Us, congressional reporter with military time about how the v. A. Health care system works. We will be right back. In some respects, apple and google arguably started at the same time. Obvious he started in the 1970s, but then steve jobs got fired from the company in the mid1980s and then apple went through a. Where itsor 15 years fortunes really declined steadily. It wasnt really until 1997 when steve jobs returned that apples fortunes really began to rebound. It is pretty wellknown among people who Pay Attention to what is going on in the valley, when steve jobs came back, apple had 90 days of cash left before it in some to augur in. Respects you could say both companies started around the same time. Tracing the origins of apple and google, tonight on the communicators at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Thanks for your service. Glad youre here. Youre going to have a very nice surprise when you going to the memorial. It is beautiful. Thank you. Get my wife and here, where e . She jaco are you in the navy . I was in the marine corps. That was tough. Well, thank you for being here today. And thank you. Thank you for all the service you have given. Former world war ii veteran and senator bob dole as part of this threeday Holiday Weekend at American History tv. Tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan3. Welcome back to the washington journal this morning. We have our live shot for you this morning on the National Mall at the world war ii memorial. You can see it there, as we continue our discussion about the significance of memorial day. This author and historian is joining us from austin, texas this morning. What does memorial day mean to you . Let me ask you a question. As an american historian i immediately think of Decoration Day in the civil war and what it is like when 600,000 or more soldiers on the bloody battlefields everywhere. When i was a kid, my mom and dad used to take us to places like gettysburg and shiloh and antietam. It is about death and celebrating and honoring the lives of those who gave us our freedom. Memorial day is not going to cemetery or a memorial Like Arlington National Cemetery and reflecting a little bit about the sacrifice of our ancestors. What is the historical significance of memorial day . When did it start . Date heres a lot of debate about it, but i go with david blight, a professor at yell university. It reallybout that comes out of charleston, south carolina, and combined in many ways with the africanamerican freedom from slavery. It became a ceremony of honoring the war dead out of charleston. 1966dent Lyndon Johnson in officially declared waterloo new york the birthplace of memorial day. I think that is why it is the birthplace of the we consider day. Odern memorial theres a fine museum there in waterloo which i recommend people visit, which talks about the history of the state. I have three kids. For them we are getting near the beginning of summer vacation. Sometimes, sadly, you try to do a little bit too raise consciousness of our brave soldiers and veterans and people who died in your for america. My mothers brother was killed in guam and world war ii. When i grew up, memorial day was a big deal for her. She would talk to us about what her brother was like. I think a lot of families see this as a bonding moment all across the country. It will be going to cemeteries are having a picnic or going to a reflection pool or a forest and try to think about somebody that they lost and admire them for caring enough about the country that they put their life on the line for. Mr. Brinkley, you talked a little bit about that in your personal experience, but how has honoring the fallen on memorial day evolved over the years . Guest i think had has evolved to the point where it has become a must for the president to do a wreath cemetery. Arlington National Cemetery has become the National Cemetery. Presents are buried there, people of military service, you get a map and you go around. Each grave is an amazing story. There so many medal of honor winners there. If you are a president , you have and you happen to be in d. C. , you go to Arlington Cemetery. A lot of tourists go there. We have military cemeteries all over america. Look into, just like we have had problems with some of our health care, some of our military cemeteries need to be kept in better shape. Hopefully, memorial day is a time that we pause and think and say how can we make it a little bit better. The tradition it is ancient opening flowers and peoples graves or briefs. Becoming related to dj which is the same time of year. Rehab is reflection on the sacrifice of war. Better and stay, which is in november, is for armistice of world war i. As more about celebrating and honoring our veterans. Memorial day is more about the war dead. Guest i couldnt agree with that more. When commercialism bleeds into a sacred holiday like moral day, i dont like it very the only thing you can do is try to educate people about memorial day and try to make the holiday mean something very december same with the fourth of july or veterans day. We need to put some effort into teaching people about what it is. It is not just a day off from school or a day to get a tan and have a barbecue. Unfortunately, not too many of our fellow citizens treated that way. If you know anyone who has lost , for example war in afghanistan or iraq, recently, reach out to them today, and tell them thank you. Maybe your family really helped protect america and make our lives better. James howard on twitter ays is a big military divide in this country . Guest i think most americans absolutely love our troops. We are consummate talking about a broken politics of washington, and rightfully so. We dont like money in politics. I think most americans are so proud of our troops. That is a good thing. I think the military is not broken. We are the best in the world. In that case it is a wonderful thing, but, we are really getting on a question of what we do for service. I am very worried that we have young people in the 20s that dont really think in terms of Public Service anymore. I have recently been writing fdr in 1933 and the depression. Half a million young man planet planting a billion trees and building roads and erosion dams and picnic areas. They all had to get up at bugle call in the morning. It was giving young people a sense of service and that they could do something that mattered. Im afraid that is what were losing a little bit. We dont have the draft anymore and we dont have that sense of young people serving their country. Hopefully, we will be able to come up with some recipes for that, because theres Nothing Society wheren a its young people, particularly in their early 20s, feeling disconnected from the system. Well go to bob in pennsylvania, a democratic caller. Good morning to both of you. This is a very sad day. I think all the veterans should be able to take your card, go to any hospital they want, and we should either close the va hospital down totally or give them to the private sector. This is not working. It is too big. As a democrat, this isnt the hope and change a voted for. Host bob, i dont know if you missed it earlier, but we were reading a report that the administration said that veterans would be able to go visit a hospital or doctor outside of the v. A. System. That, but they should make it permanent. Bishop olivier hospitals in the private sector. We should close them, get rid of them, do something. The city to scandal. As a democrat, i am very sad about this. Host what are your thoughts, historical as well, on the news about what is happening with Health Care Facilities inside the v. A. Department . As a society, we have never done right by our veterans. We try, but we never really have paid them right once they come back from their service or if there will did or have ptsd, we tried we kind of treat them like theyre in our way. We pay them a lot of lip service. Funding goes to private organizations like Wounded Warriors and the like. No doubt heard we have to do more to make the lives of our veterans better. The caller sounded very frustrated. We dont want to think we are society that does not take care of our soldiers when they come back from war. There is really nothing more sad and tragic than that. Yes, sometimes it does take Something Like what is happened recently in phoenix, arizona, to wake us up, a problem that we really have not been treating our veterans, particularly in regard to the health care, as a national priority. I think on this issue we might be able to get some bipartisan action. I am not convinced yet that general shinseki should be fired, perhaps. I am more concerned that as a society, with congress in the allowed thisas consulate to get worse. It is not one verse and problem, it is that the American People have not demanded it up their politicians that we have to put a lot more capital and resources in the hospitals of our veterans. Hopefully, this crisis will lead to something positive. Mr. Brinkley, is it different today than when we had soldiers returning from world war ii or world war i . In world war i, the soldier sadly had the bonus army and had to camp out for pensions and basic rights. This is been a longtime grievance with veterans, that we are always on we treat our soldiers well when theyre in the military. The question is how we treat them that everyone stay get out. This is a longterm problem. It is cyclical and happens at different times. We did not treat our world war i vets particularly well when they came back. We did better with world war ii vets because we had the g. I. The gip the g. I. Bill creating education. It was a landmark legislation. We spent decades. We have got to get our acts together. All right, david in new jersey, independent caller. Good morning. Go ahead. Caller the best channel on television. And good morning. You, a pleasure talking to mr. Brinkley. I am a world war ii veteran. It is amazing how little the young people know about our history. I speak to high school and college graduates. How many ofhey know our soldiers were in world war ii. I got answers of 1000, ive doesnt, 10,000, up to 100,000. 60 million of us served in world war ii, as you know. 600 andosing between 1000 every single day. Veteran of a gray country. During theoem vietnam war and i dedicated to my three beautiful daughters and all the young people of the world. Today, i would like to dedicate it to the young people of the world, my five grandchildren, and to our veterans and to the members of the armed forces. Writing a poem is a wonderful dream. Last night, i had a wonderful dream, a dream i have had before. I dreamt that people, everywhere, had put an end to war. The members of the armed forces, in each and every land, found their guns, picked up a plow, reached out a helping hand. The fighting in the killing stopped. Whenever you saw a welcome sign, inead welcome home school. Patient no longer fought against nation. Idealists dont find it hard to believe it. In every town, you heard people say the human race, love it or leave it. The generals and the admirals became civilians like you and me. Through the hearts of people everywhere from sea to shining sea. , warheadt the world lost its lease and the lord looked down with a smile on his face. For his children lived in peace. Thank you. Douglas. Brinkley. Thank you. It was eloquent and beautiful. Perfect sometimes on memorial day to read a poem like that. I tend to like to look at some of those oaks i have of world and the korean war, vietnam, the gulf war, on and on. Remembering the engagement for some of our soldiers in combat. Point is the amnesia we have in this country about history. That is preaching to the choir. Im trying to dedicate my life to get young people to engage more in American History. With veterans, if Public Schools told adopt veterans, go elementary school, try to talk about things and bring some photos, perhaps, i think that is a useful project. At high school age, history teachers should have each student to an oral history interview of a veteran. Your uncle serving in the korean war, or great uncle or Something Like that, to go and do an oral history with somebody who has and create a High School Level oral History Collection of the voices of our soldiers very we have got to find ways to get young people engaged in history particularly early and engage in world war ii. I inc. It is essential. A seminal event in the 21st century. And dday. Marking the 70th anniversary, john kerry writing today on a blog on the state Department Website that he and the president will go to normandy to mark the anniversary. Put that in Historical Perspective. Im sorry, what was the question . John the president and kerry will go to normandy. Put that into Historical Perspective . Glad they are doing it. Every 10 years, the numbers, we try to do something. 19 before. Une 6, 1954, the white eisenhower was now president , and he decided not to go to normandy dairy he did not want to be grace and a on his greatest. A very simplee comment about dday. Generationreatest sense. We did not do much about it in 1954. For the next anniversary, Lyndon Johnson said after john f. Kennedy was killed, i will not go abroad. He did not go over to normandy. Watergate, june of he was trying to focus on the middle east to salvage his reputation of peace. He did not go. It was really Ronald Reagan who did justice to dday in 1954 when he famously gave his voice to this beach talking about u. S. Armys and second rangers and tryinge cliffs to decommission a 155 millimeter of the cliffs there with great heroism that occurred. Here, but also utah reagan would even use first Reelection Campaign commercials that were so popular. Reagan for gold triggered a National Celebration of dday. Up until that time, the date was pearl harbor. Made ddayreally not the day to reflect on world war ii and not pearl harbor day. We did not win the battle and pearl harbor but decisively one dday. Squarely after reagan, bill clinton went to normandy and also george w. Bush. It is fitting that barack obama is going. I like the president is going to poland coming up, talking about the liberation from soviet domination after world war ii. Winter coming this early 2000 or team, the anniversary of the berlin wall coming down, another great milestone in American History. Douglaslas history for time. Com. Ng a tweet guest i cannot really i am probably missing one. I maybe have not done my homework. They are usually trying not to grandstand and put focus on a silent 21 gun salute, on the tomb of the unknown soldier, trying to make it a day of prayer and memories, not one where you are trying to over car and are camera attention. Our mall now is so well seated for memorial day dividends because of memorial. The National World war ii memorial, they are holding one or dwight eisenhower. It is on the mall. It will be the last main monument on the wall. Disputetied up in a between the eisenhower family and what that should look like. Of theld be a statue late eisenhower, and oldfashioned public servant. You also get a lot of motorcycle groups coming in recent years, veterans coming in washington, and take journeys together on vice, which garner a great deal of attention. Dday has become the time barack obama will want a great uplifting the. These things are interconnected. Of memorial day gesture barack obama happened yesterday. And spoke dennis van with our troops. How exciting to them their and brad paisley performed and the president of and they got to meet him. They talked about the winding down of that long were in afghanistan. They will be leaving about 5000 troops there in the immediate future for counterintelligence and the like. It was a significant memorial day. If you follow the war in afghanistan and the residents journey. On when they, in between the afghanistan memorial day and before dday, he is going to less when, which will his ex limitation of obama foreignpolicy right now, what is going on with the country in regards to serious, the you rain, russia, and the lot. There is a lot of attention on the military these days. It has already started. Bet president obama will dissipating at Arlington Cemetery at 11 00 a. M. Eastern time and it 00 a. M. On the east coast. With the author and president ial historian on this memorial day, may 20 6, 2000 or team. Here is a live shot of the Arlington Cemetery at the tomb of the unknown. President obama will be there around 11 00 a. M. Eastern time here at i want to show our viewers the metro section of the Washington Post and this picture and caption. A member who bombed japan during world war ii, visiting the graves of james h doolittle. A 98yearold x pilot in washington to accept the congressional gold medal on behalf of 80 airmen who bombed japan. Yourughts as to mark thoughts . I started reading more and more about him. If you go to the air force academy in colorado springs, they celebrate like no one else. Franklin roosevelt knew we needed a big morale boost. Youve got to give fdr a lot of credit for record rising it restructure band, it would create a more rally in america. Still licking the wounds of world harbor pearl harbor. Japan, dropping bombs, psychologically telling the japanese we would be able to take the war to your homefront, then having to do an Emergency Landing in china, it is a remarkable story of jimmy doolittle, the stuff of hollywood film and legend very he was a great admiral, promoting the american nation in particular, and Naval Aviation he is a marvelous example of americans at his best. Do legal doolittle said he could fly a plane blindfolded in all sorts of weather conditions. Webecame one of those pilot produced so many of in america and they are a remarkable group. A group of 80 u. S. Airmen whose action in japan