said, you know, can you imagine normandy, 50,000 american casualties, 9,387 americans buried in omaha beach. imagine that sacrifice for nothing. imagine breaking out on normandy in finding out that the french resistance had taken over paris and lyon and bordeaux and nice. and they're communists. what was the point? what would have been the point of liberation? there would have been no liberation. i hope i've tried to answer your question. i think that the french resistance, finally, to sum up, i think if we had armed them, it would have been the stupid thing to do because we would not have been able to have a democracy in france after the war. the communists heavily armed would have run the country. the reason why we put de gaulle in paris in 1944, even though we hated him, everyone hated him, was because he was a figurehead. we needed someone the french would believe and support and follow. we didn't want a communist. that's why we ended up with de gaulle. >> we've got time for a quick question to you right, alex. >> the prevailing view i think is that torture is not only barbaric, but ine

he served as the first wave of troops to the omaha beach on d-day. there is a sharpshooter firing commandercompany called in an airstrike on the and he found a metal that was in the church and he is been wearing it for the last 70 years. mr. george perkowski. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, it is now time to introduce our master of ceremonies. he is been a journalist for more than 25 years. he is been a morning news acre for the bsa nine. he can see him monday through friday on wake up with washington 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.. he was a nominee for his primetime special for any. please welcome mr. mike. >> good morning ladies and , gentlemen. what a beautiful day, it is so great to have blustery conditions. i am so honored to be your master of ceremony. as he marked the 75th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. ladies and gentlemen, i'm pleased to announce our official party for today's commemoration. our keynote speaker for today is truly an american hero. a prisoner of war during the vietnam war, an american statesman and all around wonderful indi

he served as the first wave of troops to hit omaha beach on d-day from there he fought his way to st. low during the battle of st. lowe and france. sharp shooter firing down on george and fellow soldiers. company commander called in an air strike and since the firing of the men was so severe, later he was found a medal only the floor that was in the church. he put it on, and he's been wearing that medal for the last 70 years. ladies and gentlemen, mr. george krakowski. ladies and gentlemen, it's not now time to introduce our master of ceremonies. our master of ceremonies for today's event is mr. mike hidekr. journalist for nearly 25 years and weekday morning news anchor here in washington, d.c. you can see him monday through friday on wake up washington from 4:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. mike was honored with a local emmy nomination for his prime time special cool schools. the future is now, please welcome our master of ceremonies for today's event, mr. mike hideck. >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. what a beautiful day. we are so honored to have sunshine instead of rain and blustery co

said, you know, can you imagine normandy, 50,000 american casualties, 9,387 americans buried in omaha beacher paris and lyon and bordeaux and nice. and they're communists. what was the point? what would have been the point of liberation? there would have been no liberation. i hope i've tried to answer your question. i think that the french resistance, finally, to sum up, i think if we had armed them, it would have been the stupid thing to do because we would not have been able to have a democracy in france after the war. the communists heavily armed would have run the country. the reason why we put de gaulle in paris in 1944, even though we hated him, everyone hated him, was because he was a figurehead. we needed someone the french would believe and support and follow. we didn't want a communist. that's why we ended up with de gaulle. >> we've got time for a quick question to you right, alex. >> the prevailing view i think is that torture is not only barbaric, but ineffective. is that also true with the gestapo experience with torture? >> whose prevailing view is it that it's not effective?

that the french resistance gets a lot more credit sometimes than the people hitting the landing beaches in omaha and utah beach. and then there is the politics le back in the earlier years or some years ago, where he seemed to use the opportunities for the d-day landings, as they called them. they didn't call them an invasion. he didn't call them liberation. they called them the landings. he influenced the postwar era of anti-american speeches because he stirred up french nationalism and talked about french resistance being so important. you have already heard in our earlier discussions yesterday about the different elements of french nationalism and the communist or left wing of that. so there was an example there. and in the broadest sense, the idealized treatment of the , a goes interpretation into our very dna as a country. when you think about the american spirit. d-day reflects much of our own thoughts going back even to the writings of our founding fathers or lincoln at gettysburg or roosevelt for freedom speech and then the atlantic charter that followed that. so there is a contextual co