. >>> and later, tom brokaw's one-on-one with one american's return to normandy for the first time in0 years. >>> around the country, drug courts have become a popular alternative for dealing with nonviolent drug offenders, offering them the help they need and a second chance. it is not, however, a get out of jail free card, especially for those who come before one detroit area judge, whose passion and temperament has left some defendants shaking in their boots, and earned her a nickname that says it all. >> you don't get a social life. >> i know. >> reporter: she's the iron-fisted judge known as scary mary. >> i'm not allowing it. that's it. >> reporter: do you remember the first time you heard the term "scary mary"? >> it actually was something i had heard from a prisoner who $k had said to my secretary, "oh, you work for scary mary." >> reporter: as a circuit court judge in suburban detroit, mary chrzanowski keeps everyone on their toes. >> you're going to leave this courtroom now and get on it now. >> reporter: did you want to be known as a tough judge?tq'él >> yes. i take the law

men climbed aboard an aircraft, it took them over the east shores and secured their place in what tom brokawould later famous recall the latest generation. tom is back here in normandy with us with a couple veterans and remarkably the veteran aircraft itself. >> reporter: as long has there have been planes in the sky, there have been young men wanting to fly. >> i had fell in love with barney baxter, which was a comic. >> reporter: and women heard the call. >> my brother started taking lessons before me but i asked if i could. >> reporter: across generations they share a bond with another veteran. returning at long last to normandy, a c-47 sky train dakota called whiskey 7. one of the very few planes remaining from the airborne assault on not preoccupied europe. 70 years ago bud rice was an experienced pilot, 1800 hours in the cockpit. he was as ready as he would ever be. at 2:15 a.m. on june 6th, it was time to go. >> when you flew into the fog bank, was there panic. >> yes, fortunately, the training kicks in. you're scared but focused. >> reporter: leslie cruise was ready as well. >> the g

our special correspondent tom brokaw will be there for nbc and he joins me now. good morning. >> good morning, david. you know, in world war ii it was all in, and in afghanistan and iraq, we've been fighting the two longest wars in our nation's history with less than 1% of our population. but 70 years ago clark gable was in uniform, jimmy stewart was in uniform, and what we've just learned recently is the prominent role of five of the most excellent directors you could possibly imagine in the history of film, george stevens, jr., william wiler, john houston, john ford, and frank kappa. these men went to war. they not only went to war, it changed their lives and it changed the way that we see movies. >> reporter: five of hollywood's finest directors all at the top of their game. john ford, john houston, william wiler, frank kappa, and george stevens. >> these guys were artists, so they wanted to make great movies. they were patriots so they wanted to serve their country, and just as men, they wanted to tell the truth. >> reporter: filmmaker george stevens, jr. reme

and as i welcome back mike barnicle barnicle, tom brokaw and andrea mitchell i think a speech takes the largest of an event like this, but you boil it down to the small details, those people and those personal stories that you can take away and really grasp the meaning of how this affected their lives it's what i loved, in particularly about your piece, tom, with frank da davita. i feel like i got to know this man and how this shaped his life in the 70 years since. i think it was a great speech delivered by president obama there. >> you know it's very difficult for a president or anyone for that matter to put into words what we owe these people and what they did. they do the best job, frankly, of being personal witness and the impact that it had on their lives and how much we owe them. the line that you have just below the screen we have to tell these veterans' stories for them. and if you become cynical because of the world think of all that they went through. this was a day of unaloyed courage and extraordinary military genius. and after that it's very hard to find words or even emoti

in early november tom brokaw travels to berlin to report on the political situation. >> i went because good story. it was this kind of percolating situation. it was simmering. and you could feel it was going to boil over. >> the giant imposing berlin wall splits the city in two. >> the wall was this sinister symbol of the division between east and west. when you went to see it in person, i'd been there several times before, you could never adequately convey the coldness of it on camera. it was this ominous piece of slab of concrete. and we knew obviously about all the people who had paid for their lives trying to get over it. >> the day after arriving in berlin brokaw attends a press conference called by the minister of information for the east german republic, a man named gunter schabowski. >> the room was about half asleep at the time, and then he read this statement from the politburo that all citizens of the gdr would be able to leave and return. and it was as if it had arrived from the moon. did we hear what we thought we'd heard? >> nbc news arranges for brokaw to interview schab

our special correspondent tom brokaw will be there for nbc and he joins me now. ood morning. >> good morning, david. you know, in world war ii it was all in, and in afghanistan and iraq, we've been fighting the two longest wars in our nation's history with less than 1% of our population. but 70 years ago clark gable was in uniform, jimmy stewart was in uniform, and what we've just learned recently is the prominent role of five of the most excellent directors you could possibly imagine in the history of film, george stevens, jr., william wyler, john huston, john ford, and frank capra. these men went to war. they not only went to war, it changed their lives and it changed the way that we see movies. >> reporter: five of hollywood's finest directors all at the top of their game. john ford, john huston, william wyler, frank capra, and george stevens. >> these guys were artists, so they wanted to make great movies. they were patriots, so they wanted to serve their country, and just as men, they wanted to tell the truth. >> reporter: filmmaker george stevens, jr. rememb

. >> and it was our own tom brokaw who coined the phrase the greatest generation. tom is reunited with a man of many -- many of his friends who have come back to normandy and shares this story of frank devita to stormed the beach aboard a u.s. coast guard boat. he passes on his memories to four generations of his family. >> all of these people -- what an honor. >> it's an honor for them to have you as a father or grandfather and i think the other important thing is it's an honor for them to come here, that you went back, survived the war and turned out this wonderful family. >> yes. >> what's the lesson for these generations of the family to come here and revisit it? >> love your freedom because that's what we fought for. we fought for the freedom. >> now, he feels a duty to honor and speak for those men who died that day. >> these kids were 18, 19 years old. they are never going to see their son play little league baseball and never going to walk their daughter down the aisle. and they're never going to hold a grandchild in their arms. they had their whole life ahe

you're joining tom brokaw and mike barnacle there.u've gotten to talk with some people you followed a group of students that came there to study with a veteran, and see firsthand what happened in history. mike made a point earlier about how he did not know if he would have had the courage as any of us would certainly wonder about ourselves, have the courage to do what all of these heroes that are gathered today whom we honor and whom we pay tribute to did, and you had some interesting reaction when you talked to young kids. i mean i think, don't they wonder that about themselves as well? >> yes, exactly, alex. they do. this was a very special program that the college of the ozarks organized so they have brought back the veterans in their 90s, and with them these 19 and 20 years old, boys and girls, young college kids and seeing the interactions they have learned so much. one young man said to me "i've seen the movies. i've read the books." he's read tom's book and others and he said "you never really understand it until you talk to th

years ago, tom brokaw gave a bunch of them the perfect title, the greatest generation. here today tom was back as well to witness this 70th reunion. ♪ >> reporter: this is why we're here. here above the beaches of normandy just beyond the water that brought liberty at a great sacrifice. for those who survived that day and for so many others, this is a journey of honor and remembrance to honor their fallen friends and remember 70 years later, but it is not just veterans who honor the sacrifices here. a new generation of leaders takes up the call. >> we tell the story for the soldiers that pulled themselves a little straighter today to salute brothers who never made it home. we tell the story for the daughter who clutches a faded photo10 of her father forever young. gentlemen, i want each of you to know your legacy is in good hands. >> reporter: and the president reminded us their legacy goes beyond the fighting to the costly time in their young lives. >> they left home barely more than boys and returned home heroes, but to their great credit, that is not how this generati

tom brokaw was one of the first western broadcasters to get into china and cover the crisis. ow he and cameraman tony wasserman came up with a way to get footage despite total blackout by chinese authorities. >> he was on a bicycle and putting a soft drink box on the back, and i said, we're going to put a camera there, right? he said, absolutely. >> it may be unusual. but it's one of the few ways we can show you life in the streets of beijing without getting in trouble with the authorities. >> we took off not knowing if i was going to get shot or whether we could pull this off or not. and i rode behind tony. i was wired up, and we could sync it up later. and to our surprise, no one stopped us. only one chinese bicyclist bicycled up behind tony, reached in the box and tickled the lens and drove away. >> incredible footage. joining me now from hong kong, thousands are conducting a vigil today. ian, great to see you. that moment with tom is just such a classic of what it was like in the field, trying to get around the censureship in china back 25 years ago. >> reporter: that's ri

and as our friend tom brokaw says probably the greatest historic moment the greatest military momentd history. >> steven try and capture for as you little bit, i'm going to ask you to speak for all europeans of course. >> sure. >> what is the european feeling on a day like this? america comes over and this is such a patriotic and important moment for americans. give me a little bit of the european feelings about this when america comes over here and there is this joint celebration we want to have. >> we've seen some of the reaction to the veterans that come over here. there's not just a u.s. ceremony, there's a british ceremony down the coast a little bit. you've soon the reception they get from the french people. in britain, d-day has been an honored anniversary. it's a clear-cut conflict a battle of good against evil. it's not something can you u can say for our wars post world war ii vietnam, iraq yemen and places like that. so i think the d-day generation has always had a special sort of role in european life. i think people turning up and almost saying good-bye to them in many w

tom brokaw, mike barnicle. we'll have much more from both of you thought the morning on this 70th anniversary of d-day. mike will tell us the story of the bedford boys and how their story epitomizes the ultimate sacrifice made by entire families and communities and actually mike wrote essays on the 50th anniversary. we've put them back up on our website and we're tweeting them because they crystallized these very, very beautiful, sometimes very simple stories of young men who were called to action and how their contributions really changed history. we do have some other news to turn to this morning. the taliban is providing news, details about the nearly five years bowe bergdahl was held in captivi captivity. now in separate conversations with "time" magazine, two militant commanders describe the moments leading up to the american soldier's release. they assigned a cameraman to capture the handover and gave bergdahl a custom made local tunic as a sign of respect. one said, quote, we wanted him to return home wi

brian williams is in normandy along with tom brokaw. >>> let's turn things over to jeff ranieri. today was a good day, it was warm in the east bay but seems foggy in san francisco. >> you went anywhere today, we had major temperature extremes. anywhere from the 60s into the 90s. right now in san francisco, a live shot of the golden gate bridge. you can see that fog continuing to roll in. winds out of the west at 7 miles per hour. looks like the fog tonight will be good enough to bring us some drizzle. and it is because of the fog as we head throughout this weekend we're going to keep widespread temperatures across the bay area. let's take a look across the sky camera network. on friday we have made it to the end of the work week. we'll set you up with a pretty good weekend. right now sunny across the south bay. clear, awesome night if you're heading out there to grab some food outside tonight. looking pretty good. for the peninsula, hazy and 71. we are going to see some decreased air quality as we head throughout the next 24 hours. so let's take you into that weather forecast. wh

tom brokaw caught up with one d-day veteran small in stature, but full of courage, though he would beay so. >> reporter: ernie has been here before, and once had always been more than enough. so you've never been back? >> no. this is the first time. >> reporter: until today. navy seaman first class ernie korbezi was a long way from his home on rhode island on june 6th, 1944. his job ashore was to blow up the obstacles in the path of the invading americans. >> i tell you the truth, i was scared. >> reporter: once his landing craft approached shore, there was a brutal crossfire, relentless shelling. nothing went according to plan. >> my helmet got full of water and i sank to the bottom. i had 50 pounds of explosives on my back, a rifle, a canteen, ammunition. that weighed me all down. someone pulled me back up. >> reporter: you don't know who that was? >> i don't know who that was. >> a scene of unimaginable carnage surrounded him. he was the only one of his eight-man crew to survive a direct hit. you still see their faces? >> oh, yeah. >> every day? >> practically every day. >> he was

>> it's very emotional, because unfortunately, the greatest generation, as tom brokaw has put it is passingf you just do the math, basically your youngest veteran, world war ii veteran today is about 85 years old. and so this is an opportunity where we have still a fairly large amount of veterans that we can participate with these ceremonies with today. i don't think it will be quite as impact. 10 years from now, unfortunately. >> reporter: thank you, i appreciate your time very much. men and women that we should perhaps all look up to, perhaps they changed the world, many people would say that. there are about 5,000 people here today. stephanie. >> yeah, such a reminder of some of the unsung heros in the great war, robert ray for us in new orleans at the national world war ii museum. robert, thank you. >>> one of the most important contribution to his the victory at d-day took place far from the beaches in nomady in utter secrecy. phil ittner talked to a woman who was part of a project that gave the allies the edge over the germans. >> reporter: tucked way in the english country side, the

tom brokaw has been in normandy so many times over the years and he is back there this morning coveringgood morning to you. >> good morning, matt. as those troops began to come ashore here 70 years ago at dawn, 93-year-old tom blake, a member of the 82nd airborne, was already behind enemy lines. and that's a day he remembers vividly. >> i had five bullets that could have killed me, any one of them. one of them right by the side of my helmet and left a silver streak when it took the paint off. >> and what were you thinking during all that? >> well, i'm going to get the next one. >> on june 6th, 1944, blakey, a small town boy from texas, parachuted behind nazi lines into the chaos of the greatest invasion in the history of the world. take me to the moment when you're over the jump zone. what's going through your mind? >> i hope i don't mess up. >> i caught up with blakey at the national world war ii museum in new orleans where he volunteers. so you're coming out of that book door -- >> all right. >> 18 in the stick. which is called a squad. >> yes. >> and how many seconds -- >> 11. >> 11

. >> steve: wow. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: number 97 it's, "talk dirty to me" by tom brokaw. >> steve: idid music. >> jimmy: i did not know that he did it. do we have a clip? can we listen to that? ♪ been around the world don't speak the language but your booty don't need explaining ♪ ♪ for "nbc nightly news" talk dirty to me ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> steve: i'm going to buy it. >> jimmy: "nbc nightly news." that's pretty good. >> steve: that's great. i love it. >> jimmy: 98 we have, "i'll make love to you" by 20 timid men. i've never heard of that one, either. it's at the bottom of the charts. let's just take a listen to that, real quick. ♪ i'll make love to you if you want me to i'll hold you tight not too tight ♪ ♪ baby all through the night ♪ >> jimmy: stop. stop. that's enough. [ applause ] that was pretty good. that was up there. >> steve: i'm going to download that. >> jimmy: at number 99 we have a song called "shaggy reads his grocery list" now, they're talking about shaggy the rapper. higgins, you know shaggy the rapper? [ as shaggy ] "i've met him before." >> steve: he's the

it icons like clint eastwood, marilyn monroe, tom brokaw, hugh hefner. so there you go. that is who everyone is. >> i think we have a few baby boomers in the audience. and so one thing that strikes me is that even though you say they are not scientific, there are no women among this. so i was talking with a friend about that and we were trying to think about it. so there are a lot of successful women, but to get to this status, it was hard for us and i wonder what that said about our generation. she'll samberg was the best we could come up with or molly ringwald. >> it's a great question, and it's one of the dramatic changes that have happened in the years that i have tracked and especially in this century. generation stories are one of the greatest in this era. gender roles are converging both at work and at home and we have a lot of data on that. and so there are gender changes at work that we know about, the pay gap is shrinking. it hasn't completely disappeared. without the work level one we ask young adults and millennialist how important are the following things in

before we talk about basketball, let's return to tom brokaw. >> bob, we are witnessing tonight a modernedy and drama being played out live on television. >> the young boy with a microphone was bob costas and who can forget simpson's phone call with tom lang. >> there's a lot of people who love you. don't throw it all away. don't throw it all away. >> i can't take this. >> yes, you can, yes, you can. you got your whole family out there. they love you, man. don't throw this away. don't do this. they love you. don't do it, oj. it's going to work itself out. >> it's going to work itself out. i guess, it did work itself out, didn't it, eventually. can you believe that was 20 years ago? >> no, i can't believe it's 20 years ago, but that was such an iconic time. i don't remember exactly where i was at the time. >> you don't, everybody does. >> i remember being glued to watching the bronco and watching the people, it was really stunning to me, everyone thought oj had killed nicole at that point, remember because -- remember this was after the murders. >> what do you mean, i still thought? >> no

ahead of the 70th anniversary of d-day our tom brokaw

everyone from president obama to the former tv anchor tom brokaw sharing thoughts on mr. bush.nor, let me ask you this question. what do you consider george h.w. bush greatest chief achievement? >> everyone knows about the great things did he in foreign policy and really helping guide the world to the collapse of the soviet union and certainly providing the needed response in the middle east when iraq invaded kuwait. but i think his greatest achievement is just beginning to be appreciated. people are discovering that he passed more significant important domestic legislation than any other president since world war ii, except possibly and i say possibly lyndon johnson. not only did he pass a budget agreement that -- the budget agreement that set the stage for the surpluses in the mid '90s and growth period of the mid '90s. the kennedy foundation gave him the profiles courage award for making the tough decision to allow that agreement. the clean airbill stifled for 13 years he made a market approach and got it passed. he got legislation passed that deregulated our energy sectors

generation of anchors became anchors, peter jennings had been in london, you covered the white house, tom brokawvered the white house and had been the anchor of the "today" show. you were at "60 minutes." there was a tradition, a progression till you got to the evening news. why is it -- why is it different now? and should it be different now? >> well, it certainly is different now, and i think the reason it's different now is because the leadership of all of the major networks has changed, not only changed in names and faces but changed in attitude. the idea of news being a public service has gone almost completely out of it. the idea that our number one objective for any network said the network executives of not too long ago, we want quality news of integrity. if we can make money, that's fine, the rating, we'd like to do that, but that's not our main purpose. >> let's talk about the morning news shows and their rising importance. they were in your day perhaps thought of as something the farm team for the evening news. now the situations are sort of reversed as the muir/stephanopoulos change

did you know tom brokaw hails from a town in south dakota, he returned to his roots on friday to dedicate a museum. the dedication was part of a larger celebration marking the state's 125th anniversary. >> and finally, if you stayed up last night, you better than we are here on the desk. the battle of the better coasts, at least this morning goes to the west. the l.a. kings are kings of the cup. they claimed the stanley cup friday night on their home ice. the second win for the team in three years. after two nail-biting extra periods, the game winning goal in double overtime. finishing off the new york rangers with a 3-2 win and a 4-1 series win. a team hasn't won in under six games since like 2007. this is a big deal for the kings. huge. >> tough around here. >> it's not fun waking up in new york this morning. >> we're all actually glad that you went to bed. >> i don't know. hey, dylan. how is it going? >> a little bit. we're looking at pretty nasty storms that will develop flew the middle of the country although right now just to the southwest of dallas near san antonio we have heavier

and i see your colleague, tom brokaw. that's what i wanted to get into. i love politics. saying? i see the katrina response. i see people talking about fema. i read about president bush and his budget cuts. that gets my juices going. >> and in prison, he's discovered a captive audience for his brand of political punditry. >> i have a subscription to "usa today" and i have a line. i let everybody read it. i write little comments. you'd be surprised, we discuss things in here. everything in prison is not just violence or gangs. we discuss issues. people are surprised the conversations we have in here, you know what i'm saying? >> he tried out some spin in response to an unexpected line of questioning from our producer on the pin-ups decorating his cell. >> are these all your girlfriends? >> in another lifetime. most of them come out of "xxl" magazine. "king," "black men" minority based magazines. kind of like "maxim." but sided toward the hip hop minority community. get tired of looking at gray walls all day. they're not nude, they're all clothed, albeit scantily. >> they'r

. >> this is nbc "nightly news" with tom brokaw, reporting tonight from new york. >> good evening.aign promises are made to be broken. however you want to describe it, president bush conceded that new taxes will be necessary to get the federal budget deficit under control. >> on this day in tax history, june 26th, 24 years ago, president bush issued this statement that rocked the political world. and as you've just seen, led the nightly news. it is clear to me that both the size of the deficit problem and the need for a package that can be enacted require all of the following, entitlement reform, tax revenue increases, growth incentives, orderly reductions in defense expenditures and budget process reform. it was, of course, a perfectly reasonable assessment of the situation, but it also required breaking a campaign promise, and not just any campaign promise, the most clear, absolute and memorable campaign promise of the decade, read my lips, no new taxes. the new tax package that president bush signed into law just five months later included an increase in the top tax bracket from

. >>> you may know this veteran news anchor for his time here at nbc, but did you know tom brokaw hails from a small town in south dakota. he returned to his roots friday to dedicate a museum where you lived during the 1940s and '50s. the dedication is part of a larger celebration moschiarking state's 12y. 5th altaye if u hthf ter west ings ags of the cup. they claimed the stanley cup friday night on their home ice. the second win for the team in three years. after two nail-biting extra periods, martinez scored the game-winning goal in double overtime, finishing off the new york rangers with a 3-2 win and a 4-1 series win. a team hasn't won in under six games since like 2007 so this is a really big deal for the kings. >> huge. >> tough around here, ou. >> it's not fun waking up in new york this morning. >> we're all actually glad that you went to bed. >> i don't know. >> hey, dylan, what's up? >> how's it going? >> a little weather? >> just a little bit. there's some pretty nasty storms that will develop through the of t nt to s of dallasran antonio we do have some heavier downpours, we

i mean, anybody who's served in world war ii, there's a reason that tom brokaw called them the greatest generation. they were. and for me, personally, i was with ronald reagan, i was covering him, when he went to the normandy beach there at point dehawk, for anybody who hasn't been there, and really should go, is a sheer cliff. and army rangers came across the wide, unprotected space of normandy beach and had to scale that cliff. and i just want to read you what reagan said that day, because i flipped it out of the paper today. he said, these are the men who took the cliffs. these are the champions who helped the free a continent. these are the heroes who helped end a war. and at that point, 40 years after d-day, these were men in their 60s. now most of them, who are still alive, are in their 90s. they were boys, they were men, they were champions. they were heroes. and 70 years later, we owe them an indelible debt of gratitude. >> absolutely. i get chills, as you read that. and your father, i want to let everyone know, served as a communications person with the navy during world war ii

. >> before we talk about basketball let's return to tom brokaw for a report are on the still developingtudios. >> we are witnessing a modern tragedy and drama of shakespearian proportion playing out live on television. you can probably believe this in our modern popular television culture. people are going to the freeway, parking their cars and waving at o.j., we are told, as they drive by. >> look at the cars on the next bridge, man. [ sirens ] [ cheers ] >> o.j. simpson's car chase on the freeways of southern california changed the media for 20 years. it was the birth of reality tv. brett morgan, director of the documentary "june 17, 1994," joins us this evening here on "the ed show." appreciate your time. the significance. you did a documentary on it. there was no narration. the only thing there was the events edited by you and your team. what does it mean? >> well, i think our culture changed on june 17, 1994. there was the obvious loss of innocence in terms of how we perceived our sports icons. more importantly the way the media covered the event. sort of signalled the birth of rea

to set the scene, here's nbc's tom brokaw with an nbc news special report from raykovits. >> i'm presidentgan. walking into his limousine, waving good-bye to him. it was after that that they announced they would meet again this afternoon. that was the formal announcement. informally, they were talking about it. >> when are you going to meet? >> 3:00. >> are you making headway at least? the clean air act stops polluters from... poisoning his air with arsenic, lead and mercury. now the loop hole that lets them pump unlimited carbon... pollution into his air is closing too. if polluters and their friends in washington don't interfere. the porter was so incredibly... careful... careless... with our bags. and the room they gave us -- it was... beautiful. a broom closet. but the best part but the worst part was the shower. my wife drying herself with the... egyptian cotton towels... shower curtain... defined that whole vacation for her. don't just visit new york. visit tripadvisor new york. [ male announcer ] with millions of reviews, a visit to tripadvisor makes any destination better. if yand

adds tom brokaw reported four years later, pollution was still a problem. >> the chesapeake bay is fightingurvival. more than 100 major companies and sewage systems dump their waste into the scenic waters. runoff from surrounding farm fields feeds still more chemicals into the bay. >> last week the governors of maryland, pennsylvania, virginia and delaware all signed a new bay restoration agreement. it's the fourth pact that's been signed in 31 years and now the federal effort to clean up the bay is under fire. 39 lawmakers and 21 attorneys general are asking a federal court to block the epa's plan to clean up the chesapeake bay watershed. president obama issued an executive order to clean up the bay in 2009. this week lawmakers are accusing the epa in making a power grab in setting pollution limits. i'm joined by ben carden, part of the senate's water and wildlife subcommittee. i remember back in the late '80s, early '90s in washington, d.c., every drainage -- one of the watch words was remember where this goes, this goes to the chesapeake bay, that was in washington, d.c. and virginia try

you know, tom brokaw has written these books calling them 'the greatest generation.' they were not great. they were just ordinary people whom the government called on and who answered that call. and they hated the army and they groused and there were jokes about it. it wasn't that they were all saying, 'hooray. let's go get them,' at all. it's a miserable thing to be a s--an infantrymen in an army, especially in a bloody war like that. but they felt that they were being depended on by their country, and they were. and so they answered the call, grousing all the way, but it didn't matter. and, of course, everybody was working and everybody was involved and... >> guest: the holocaust--did you know about it during world war ii, or how much did you know? >> guest: yes, yes, not--i didn't know all of it, but i knew about it. there were books and there were--there were books about what had gone on in germany, even at the beginning of the war, to the jews. and then little by little, one--there were people who now say, 'we didn't know,' but that's nonsense. everybody knew, in

. >> you hear so much about the greatest generation and i think that tom brokaw has done a wonderfulgreatest generation. but what i took away from reading "brothers forever" we're in the midst of a new great generation and the reason you wanted to write this book. >> that's exactly it, mike. when the president talked about these two guys and they met at 9/11, their time spans through the capture and killing of osama bin laden, they represent this whole generation, and, you know, their story represents america's story with these great young men and women that are serving. . >> they gave their lives, your son and brendan n service to their country and a decision was made they should spend eternity together? >> yeah. we actually had travis up at home in the cemetery near home and we found out after we buried him that he really wanted to be in arlington. we never really got him settled. when we lost brendon and brendon's wife said she wanted brendon and travis side by side we decided to move him to arlington and we got a lot of help making it happen and they're down with the heros. >> yo

. >> here is tom brokaw. >> we are looking at live pictures of interstate 5 in los angeles. >> untiliewers had settled in to watch the nba finals between the knicks and the rockets. now they would watch a split screen of the game and the chase. bob kostas was mohosting the pregame and halftime shows for nbc. >> all of a sudden this greek tragedy becomes part of the mix and it's going on concurrently. the drama without a script. >> suspect is possibly armed but use caution. >> it was a real gun, loaded, he could have used it. and you can't take a chance with someone. >> there are pedestrians all over the roadway, 10-4. >> detective tom lang had simpson's cell phone number and was able to reach him. we have retained a recording of that conversation. >> just let me get to my house. i swear, i'll give you me, my whole body. >> lang used every bit of police and pop psychology he knew to keep simpson's hand on the phone and off the trigger. >> you're scaring everybody. >> you can tell them later today that i'm sorry. i'm sorry that i did this to the police department. >> i think you should

very similar in the values they stood for, and the values of that generation, that generation that tom brokawcalled the greatest generation, are fundamental and foundational values to what we're all about as a nation. and this week, the senate stepped up, united as we seldom do these days, to talk about the veterans of that war and our other wars and the obligation we have to our veterans. i think te bill that the senate passed yesterday that i cosponsored, that i vote for can be better, and i think it will be better after we have a chance to talk to our house conference. maybe like the conference used to be. it is time we got back to the normal way of doing business. but the underlying approach, this key significant change that the bill that the senate passed yesterday brings to the veterans is more options and more opportunities. and particularly our younger veterans, mr. president. i want to see more choices. they want to have more information. when senator stabenow and i

it icons like clint eastwood, marilyn monroe, tom brokaw, hugh hefner. so there you go. that is who everyone is. >> i think we have a few baby boomers in the audience. and so one thing that strikes me is that even though you say they are not scientific, there are no women among this. so i was talking with a friend about that and we were trying to think about it. so there are a lot of successful women, but to get to this status, it was hard for us and i wonder what that said about our generation. she'll samberg was the best we could come up with or molly ringwald. >> it's a great question, and it's one of the dramatic changes that have happened in the years that i have tracked and especially in this century. generation stories are one of the greatest in this era. gender roles are converging both at work and at home and we have a lot of data on that. and so there are gender changes at work that we know about, the pay gap is shrinking. it hasn't completely disappeared. without the work level one we ask young adults and millennialist how important are the following things in

nbc's tom brokaw is in omaha beach this morning. good morning to you. >> thanks, matt and savannah.oat, on a landing craft. he didn't want to put down the ramp for very good reason. and now he's brought his entire family back to revisit that terrible day. ♪ >> on june 6th, 1944, we made the invasion of europe. i was skinny. >> reporter: frank devita was 18 when he dropped out of high school in his senior year to enlist in the coast guard. >> when the japanese bombed pearl harbor, everyone wanted to do their duty. ♪ my boat was the "u.s.s. samuel." >> d-day is here. >> that morning, we were all sea sick. we saw the beach, one particular machine gun took a liking to us and was hitting my boat. he was shooting down at us. it was like hitting fish in a barrel. my job was to drop that, i knew when i dropped that they would come to the boat. they said drop the ramp, and they believe i didn't hear. he said -- drop the ramp. so we had 30 men on the boat. three men made it to the beach. they were all older, and some were dead. with the solace, people think that when a man is dying they don't

it icons like clint eastwood, marilyn monroe, tom brokaw, hugh hefner. so there you go. that is who everyone is. >> i think we have a few baby boomers in the audience. and so one thing that strikes me is that even though you say they are not scientific, there are no women among this. so i was talking with a friend about that and we were trying to think about it. so there are a lot of successful women, but to get to this status, it was hard for us and i wonder what that said about our generation. she'll samberg was the best we could come up with or molly ringwald. >> it's a great question, and it's one of the dramatic changes that have happened in the years that i have tracked and especially in this century. generation stories are one of the greatest in this era. gender roles are converging both at work and at home and we have a lot of data on that. and so there are gender changes at work that we know about, the pay gap is shrinking. it hasn't completely disappeared. without the work level one we ask young adults and millennialist how important are the following things in