless, not selfish. they took great risk to achieve great victory. >> and that generation, from this nation, did that willingly and without asking questions. and it won that war, and it saved the world. >> it was a joy to write the book. i felt privilege to do it. my wife would often find me on saturday afternoons weeping at the word processor as i was trying to write these stories. >> the stories of the men and women i came to call the

greatest generation. >> that particular book, "the greatest generation," is going to leave him a strong legacy. >> "the greatest generation," tom's book, has started something that's going to go on for the next 100 years. >> it's been a great pleasure. i am proud to have had a part in bringing attention to this generation. >> my pleasure. >> and it took me awhile, but it's the most important thing i've ever done professionally. >> and, of course, this bitter sweet place is a reminder of something else. a time when we were all bound together by a common purpose. kozkowski of new york, hague of minnesota. here they had a rendezvous with daem death, and they were all heroes. >> your lives have led the way in war and peace, and now it falls to the succeeding generations, to the rest of us to honor your lives, the

greatest legacy of the greatest generation. we are honored and obligated to honor you with our lives by fulfilling our duty, the duty to carry on your noble mission. i salute each and every one of you. thank you all very much. >> tom brokaw is with us now. tom, because of the press conference, we are already over, but we just still -- they are letting us borrow a few minutes to talk to you here. i've just got to ask you, 75 years now. 35 years after you first came here. what have been your reflections today? >> i thought it was the appropriate celebration today. i thought the president was the best effort in a