Also a responsibility and you only hope that you can carry it with honor and with dignity. [ applause ] im going to be last. Youre not 35 anymore . For me, i was going to get out of the military or before i even went on my last deployment to afghanistan. Me and my wife decided that wed done enough, it was time to grow up and figure out what i was really going to do with my life. The decision was already made before even going overseas and immediately, after that day, the thoughts were never, you know, i did something to receive something. My big thing was to make sure that the guys with me got acknowledged, and more importantly, i was proud of that moment walking into the barracks and having five guys volunteer to go on a counterattack, while i was so impressed with the true grit and just the willing bs to continue on. Because we had nine more months left in country after that day. It wasnt you get done and get a free ride back to the states. You have to pick up the pieces. And to watch my platoon reconstitute after so much loss and recorporate after the replacement guys and bring them into the fold just like kicker and mace and heart, and take them and have them step right into their shoes and finish the mission and when i got out in early 2011, i had no idea. It wasnt until almost a year later that i had gotten a call from a colonel out of the pentagon, asking if id come back to d. C. , i dont have enough vacation days, im not going anywhere. And what did i do wrong . To finally being brought out to understand what my actions were, were getting recognized with but like tommy said, it is a responsibility to wear this little blue ribbon of silk around your neck. Just the caretaker of it. This represents every man and, every marine, airman, sailer, coast guard, air force, every aspect of our military. Past, present, and future. This is their reward. Were just selected to wear it. And every time i put it on, i think about the eight guys we lost that day. What would they think of me with this decision im about to make . Would they appreciate it . Or would they turn in disgust . And thats how i continue on and continue forward. [ applause ] well, the medal of honor certainly changed my life. When i got home, they started giving me 10 a month for it, i thought, boy, im rich. I was a country boy that was very shy and bashful. You dont believe that, do you . But i was. But probably the best thing that happened to me was receiving the medal of honor. Im talking about psychologically. We didnt have ptsd in world war ii. We had psychoneurosis. So if you were diagnosed with psychoneurosis, you were a psycho, and nobody wanted that connotation associated with them. I had a brother that cracked up, we called it, in the marine core and that was the diagnosis and when he came home, he would not permit to file a claim with the va for psychoneurosis, because that would mean that he was a psycho. When i received the medal of honor, i had no choice. From the second day on, i became a public figure. I didnt want to be that. I wanted to go back to the farm and dig a hole and get in it. Because i had a lot of whatever they term now ptsd, but in those days, as i said, it was psychoneurosis and we had no treatment facilities. We had no psychiatrists, we had no psychologists. We had no va facility that we could even go to. And being forced by the public to talk about what happened to me was the best therapy i could have received. I couldnt pin it up, i couldnt hold it in, i had to let it go. And that helped me tremendously to adjust back to civil life. You guys, all of you in the military know that when you grow up and your folks are teaching you things you ought to know, one of those things they teach you very firmly is, you do not kill, period. There is no exception. And then you go into a combat situation, where you have to reverse that completely. If youre going to survive, now you must do that which you have never been permitted to do and taught not to do. And our case in world war ii, i was in the for the duration. And when the war was over, they handed me a discharge and said, were done with you. Youve done well, but just go home in 24 hours and revert to where you were three years ago. Almost an impossibility. Because the brain doesnt stop working. It keeps going. We have similar problems here today, with individuals who have the ptsd. Fortunately, our facilities, our treatment methods, our knowledge and information about it is so much greater and more accessible than its ever been in the history of this country. And we all can be very proud of that. I am. I was a veterans counselor for 33 years and in the early part, we had no answers. We had nobody to go to. Nobody to talk to, except each other. Im grateful that somebody had the wisdom and the foresight to establish the situation that we have today, because it is so much more beneficial to those coming home than weve ever had. Im grateful to my nation. Thank you. [ applause ] yesmgentleman, i want to ext thanks once again. This is a rare, in fact completely unique opportunity to hear the prospective across generations like this. And i cant say how privileged i feel and i know we all feel for this opportunity. So with that said, captain, would you like to bring us home . So it is with great regret that i have to bring this panel to a close. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in thanking our distinguished panelists for their Extraordinary Service at the moment of crisis and for their extraordinary humanity ever since. Thank you, gentleman. [ applause ] its also my privilege to present each of our panelists with a book, entitled the accidental admiral. On the next washington journal, Sunlight Foundation editorial director bill allison discusses the Effect Campaign spending ad on the 2014 midterm election. And a look at how voters reacted to marijuana ballot measures this election cycle with john hudak of the brookings institution. Thats followed by a discussion on the role of physicians assistant with john mcginty, who heads the American Academy of physicians assistants. Well also take your phone calls and look at your comments on facebook and twitter, beginning live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Each week, American History tvs real america brings you archival films that take you on a journey through the 20th century. Produced by frank khapra, the negro soldier is a 1944 documentary intended to encourage africanamericans to enlist in the u. S. Army during world war ii. The film traces the history of africanamerican contributions to society, during war and peace. Beginning with the revolutionary war, then showing their work as teachers, judges, scientists, artists, musicians, athletes, and soldiers. In 2011, this 40minute film was chosen to be preserved in the National Film registry of the library of congress and was recently restored by the national archives. A paratrooper in the nazi army, men turned into machines, challenging the world. Joe lewis, training for the fight of his life. This time, its a fight not between man and man, but between nation and nation, its a fight for the real championship of the world, to determine which way of life shall survive. Their way or our way. This way, we must see to it that there is no return engagement. For the stakes this time are the greatest men have ever fought for. And what are the stakes . The american stakes. The german stakes. The nazis. The gospel according to hitler. Im not going to read all of this. But there are one or two things in this book that will interest you. I quote, what is denied to us, the german fist must take. If our forefathers had made their decisions by the same pacifist nonsense as the present day does, we would possess about a third of our existing territory. Further, he says, from time to time, the illustrative papers show how a negro has become a lawyer, a teacher, perhaps even a minister. It never dawns on the degenerate middle class america that this is truly a sin against all reason. That it is criminal madness to train a born half ape to one believes one has made a lawyer of him. This book was written 20 years ago. The plan which it foreshadowed has become a raet. And the nazis now instruct their disciples in terms such as these. We must straive by any means to conquer the world. Any methods are permissible. Lie, betray, kill. Kill and kill again. Kill the slobs, the russians, the poles, the czechs. Dont stop, whether you have an old man, a woman, a girl, or boy. Kill. We want to create our great german empire. We must exterminate everybody who stands against us. The liberty of the whole earth depends on the outcome of this contest. Americans have always guarded liberty. The seed took root in boston. In that city is the granary burial ground, 1660. Within this grounds are buried the victims of the boston massacre, march 5th, 1770. The first to die in the boston massacre was christmas adams. The longest freedoms calls the wise contend, dear to all the country, shall your fame extend, while to the world, the letters stone shall tell, whered a docks, gray, and maddock fell. On newsmakers, independent vermont senator bernie sanders, the chair of the Veterans Affairs committee. He talks about efforts to revamp the va by veteran secretary, robert mcdonnell, the lame duck congress, and what he expects in the next congress with Republican Leadership and Campaign Campaign 2016. Newsmakers, sunday at 10 00 a. M. And 6 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Cspan veterans day coverage begins Tuesday Morning at 8 30 eastern during washington journal with an interview with American Legion executive, verna jones. Then at 10 00, the annual uvo gala, featuring joint chiefs of staff chairman general martin dempsey, and were live at 11 00 from Arlington National cemetery for the traditional wreath laying smoep at the tomb of the unknowns. Later, a selection from this years white house medal of honor ceremonies. For more than 50 years, tom brokaw has reported on world events for nbc news. He recently discussed his career with nbc news Congressional Correspondent luke russert, sharing some of the more memorable stories he covered in the last five decades, as well as his own ideas of how the news media has changed in the 21st century. This is just over an hour. Thank you, peter. And most importantly, thank you for all of you to come out and supporting this wonderful institution. Its my Favorite Museum in washington. My father helped found it. When you walk in here, you see the First Amendment plastered to the wall, that can be seen from the capital. And its so very important that we come here to celebrate the role of the press and the Fourth Estate and i think the Fourth Estate is less popular than hmos right now and Oil Companies in some polls, but i promise a new generation is trying to do better on that. But lets talk to a living legend, as i like to say, tom brokaw, who if you ever mention tom brokaw, youll meet some people who say, i woke up with tom brokaw every morning with breakfast on the today show, or ate dinner with tom brokaw on nightly news. Its tom brokaw at the dinner table every single night along with my mom and dad and it was so great to get all kinds of stories and an instant History Lesson at any time. Were approaching the 25th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. I did some research today. You were the only network news anchor there, the only broadcast, the west germans did not have time to get set up live. Amazing backstory about how all that happened. But you took it upon yourself to go over there while there were midterm elections going on, because you believed that this could be the bigger story. And you wont to a press conference where the propaganda minister from east germany said these things, you had an interview with him, i want to play that right now, can we do that . And well go into the question. Do i understand correctly, citizens of the gdr can leave through any checkpoint that they choose for personal reasons . They no longer have to go through a third country . They are not further forced to leave gdr by a transit, through another country. It is possible for them to go through the wall at some point. It is possible for them to go through the border. Freedom to travel . Yes, of course. Good evening, live from the berlin wall on the most historic night in this walls history. What you see behind sme a celebration of this new policy announced today by the east German Government that now for the First Time Since the wall was erected in 1961, people will be able to move through freely. This crowd has gathered here tonight spontaneously from the east german side. They have a water cannon, as you can see, on some of the solvents, but it doesnt seem to make much difference. Well show you a videotape of what happened earlier tonight when there were more people on top of the wall. The west German Police have moved in here. Suggests that they move back, saying that the situation is already complicated enough. But it doesnt seem to make any difference. The people are here to celebrate freedom. Freedom to travel anywhere in the world. That was an amazing moment. Two things. The first time ive ever been interviewed by someone who i first saw on a sonogram. [ laughter ] there we go. Tim came to me and said, im going to have a son and here is the proof of that. And it was a thrilling moment for everybody and im so proud of how luke has continued the legacy of his dad, with his mother, marie, and he has become a cherished, not only surrogate nephew, but also a great, great journalist. So im thrilled to be on this stage with him and i know that tim is lacking down and says to us, go get em. Yes, indeed. Thank you. Thank you. A couple of things about that. He didnt know what he was talking about. He had been given this note at the end of a News Conference and politburo had a lot of restriction on how people could go back and forth through the wall. He read it not quite knowing what he was saying. So people did go to all the exit barriers and start pushing back and there was a lot of confusion. And as we went on the air, we had not yet got an video of people who were going through one or another of the exits. So we needed to show that immediately. The water cannon didnt work very well. The guards on the other side didnt quite know what to do. At one point, they did drive everybody off, except for one man, who stood with his back to the water cannon and i said to my producer, go get him and bring him back. Hes the face of the new liberated east germany. My producer came back about ten seconds later, doubled back and laughed and said, not what we think. And i said, what do you mean . And he said, hes a drunk. Hes been living over here in the forest and hasnt had a shower in two weeks. Hes very grateful for whats going on. But that was the beginning of the fall of the wall and it was the symbolic end of communism, obviously, as the controlling factor in the satellite states and the soviet union was coming unraveled at the same time. Im a child of the cold war. I grew up studying it and thinking about it, about what kind of a world were going to have. And when that happened, i have two really reactions to it. One is, it is a liberation the likes of which weve never seen before and a lot of people didnt expect it to happen until the 21st century. And i dont think that the west then reacted in a way that they might have. I had just gotten back from berlin and in germany, i was there with dr. Kissinger and jim baker at the American Academy. And we talked about this. It was not the kind of effort that should have been made to say, how else can we use nato. Nato was our western alliance and remains that, but it has kind of come unraveled around the edges. Its not as unified as it once was. It was an incredibly important and potent force and facing the east and dealing with issues together, and not always perfectly, but it was the alliance. Now it has a lot of parts to it, and theyre often not greater than the sum of their parts, which they need to be. The other part of what were watching here tonight is that it was so thrilling and hard to explain about how the dramatic people who had such a terrible 20th century, mostly selfinduced wounds, then were divided. And youd have people in the west who had cousins in the east. The people in the west had democracy, consumer goods, and hope. And when the wall came down, their cousins and the other fellow germans came through in acid washed jeans, twocycle lottos and automobiles as if they had come from the moon to venus. They just couldnt believe what they were seeing. And so, it was one of the most dramatic events, i think, of the 20th century, in kind of a 24hour period. And then it went on from there. There was a big debate about whether german should be reunited politically. Much later, i was presiding at a conference in atlanta, organized by a corporate lawyer. We had gorbachev, president bush 41, and helmet cole. And helmet got up, big bear of got quite emotional, got tears in his eyes and he turned to gorbachev and said you did not send the tanks and that gave us a chance to be a whole country again. He turned to president bush, and he said you stood for unification when others, including Margaret Thatcher said we have to keep them divided. It was one of those moments in history when you saw three men with courage and vision come together and they were so personal in their interaction, and it kind of gave me hope. We dont see a lot of that anymore. One amazing thing in that newscast, aside from you being the only broadcast anchor there, a huge win for nbc news, if ever there was one, probably our biggest one in history, is i was reading sort of a breakdown by the e. P. At the time, bill wheatley, and he goes, you asked for about 15 to 20 seconds at the end of the newscast to give a little essay, put it in the context of history. Why was that important for you to do at that time, and how did you come up with that in the commercial break, is how it was described . Two things happened. First, it was such chaos, i couldnt hear myself, and i was very well dressed because i went over with in one of my raggedy outdoor jackets. This is going to be on tape for a long time. One of my colleagues bought a smashing topcoat in london, lent me the topcoat, so im there in the topcoat, i said to the control room in new york, im going to have to add to this, i h