Spent the hopes and prayers of people everywhere march with you. In company with brave allies and brothers in arms you will bring about the destruction of the german war machine, the illumination over the oppressed people of europe and security in a free world. This is not an easy one , the enemy is well trained , equip and battle hardened and will fight savagely. In bedford to virginia owned by alex kershaw, the author of nine books including the dday warriors who led the way to victory in world war ii, alex kershaw, thank you for joining us this morning. Whats the significance of you being there in bedford and the memorial you are sitting here this is the one place in america gave more than 3000 in 1944 died in the first wave on the beach. So virginia gave more than any other allied community on dday and thats why the National D Day memorial is here and im happy to be sitting here right in front of it. . By 1944 they would be in the first wave in the critical assault in u. S. History the most important day of the 20th century, the First Americans had arrived in france. Why do you think dday was the most important day of the 20th century . Human rights, democracy, peace and western europe, it was the foundation of atlanta schism in the relationship between the u. S. And europe the most important relationship in modern world history. It led to the freedom of millions of europeans and western europe. 19 million civilians died and were up were to in europe and when they landed on dday gave millions hope that barbarism and the role of [ null ]ism that terrible genocide and oppression would end art with ao most all of us have seen at some point or another in our lives, the famous jaws of death photo, what is the significance of this photo that you have included in a similar version on the front of your book . Host it this is probably the best photo you can find of troops approaching the beaches on dday , omaha beach. The Landing Craft is approaching one of the eight sectors on omaha, the second deadliest sector they will be killed, its a very atmospheric shot of what its like to approach omaha. Its a moment anticipating immense violence and slaughtering death. The colors are waiting, lets hear from ralph. My dad served in world war ii and was part of the occupation force after combat but im just wondering, how many men did we lose. It was a bloodied disaster that scholar. How are you doing . They said it was inappropriate to talk about the president. But, first of all, the sacrifices of the greatest generation have little to do about it because youve got to remember that the president and his controversy because someone had to take his place. Thank you weve moved onto that topic talking about dday with alex kershaw our guest in his new book the first wave, this is hillsdale new jersey, robert, welcome. Good morning and thank you very much for the book. The question i asked was about the bedford boys and memorial there. Ive been privileged to be there, i was there a couple years ago on veterans day when they brought over School Children and lined up all the veterans next to the Landing Craft to the left and the children went by, it mustve been 100 veterans and it was fantastic to see the children and thing the veterans. And, its a great thing. Im just ashamed it took so long to get the memorial belt. What was the difficulty . I think its the difficulty with many memorials. The National World war ii memorial in dc was built too late but it took a long time for people to realize that we needed to memorialize the second world war. Its a shame but we have to remember that its year, i am sitting here right now, its been open since 2001 and it was opened by bush in 2001 and we do have now a Beautiful National memorials all over the u. S. And in fact, in europe to american sacrifice and loss. How are the men selected to be part of this first way . Where they looking for a specific experience or character traits or they just needed raw numbers . Its a mixture of both for omaha beach but the First Division combats for some guys landed in the first wave with the big red one in omaha, the first wave, theyd been in north africa and sicily in omaha beach. The other was a rural division. Two thirds of the americans on dna had never had a shot fired in anger so, the combination, certain key objectives were difficult and challenging to the point where we used elite troops. The hundred and first airborne were elite troops but most of the guys had never seen combat before but the vast majority of americans have never seen combat before. John spaulding, leader of the 16th infantry, the first officer in the first wave of men on the beach that he wrote about lieutenant spaulding and the second in command the first infantry division, what was their relation to describe the first couple moments where they step off the higgins boat into the water. First of all, you have to remember that when they came towards the beach they were flat as a pancake and they were very effect and all they had to worry about was the counterattack so when they dared to look over about 200 yards from the beach, their hearts fell,. Is at the side of the Landing Craft but the noise level was extraordinary they describe it to me as a constant wall of noise. You hear every now and again the ripped like a piece of cloth being torn close to your ear, which could kill an entire platoon and couldve killed the Landing Craft to and. They went into the water and it goes under the water because he walks into a rental and he has to get rid of the pack and comes back up and manages somehow to get to the beach and then crawls across a stone shingle beach and finds protection by the ruins of a small heavy show. It took about an hour and a half from 6 32 am and about a. M. He managed to cross to get off the Landing Craft that finally emerged and took a strong at about a a and became the First American officer to lead americans off the bloodiest beach on dday alex kershaw as we look at the 75th anniversary of dday here on washington journal on American History tv. Yes, in world war ii, they couldnt find him anymore because they locked him up he fought for the American People all over and i just wondered, how can we get speed out from the war. So, they had him and im just saying, why do we keep teaching something about donald trump, that was a Corporation Name expect we will hear from walter next to walter with alex kershaw, go ahead. I want everyone out there whos paying attention to the broadcast and no one thing that when it comes to losing Award Winning a war thats a geopolitical matter when it comes to the man on the ground its more simple than that the winners walk out and the losers dont and thats the perspective of the combat veteran. Thank you for your time. Alex kershaw, walters perspective and what it took. Theres a critical moment on omaha beach, a critical moment for the entire invasion. So many men had been wounded and killed there was little communication but around 10 30 am or 11 am, bradley 5 miles out at sea seriously considered pulling american troops off omaha beach the heady pulled american troops off omaha beach , i believe that dday would have been a disaster and it wouldve been a great defeat not a great victory for allied forces. The differences made, by individual americans, young officers getting the guys to stand up to walk into the line of fire and have the courage to sacrifice their lives and lead others into enemy fire came down to individuals. Maybe four or five other individual officers making the difference during the entire battle. We can chase this massive invitation down to critical moments and say that key americans americans courage on dday. Lieutenant spauldings case and a couple others, how much gear was lost right away in spauldings case, waiting in the water they tell him to ditch a machine gun and other gear and he went up on the beach with barely any equipment out all. For that surprise you that they could continue to fight with much of their gear being lost or elsewhere one of the problems is this, at omaha beach we had high surf and we have to remember that these storms were in the english channel. When the guys came in some of them had been in the water for three or four hours, in one Landing Craft i talked to one veteran that said five ehtah six guys would pacing for several hours before they landed on the beach and in fact he retested them and ive interviewed veteran they said they didnt care how many bullets they wanted to get their feet on dry ground on a beach. So, they shouldve gone in lightly the ranges for example, they didnt carry equipment for the job was to get them fact fast and effectively with minimum weight. When you jump in the water with a 70 pound pack and a rifle and a radio on your back and that gets wet, the equipment gets wet, as spaulding said the uniform felt like lead weight. They had slowed down massively by equipment and their uniforms were wet and spaulding said that when he looked to the left on the beach he saw guys staggering is f walking into a heavy wind because of the way to the pack and the weight of the what uniform. But the first wave, the d day warriors led the way to victory in world war ii. Alex kershaw, joining us from the dday memorial, will coming calls and comments. We showed earlier the comments of Dwight D Eisenhower and his letter to the troops just before the invasion, the photo in your book and phone will of him speaking with the 101st airborne paratroopers looking confident but you right he was quite concerned afterwards and you actually said that afterwards he broke into tears after he left. Yes, he said his driver 36 yearold anglo irish the hundred first airborne says she has tears in his eyes and said to her that its hard to look a Young American in the eyes and know youre sending that guy to his death i love him. I think theres a funny show, the charm, when you look at the original film its blue eyes, the smile, not a moment of fear for the Young Americans. This great leader shows great confidence but he wasnt confident at all he had so many orders that he actually had to use the lead pencil he had a constant ringing in his right ear smoking 60 filter list cigarettes a day with little sleep basically a little rack so its a class act but we needed to Show Confidence and because it was a risky operation, risky indeed. Go to the phone lines, for those of you in Eastern Central timelines, mountain pacific and for those of you with world war ii relatives or doctrines 202 7488000 two 8002. Thank you for taking my call. I like to remark about the data my father went in on you david and he was watching in one instance that people focus on omaha but, lets look at the whole picture the luck of the draw makes a big difference and it doesnt matter what happens. You could be lucky or brave or unlucky. So, i attribute all the guys who step off that that during iraq and afghanistan so, i appreciate all the veterans that step forward and its too bad that we have someone in the white house that doesnt. So thank you for taking my call. We have to remember that you saw them dominate the american narrative but there were 900 americans killed more than 900 and omaha but over 300 canadians killed in juno beach the second deadliest beach so you have to remember its important our neighbors, the great allies, very strong allies they were all volunteers and something on dday theres a volunteer, they didnt have to be that. That made the courage special and unique on dday. Do you know the story of allied corporations . The pinnacle you could off for for allied corp. Ration and we mentioned it was a joint effort, we fought side byside and died sidebyside and the victory was brought by several nations not just one its a combination of many things. But unfortunately there were not many alive today but several die during the five years i was working on the book. We would be very lucky in the u. S. , britain and canada. Were interviewed world war ii veterans at great length the National WorldWar Ii Museum and weve interviewed veterans at great length so i so i drove into a treasure trove so weve done a good job of preserving the memories of the great warriors. Let me ask you about the son of Teddy Roosevelt junior and his participation in the invasion of normandy. Incredibly, 56 years old, the oldest general officer he basically bai to go in with the Fourth Division and actually arrived in the first wave 628 was the first wave and schroeder remember looking to the right and seeing this 56 yearold guy with a bad heart and a Walking Stick huffing and puffing his way across utah beach in the first wave on d day so, an extraordinary guy he had fatherson complex and wanted to prove he was courageous and that day he did. He became one of four americans to receive the medal of honor on june 6 18 with extraordinary courage and extraordinary american leader. So correct me, thats Teddy Roosevelt junior and his son was in the invasion as well, am i right . Back amazingly the father is on utah and the sun, the big red one on omaha. Tragically the father died on 12 july 1940 but basically the stress of combat and leadership it basically killed him but the sun, a couple hours before his father died was able to see his father to check and see how he was doing. Lets go back to calls for janice and plymouth michigan, good morning. Good morning. My dad my dad was a sergeant in the Army Air Corps and dday and dday was his 24th birthday in Manchester England and they got married in 1943 and he put her on the queen mary writing about the lads here, the boys who died on omaha beach, there was a guy from the second wave from lynchburg, virginia, and he said he came in on the second wave and when he landed on omaha and how many men were delivered that way. Guest you have to imagine that you are in a glider say that tookritish spectacularly the First Successful operation were let and they loose basically in a wooden and canvas glider at about 6000 feet around midnight on june 6. 30 guys crash landed. They crash landed at 90 Miles Per Hour in the glider. It literally was a suicidal operation, and they knew it. Guys got concussions and were injured. There were many casualties in that operation. In that one case [inaudible] the First Successful operation of dday. You are crash landing basically in canvas and wooden plane. Incredible to think they would volunteer to do that, let alone succeed and live. Host and the british and the americans used these gliders, correct . Guest yes, they did. There is a picture of your book of a captain, and almost looks like it is out of a movie. There he is with the helmet on and the cigar. You write that jumping with a cigar for that captain was pretty much standard for him. Tell us about his role in the opening invasion, the first wave. Guest he was from upstate new york, 28 years old on dday, and he had made 43 practice jumps before dday. Only on one, as he was about to amp out of the plane, he was pathfinder and he was officially recognized as the very First American, very first cowboy yank, to put his feet on the ground in normandy on dday. Extraordinary achievement. He made many practice jumps, not once in combat. On one occasion his men were looking at him as they were about to jump out, and they so that he did not have a cigar in his mouth. One of his men looked at him in ck, looking very wordy worried because they were superstitious, and lillyman grabbed the cigar and put it in his mouth and jumped. Atjumped from about 500 feet 12 15 am, First American to land, took about 25 seconds to drop about 500 feet, and when his parachute hit that field in normandy, he still had a cigar and the french would do their own plan. I was not sure about that. Thenly covers the basics was pt building in which she was holding his conference with the commanders. When he looked out the window at around 4 00 in the morning on june 5, 1944, and was giving the decision of final orders to go, he was thinking, my god, what am i going to do . What am i doing . What am i sending these soldiers to . He was under crushing strain. Lets not forget he had been under growing strain since january of 1944 when he came to london to take control. E an amazing life. I was born in britain 53 years ago. I met my wife in london when i was 28. Thehe 21st of july, drugstore still open today. She went to the Western Union telegramletters didnt come bac. There were rumors. One woman told me that it was like waiting for an earthquake, week after week after week. Finally that morning, she turns on the teletype their very best. They showed the very most courage. Unfortunately, the invasion is failed. I alone take responsibility. He was going to take it all in his shoulders. Of paris after the dday invasion