harry etlinger, at 88, he is one of the few remaining members of the monuments men. he traveled out of germany the day after his ba bar mitzvah. >> for a rabbi to tell a jewish person to travel on saturday, that's the way the conditions were. >> etlinger would return to germany a 19-year-old u.s. army private. he ended up with the monuments men by accident. >> he said sit down in this chair and this guy next to you will tell you what to do and that was my entry into monuments men. >> etlinger would are spend much of the rest of the war in salt mines deep underground. their goal to return them to their owners. >> this was one rescued by the monuments men. >> it indeed was, louis rothschild's collection. >> they also had more than 700 maps like these, drawn up by a teamworking in the frike art reference loish in new york. >> -- library in new york. >> distribute to the air corps so that the bombing pilots would not hit the leaning tower of pisa or not hit the mother church of the fra franciscan or. >> without it, these might have been reduced to rubble. >> there were 5

. >> harry etlinger is one of the surviving men, 88 years old and he is -- there he is with a recommendhe discovered some drawings taken from his own family. >> he did. it is actually a poster copy of the actual painting by hem brand, he fled when he was 13 years old and last jewish boy to have a bar mits va before they came to the states and started living in jersey. he is drafted and goes back to the old country to fight a war for the new country. and miracles of miracles, one of the amazing things about this story, i spent so much years researching, he discovers this painting from the museum just blocks from where he lived. he could never see as a young boy because of the nazi laws and finds it in a salt mine and here he is one of our five living monuments officers. we're heading to europe for the premiere in berlin and several other stiz. it's a great joy to see the recognition he's now getting at this stage of his life. >> that's extraordinary. we should point out that monuments men foundation, the work still goes on, there's still art you're trying to track down. we'll put the web

invited, george clooney and grant were kind enough to include not only me, but most importantly, harry etlinger, 88 years old from rockaway, new jersey, and we were invited to a private screening on tuesday. president obama made a point of having the time for a visit with us, and it was a great opportunity for harry et linger. he's one of the few people that's been to the white house twice under two sitting presidents. >> host: next call for robert edsel comes from are martha in charleston, south carolina. i think this is probably martha barclay, isn't it? >> caller: oh, good morning, peter. >> host: how are you, martha? >> caller: i'm fine. thank you for your work with c-span. because of c-span, of course, i ran out and bought edsel's, robert edsel's book years ago when you had his work on c-span. and you've kind of stolen my thunder, peter, you've asked about the priceless -- well, the cost and the value of art. i mean, it's definitely priceless just as life is priceless. and the movie, of course, portrayed the two lives lost. i imagine there were more lives lost. have to go back and check my

invited, george clooney and grant were kind enough to include not only me, but most importantly, harry etlinger 88 years old from rockaway, new jersey, and we were invited to a private screening on tuesday. president obama made a point of having the time for a visit with us, and it was a great opportunity for harry et linger. he's one of the few people that's been to the white house twice under two sitting presidents. >> host: next call for robert edsel comes from are martha in charleston, south carolina. i think this is probably martha barclay, isn't it? >> caller: oh, good morning, peter. >> host: how are you, martha? >> caller: i'm fine. thank you for your work with c-span. because of c-span, of course, i ran out and bought edsel's, robert edsel's book years ago when you had his work on c-span. and you've kind of stolen my thunder, peter, you've asked about the priceless -- well, the cost and the value of art. i mean, it's definitely priceless just as life is priceless. and the movie, of course, portrayed the two lives lost. i imagine there were more lives lost. have to go back and check my