welcome to the whole story. >> i'm anderson cooper on june 6 and 44, american canadian, british, and other allied forces launched the largest amphibious invasion in history. nearly 160,000 troops landed along five beaches in normandy, france. on what became known as d-day. it was a turning point in the war in europe, world war ii was fought against fascist regimes and germany and italy and imperial japan and the victory of democratic principles was hard. one, but 80 years have passed since d-day. and we thought it a good time to take a look at the state of our democracy today. over the next hour, cnn's jake tapper looks back at d-day sacrifices. so many young men made on those beaches in normandy that day. and what it means to us now what were we fighting for? >> we were locked in a battle with fascism. we're fighting for our freedom, for the freedom to think as we wish talked with they gave their life to preserve and protect that institutional. they died for our democracy. that wasn't the thing they were thinking about when they ran out of the landing craft, whatever. but at the end of the day, that's what they were protecting. >> we're trying to save democracy because of what crazy held or 80 years ago, thursday on june 6, 1944 five years after adolf hitler and the nazis began their global conquest and slaughter of millions of innocence. the us united kingdom and canada launched operation overlord the largest seaborne invasion ever. the allies goal to free france defeat germany, and restore democracy to europe they, they were supposed to be june 5, storm came in postpone for a day jake larson is 101-years-old on de day. he was 21 from rural minnesota and an aide to a colonel who helped plan the attack i was an expert typist every person that landed on omaha beach on d-day came true these fingers i type their name one hour after midnight, about 23,000 british and american paratroopers began and dropping behind enemy lines. >> and their mission was to secure causeways and enable the amphibious invasion, secure key terrain over the next few hours before dawn, about 133,000 troops crossed the english channel their destination right into the line of fire of germany's heavily fortified so-called atlantic wall on francis normandy coast the brits led the attacks. it's soared in gold beaches. the canadians and brett's headed to juno beach the americans were to take utah and omaha among them, 19-year-old army corporal george states from beacon, new york three other shifts across at the same time. >> all the sudden rochelle started coming we heard this big crash. blue the second shift, right out of the water got hit by a shell we said what about those guys? that's what we could do the cold water are so cool hyperthermia was said and kill them 15 minutes. they're probably all gone, blown up already so that was welcome to the european theater. we have frayed halfway into the beach. we started seeing bondage everywhere that floating or semi floating navy man tally fletcher was a 19-year-old gunners made from baton rouge, louisiana. >> his task escort the lcis, the landing crafts, ferrying infantry fighters such as corporal states to shore well, there's that we're going to take in to water up to your knees and they dropped the front of the lci now the answer it says a go nobody booths that's a yells go nobody moves this is all right. >> billy kotb, 50 guy ring back on the 50 gallon river shiga he says, we're very give them 30 seconds. the start shooting from back to front. i've going to back. you know what i'm doing push a first step up to our knees is right here right up for our shoulders. >> the next day we hear get those rifles up in the air. we can always get new mega, we can get new rifles omaha beach was 300 yards of flat terrain protected with razor wire and land mines. >> beyond that deadly terrain a cliff. and from that high ground highly trained german machine gunners roughly 2,500 american men died that day. on the beaches of normandy the idea of landing, were there are german machine guns and cannons firing at you from above and their four to five right? the only way that plan makes sense is if you think you're an american commander and you say well, we're just going to put so many americans on the ground that they can't kill us. all right. >> but that's terrifying it is terrifying, but that's war takes putting a young person with a gun out in front and, relying on that person to keep going regardless of what he faces if he goes down, the guy right behind him takes over and the next guy and the next guy and that's how we win fall in just a little berm sandstone berm, the poor protected me from the fire. i'm land now re-share my pocket and i pull all this package of cigarettes and i sensed someone to my left. so i said hey buddy, have been gathered match. i got no answer so i turned and i was i helmet then there was no head on the body was that exact moment? it was just like the sole of that soldier or was talking to me and said right now, get up and run and i did it was crazy. i made it without being shot there were so many dead gis that the gabe along later with a bulldozer darker crabs are about 200 feet long or baby 20 feet wide, ten feet deep and they push the american bodies and it's a whole that it covered up coercion the bodies are in a body bag and everybody had a dog cag utah as best as i could tell was hardly any trouble compared to homo have 19-year-old staff sergeant george mullins of eastern kentucky was on utah beach the second night. >> doesn't combat it's true dark from resale the next mortar found 43 boys wounded and dead has alcohol shock came it took weeks for the allied powers to win the battle of normandy 73,000 allied service members were killed the sizes scale of d-day is enormous this a great quote that they fought together as brothers in arms and they died together. and now they sleep side-by-side. and to them we have a solemn obligation is every one of us into those that have sacrifice. we have a solemn obligation to continue this experiment. liberty not expected tournament continues, but it is more vulnerable today than in years past. in his 1941 state of the union address, president franklin roosevelt discussed a world founded upon four essential human freedoms freedom, obs, speech, and expression. freedom of every person to worship freedom from want. >> radium, from fear that is no vegan how about this millennium it is a definite basis for applying the world at panel. then our own time and generation. >> and yet 103 of the 167 major countries in the world, 62% of them have become less democratic. in the last generation decline has a lot of sources. >> i tend to think it's almost as if we are living through an era of incredible change. so economic change rafiq, change, informational change, and people react against change by wanting things to become simpler. >> the idea of a unified government, the idea that even if a dictator becomes appealing and so 80 years after d-day, a day when we honor allied forces who fought and died for democracy we wanted to hear from those who survived that de, george washington library and others who have borne the battle and were willing to make that sacrifice retired four-star marine general john kelly. >> he earned it, retired four-star marine general jim matus, a former secretary of defense how does it feel to even be having these conversations about the future of democracy? >> after all the sacrifice that you have personally witnessed well, i consider it a privilege. >> that was a us marine and that's a source of pride for those of us who are there. but at the same time, i think it's healthy that we have these discussions that we've not ignore reality for too was an enormous conflict and retired four-star army general mark milley, a former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, merely was inspired to serve by his uncle who was at normandy his father who fought in the pacific and his mother nursed the wounded state sayyed headstone of an unknown in early june, milli flew to france. >> he plans to honor the fallen heroes at the 80th anniversary commemoration on omaha beach it's incumbent upon us the living the pass on their memory to live their values, to ensure that what they fought for lives to the next generation what did they all think about how well we are guarding those democratic ideals, those four freedom, that more than 400,000 american service members died four i didn't find out more for for this. that's ahead i was so excited to buy my first home, but i needed a lot of work done on it. >> i went on to angie. jamie was the first person to call all i explained her some of the things i could do and showed are some pictures. >> he's resurfaced my fluorine, he's done plumbing work, he's refinished this beautiful table here. >> what would you say the sandi it for a week? >> well, he didn't with top rated certified pros and over 500 categories. angie can connect you with the right pro for any home project find top rated certified pros in your area at angie.com? >> sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep, so he takes z quell the world's number one sleep they brand and wakes up feeling like himself. get the rest to be your best non habit forming zeke. well, better days start with z equal nights engineered to minimize noise and built for adventure. >> which can also be your own quite kanban in the world the fully electric qa e-tron in electric vehicle that recharges how we get there, matters while those rewards credit cards saves a 5% on the things we need. >> blackface and all 5% or 5% loyalty members, we get points to one myeloma money for the things we want. >> well, we want to see you all knew my lowest rewards, loyalty programs here, download the app to join, earn and save today counter invasion when they face a prolonged and bloody campaign in which this beachhead was only the first thrust there was until after ten days that we had the beach solidified, that we called ours. the allied forces had won the day but for then 19-year-old army corporal george states, the grind of war had just begun i was fed 30 bucks overseas. i was unfortunate different countries some of the other bad takes i saw. i don't like to talk about the battle of normandy raged on for nearly three months and more carnage was just around the corner i december 1944, surprise, german attack, the last major german offensive on the western front the brutal bloody battle of the bowl as the allies pushed to berlin nearly a year after d-day states was sent to germany as part of an occupation unit ge ober's were in full retreat. they knew they were done along the way he encountered the depths of nazi horrors or driving down a road that all of a sudden we see these people out there in their pajamas. >> they weighed about 80 pounds people say that asserts such thing, its concentration, gifts they were there. you could smell those the worst smelling a bird body or dead body. suddenly get it all, forget i never told anybody. >> once i got home. just forgot about it it's a brutal, brutal, vicious thing. >> this thing called war, the degree of sacrifice and pain and suffering is unbelievable. we've got to do everything we can to make sure that we don't have a major armed conflict between great powers. that's why it's rules-based water is so important. >> the victorious countries match as in the charter of the united nations this rules-based order he's talking about was put in place by the allies after world war ii to protect the newly restored democracies with a set of rules and institutions without agreement on a chatter, the structure of peace cannot be done at all. >> part of this was done through the united nations, which essentially said that we don't change borders by force. >> some of this was the use of the language of human rights that became part of your actual treaties and agreements. >> essentially, the idea was that we try and solve as many problems if we can by negotiation and diplomacy rather than fighting. >> then in 1949 when joseph stalin's ussr see seven nations and threatened other democratic countries, the allies added a military component, establishing nato democratic allies banding together as a force to deter soviet aggression. >> rule one was that great powers, or any power should not cross international borders with their million but terry unless it's an active defense the united states has fought for that principle over and over when korea across the border in the summer 1950, president truman immediately deployed forces, marine reinforcements are rushed to the scene, then a red sneak attack on southern when saddam hussein across the border to attack kuwait, president bush immediately deploy the 82nd airborne division and now vladimir putin's decidedly undemocratic. >> russia has been waging a war against the democratic nation of ukraine for more than two years mark milley was the top military adviser to president biden when president putin invaded ukraine what putin did in february 22 was the conduct an outright war of aggression. >> he did a frontal assault on the very purpose, the why of what world war ii was fought about it's extremely concerning to retire general john kelly when you invade a country that may not be perfect, but it is a growing democracy. >> if you get away with it, you might do it again. and it is pretty easy to predict what would happen. i think if ukraine fell to the onslaught of what we're experiencing right now hi there. >> welcome to the red book, sweet here at the george washington library. >> very cool this is interesting this is cool here. this little booklet just documents a special visit we had look at the date august 31st, 2021 right. six months before the invasion. >> it's an honor and a pleasure to welcome presence. >> so let's back in 2021, ukrainian president volodymyr is linsky was in washington dc to learn about the democratic ideal of the united states and to appeal to the united states for aid. this was before russian president putin's full-scale invasion. you are retired general when the intel started coming in that putin was going to send russian forces into invade and attack ukraine. what were you thinking when you started hearing it? >> well, my sense was we didn't stop him on the caucuses. they kinda did what he wanted and so the next step for a guy like him is attack someone else. >> it sounds a lot like hitler in terms of their never being satisfied with acquiring land. >> he's not necessarily trying to re-establish. you'll soviet union, but certainly the old russian empire pray, pray, pray that he never crosses that line, but you never know with a guy like putin, if he thinks he can get away with it just like the dictator of north korea, if those kind of people think that they can get away with it, they'll go, which is why these generals argue that another component of nato, article five is so critical. article five states at when someone attacks and nato country all are obligated to respond allies, allies, allied when the british and the canadian and american troops landed on the beaches of normandy we were allies and we we're lincoln up with the french resistance to shore so that tell you deal with authoritarians. >> we get the allies together, the democracy together. you stand up to them for some d-day veterans, the russian invasion of ukraine has disturbing echoes of german occupation as history all over again. >> showloading lead down putin is just like hitler. >> your total big lie and you're telling it often enough, people get to believe you the threat he poses a real, he's a creature straight out at dusk, dfs can kinda put and be contained absolutely. >> putting can be contained. so long as the democracies state tightly linked i would just point out though right now, you're watching china and north korea. and i ran stand with russia those are the allies that putin has. the question is, what? the western allies stand with ukraine? and if the pro-putin caucus in the us congress has their way than of course, you wouldn't. >> the bill is passed you saw 75% of the congress vote for aid how important is the nato alliance super important later is hugely important. your former boss, donald trump, was one of those people leading the charge for other countries to pay their fair share there. >> but i've also heard him criticized for not really being committed to nato. do you have any concerns? i do. >> there are some americans and feel as though to come home and just let the world just go its own way. and i think he was responding to that sentiment in some cases, but he did push them to pony up and get into the two percentage gdp in most of them are working towards is that accurate american, there are also critics who argued president biden's afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 sent the wrong message to putin about american resolve we shouldn't have withdrawn the troops. well, we did. that was like filling a green light to what other countries do you think would be at risk if ukraine were to ultimately fall to the russians? >> well, if you listened to putin in terms of what he's trying to re-establish, certainly the baltic countries would be at risk. >> and the dominos may keep falling if ukraine, the shield of europe falls, you're going to see in a balden president xi in china, he eyes taiwan. >> you're going to see a world where more people think they can get away literally with murder coming up the rise of authoritarianism around the world the increase in wildfires is exponential unpredictable uncontrollable overwhelming kotb. >> consequences. >> they need to do something is urgent violet earth, would we have schreiber nixon the night on cnn? i was born with wings, but psoriasis swooped into clip them. >> it crushed my confidence but no longer will psoriasis get a piece of me. i can love my skin again with benzoic only been zell ics targets and blocks is 17 a plus f to calm inflammation, i can control my plaques and start getting myself back in. >> zoox helps adults with moderate to severe psoriasis control plaques to deliver clearer skin fast for results that last i will give myself back the freedom of shorts, standard where black again, from head to toe most people got 100% clear skin, saw him after the first dose serious side effects including suicidal thoughts and behavior, infections, and lowered ability to fight them, liver problems and inflammatory bowel disease have occurred tell your doctor if these happen or worsen or if you've had a vaccine or plan to start to get yourself back with them zealous. asked her dermatologist did not been zelig today diabetes can serve up a lot of questions. >> like, what is your glucose? and can you have more carbs before you decide what the freestyle libre three system? no, your glucose and where it's heading. no finger sticks needed now the wolves smallest, thinnest sensor sends your glucose levels directly de your smartphone major diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c, the number one cgm prescribed in the us, right. for free at resell libre.us sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep, so he takes z quell the world's number one sleep, a brand, and wakes up feeling like himself get the rest to be your best with non habit forming zeke. well better days. start with z equal nights when you overdo it, undo it with the pepto that's right for you. do has very fast belch, cherry juice, liquid caps that make relief hey, your pepto if you have wet amd you never want to lose sight of the things you'd love. we some things should stand the test of time with long lasting i leah hd could significantly improve your vision and can help you go up to four months between treatments if you have an eye infection, i paint or redness or allergies, twilio hd, don't use ai injections like alia hd may cause i fiction, separation of the retina or rare but severe here's swell