The Megyn Kelly Show - Revisiting World War II: History Week on The Megyn Kelly Show | Ep. 457

Episode Date: December 20, 2022

History Week on The Megyn Kelly Show continues with a deep dive revisiting World War II. Megyn Kelly is joined by Tim Gray, founder and president of the World War Two Foundation and documentary filmmaker, to talk about the lead up to WWII, Pearl Harbor, D-Day, FDR's efforts to rally Americans, Hitler's involvement, the fight in Europe, the crucial battle of Stalingrad, the aftermath of the war, the toll it took on our veterans, the "greatest generation," and more.Follow The Megyn Kelly Show on all social platforms: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MegynKellyTwitter: http://Twitter.com/MegynKellyShowInstagram: http://Instagram.com/MegynKellyShowFacebook: http://Facebook.com/MegynKellyShow Find out more information at: https://www.devilmaycaremedia.com/megynkellyshow

Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations. Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show. Perhaps no event defined the 20th century more than World War II. A battle of good versus evil. A story of atrocities we hope will never happen again. Of the 16 million Americans who served our nation around the globe during that war, only about 167,000 are still alive today. 180 of these heroes are dying every single day. And with them go countless stories of heroism, of depravity that they witnessed, and of honor in which they participated, perhaps unmatched at any other time in history. as we walk through the arc of World War II with the filmmaker who has made it his life's mission to make sure the brave souls who fought and won that war for us are never forgotten. He's interviewed so many members of the Greatest Generation, he's lost count. His dozens of

documentaries have taken him to the battlefields of Europe, the Pacific, and here at home in Hawaii, where a Sunday morning attack propelled America into World War II. Tim Gray is the founder and president of the World War II Foundation and a documentary filmmaker. Tim Gray, welcome to the show. So great to have you here. Thank you, Megan. It's a pleasure to meet you. Oh, the pleasure's all mine. I've enjoyed your work for a long, long time and appreciate the personal touch you put on everything you do, going right to the guys who fought this battle and getting their take on it before that's no longer possible. It's hard to imagine, right, that there will be a time on this earth where there are no more members of the greatest generation

to walk us through this history. These are precious souls still walking amongst us. It's amazing when you think about the fact that you can talk to people who actually saved the world. I mean, I can't remember. I mean, I can't talk to George Washington. I can't talk to Benjamin Franklin. I can't talk to a lot of those people, but I can actually talk to people who were involved in World War II and actually played a role in saving the world, which I think is extraordinary. But it is also a very short window that we have to talk to these people. And I think it's just amazing that we have that opportunity. Let's just start there because you think of the greatest generation and in particular those who fought in World War II. There are some seam lines that pull them together and that describe most of them. And you've spent more time with them than anyone. How would you describe these guys? I mean, what is it about them?

What are some of the adjectives that jump out at you? Humble. They could be going around to your local mall or they could be going around to your local place and saying, hey, look at me. I saved the world. I want the likes on my Instagram page. I want the likes on my Facebook page. But they don't do that. It just blows my mind that there's such a generation that is so humble about the fact that they really dictated where we are today. And so, you know, when I look at that generation, I think, you know, if there's any generation that really deserves the fact to want that attention, it's that generation, but they don't want it at all that's the thing is that i mean they are literally the opposite of selfie culture that we find everywhere around us today and there's a quiet dignity about these guys i've interviewed a fair amount of them i'm happy to

say over my years as a journalist there's a quiet dignity there's a deep patriotism, deep, deep love of America, hard earned and hard fought. And there's just some sort of a bond between them and between them and the country. They survived the Great Depression. They fought World War II like it was a job. And then they came home and they went on with their lives. And their lives were centered around their job and their family. And that was it. I mean, they didn't want the accolades. They felt the accolades belong with those who were buried in American cemeteries in Manila and Normandy and Holland and Belgium and other places. There was almost this survivor's guilt that they had. So when they came home, they took the lessons of World War II and they applied them to their own daily lives. And some of them dealt with them better than others. I mean, some of them came home and they

were fine. Some of them came home and they had a problem with alcoholism, or some of them came home and they had a problem with committing suicide, Or they had a problem with their families in some way where they would wake up their mom or their wife or their children in the middle of the night and be screaming about a Japanese bonsai attack and the families at home couldn't understand. But they came home and they rebuilt America to what it is today. And when I think about that generation, anytime I go to a mall or anytime I log on to Amazon or anytime I want to travel to Ohio or Montana or another state, I don't need papers. I don't need someone to check in with me. I don't need someone to authorize my daily activities. And that's all because of that generation. But it's just so funny that they're kind of like the anti-Kardashian generation, that they just went on with their lives and they saved the world and they just didn't want any credit for it. And they felt all the credit belonged with those who never had any

opportunity to live a full life or to have kids or grandkids or to be someone who solved cancer or solved the dilemma of autism or dementia or Alzheimer's or something. So to me, they lived their lives in honor of those who never came home and have the opportunity to do great things. And it's awe-inspiring. You're so right. I mean, the juxtaposition is stark when you think about someone like Kardashian, who is famous for being famous for doing absolutely nothing. All she wants is for us to celebrate her, the way she looks, her money, her vanity. And these guys were famous for doing something extraordinary, but wanted no fame, eschewed the spotlight, and would never have wanted a celebration of anything around them. They would have deflected the credit onto the country and to others.

Exactly. And I think that's kind of what's lacking in America is to understand the sacrifice that was made to believe in whatever we want to accomplish. And I think that generation humbly did that, and they left us a blueprint in which to follow. And I think we've gotten away from that blueprint in a lot of ways. And so when I look back at that generation, I always say, I always tell the younger generation, these men have left us a blueprint on how to be better Americans and how to be better people. And we've kind of gotten away from that. And I think that's unfortunate in a lot of ways. Yeah. And now we need to follow it. Now we just need to know it and follow it. All right. So let's talk about the war and go through the arc of it. So people have a better understanding of it.

I think to understand how we got into World War II, you need a basic understanding of how World War I ended. You know, most of us on tourist trips, if we've ever had the privilege to go through Europe, through France, if you're lucky, you get to go through the Palace of Versailles, and we know that word Versailles. And what happened there was directly related to the Second World War in a way many people may not understand. So let's start there. Yeah. I mean, Versailles, the Treaty of Versailles ended World War I. And a lot of people, especially over the last, I'd say, 30 years or so, have decided,

historians have decided that World War I was really a continuation of World War II. And it was. And I think World War I directly led to World War II. And a lot of that dealt back with the Treaty of Versailles and how Hitler utilized the Treaty of Versailles to really emphasize how the German people were mistreated and blamed for World War I. And there are some lessons there. I mean, my understanding of the Treaty of Versailles is it essentially humiliated Germany. And it basically dismantled their military, it imposed harsh penalties against them, it put all the blame on them and left them unable to really function in many key ways. And they became predictably resentful over those terms. And up rose Adolf Hitler. It was no accident. Those things were were connected. And he decided promptly to play the victim and play, Germany's problems on World War I. He was the economic depression that Germany was in, the fact that Germany's military had been decimated and deactivated, and that he would

restore that aura to Germany. And we've talked to German soldiers who said basically that Hitler was that person who said, you know, we were wronged in World War One, and this is what we need to do now. And then again, by the time he was in power, and his directives were known, that it was too late to have former resistance or to object to what he was doing. Even before World War II, I mean, that's the thing that a lot of people sort of miss. In the 1930s, he built Dachau, one of the first concentration camp. It was Kristallnacht was in 1938, I think. Hitler was doing this before the war was actually launched, targeting Jewish people. But obviously then his eyes became more territorial. And he started grabbing

territory. And that's when the war actually broke out in earnest. Yeah, he started looking at Czechoslovakia, he started looking at the expansion of Germany, that Germany needed more room. And because of World War One, that Germany was was due this, this more room, and he looked at Czechoslovakia and the Brits and the French gave him Czechoslovakia. And then he started to look at Russia and he started to look at the Soviet Union. And that of course led to the start of World War II. And it's just one of those situations where you look at it and that Hitler really did a great job of appealing to the common man in Germany in World War II, that the government has forgotten about you and that we need to get

back to being able to honor you and to help you. But then again, he had no plan that would ever succeed in doing that. Yeah. And we now know, of course, he was not plan that would ever succeed in doing that. Yeah. And we now know, of course, he was not abiding by the rules in the Treaty of Versailles, saying no more militarization, to the contrary. So just for the timeline, World War I ended November 11th, 1918. 15 years later, January 30th, 1933, Hitler was appointed the German leader. And September 1st, 1939 is when World War II is considered to have begun. Germany invaded Poland. A couple weeks later, Soviet Union invaded Poland. In the beginning of the war, the Soviets were friendly with Germany. I mean, people forget that that's how it began. I mean, one of Hitler's greatest mistakes, I think, was

going after the Soviet Union, just getting so power hungry and land hungry. He thought he could take the Soviets as well, which would be a critical moment for the world, right? Because he couldn't. And the Soviets decided to fight with Union invaded Poland. And there was fighting going on for quite some time. 1940, Norway was invaded by Germany. Same year, Winston Churchill becomes prime minister. And the war is underway. Now, the United States at this point is isolationist. We've been through a world war. We don't want another world war. The American people are not in the mood at all. But we are helping our friends, are we not? Yes, we are. We're helping them through what's called Lund Lease, which is giving arms to England and giving arms and supplies to the Soviet Union. I mean, there's a point on December 6, 1941, the day before Pearl Harbor, where there's about 88% of the United States that has no interest in helping what's going on in Europe. There's just no interest in getting

involved in another world war. And that all changes on December 7, 1941. So 88% of the United States is against getting involved in the war in Europe, despite the fact that England is alone. France has already conceded. The Netherlands have already conceded. Belgium, everybody's already conceded. But the United States, having been through World War I, or at least the last year of World War I, wants no part of the war in Europe until the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, which I find interesting is that it's such a high percentage, 88%, 87, 88% that wants no part of that war in Europe until we're attacked. And I think that's the way the United States is in general is that we're not

a warring nation, but when we are attacked like a December 7th or September 11th, 2001, that we respond. So history doesn't repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes. And that's what was the case in 1941. You have a great documentary among many, this one called Remembering Pearl Harbor. And I recommend it to everybody. It sets the stage with the actual Greatest Generation, with the actual veterans. But it sets the stage in Pearl Harbor

quite nicely about how it was going that day, how it was a rather peaceful day. No one anticipated this. To the contrary, there had been a bulletin not long before suggesting this would never happen. It was just too long a reach, a stretch for the Japanese.

They didn't really need to worry about getting attacked at Pearl Harbor. I mean, a war was underway, so we were watching it, but we didn't think it could happen. So this is from Remembering Pearl Harbor on the day before Tom Selleck narrating Sot 3. Some sailors and soldiers that Sunday morning were already at church services by the beach. Others were up early playing a little toss and catch on the docks before reporting for duty if they had to work on December 7th.

Child bells sounded for breakfast. All was peaceful and serene on Oahu, from Pearl Harbor to the nearby airfields. And then what happened very early that morning? The Japanese attacked. I mean, it was a situation where we expected the attack to come in Guam or the Philippines or at Wake Island. And we had a warning that war was inevitable, but we did not know where it would come. Pearl Harbor was not high on that list. Can we just take a step back and talk about the Japanese? Because we set it up by talking about Germany and a little bit about the Soviet Union.

The Japanese, what are they doing there? Yeah, what are they doing there? Go back and talk about their participation, their interest in their start in this war. Japanese were were in Japan as a country of zero natural resources and they needed natural resources. And so they had already invaded China. They had already invaded Korea. They had already invaded French Indochina, which is now Vietnam today because they wanted to expand, but they needed natural resources. So the United States decided at that point that they would start to cut off supplies to Japan, whether that be oil or steel. So Japan always felt as though they were backed into a corner and their expansion was dependent on these resources, these natural resources. So if the United States was not going to supply

these natural resources, that they would have to disable the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor. And that's exactly what they tried to do on December 7th, 1941. But they did not understand that A, that the American aircraft carriers were not there. And B, they never launched the third wave, which attacked the oil refineries at Pearl Harbor. So Japan was trying to expand their empire in the Pacific while Hitler was trying to expand his empire in Europe. And they thought- And it wasn't totally unrelated. They'd been talking. There was an agreement. This wasn't just two separate wars happening at once. No. I mean, they had formed an alliance called the Axis Powers between Italy, Japan, and Germany.

So they were talking about what the situation was in the Pacific. So what they needed to do was eliminate the American Pacific fleet for six months or a year, but they did not figure on the resolve of the United States. The United States wants a fair fight. I mean, that's always how Americans are. They want a fair fight. They don't want to be attacked without notice or be attacked by surprise. And that's the slogan of Remember Pearl Harbor. And that was the rallying cry of World War II. It was Remember Pearl Harbor. We were attacked without notice by the Japanese, and the Japanese had their intentions. But that became the rallying cry of World War II. It was remember Pearl Harbor. We were attacked without notice by the Japanese and the Japanese had their intentions,

but that became the rallying cry. And that's why so many millions of Americans signed up for the fight in World War II, because it was a sucker blow. And Americans don't like sucker blows. Maybe this is hindsight being 2020, but it seems so foolish to now in retrospect, like, why would they want to drag us into the war of all powers? It's not like we were not known for

our military might, you know, we had just won World War One. But why why drag the United States into this conflict that we'd been rejecting thus far. It's so funny because, you know, Admiral Yamamoto, who was the key architect of the battle of Pearl Harbor, the attack at Pearl Harbor, and also the Battle of Midway, told the Japanese military, he said, you know, you only have a certain amount of time here to put the United States at bay. Yamamoto had studied at Harvard. He had been a naval attache in Washington. He had ventured out into the American heartland and seen the industrial power of the United States. So he basically was against a strike against the United States. But the Japanese military, the Japanese army was in control of what the decisions would be in World War II. So, you know, Yamamoto at certain points voiced his concern and

said, this is not going to work. We're going to awaken a sleeping giant. And he meant by a sleeping giant, he meant American industry. He meant by the ability to convert the Ford plants in Detroit from cars to tanks and airplanes and everything else. He said, we cannot win a war with the United States. But nobody listened to him, especially the army, and there were attempts on his life. And so, you know, Japan did not listen to the voice of reason. The army was hell-bent on attacking the United States because they felt they were inferior in many ways, inferior as soldiers, inferior as Navy, inferior in militaristic ways. But Yamamoto was the voice of reason, and they did not like that. And they still attacked

Pearl Harbor. And they still had Yamamoto plan the attack on Pearl Harbor and plan the attack on Midway. But he was a voice who just said, we cannot win a war. We can only buy time. And how much time we can buy is negotiable. And I think they were looking at some point to say, okay, we're going to buy time, we're going to be able to occupy Guam and the Philippines, and those will be our islands, and then we'll settle for peace. But Yamamoto was really the only one who understood the industrial might and the capability of the United States. The element of surprise is still hard to understand, given radar and satellite and all the gifts that we have today but um i

didn't realize this actually prior to preparing for this interview that there was an alert operator of an army radar station at seven o'clock that morning we got hit at around 8 a.m but at seven o'clock that morning who spotted the approaching first wave of the japanese attack force and sounded the alarm and what what happened well the problem was is that radar was so new at that time what the joe lockhart and his colleague decided at the opana radar site on hawaii was you know they reported this to to to the authorities in Hawaii. And they thought, well, well, this is a crew of B-17 planes coming in from California. Radar was not being utilized that effectively by the United States at that time. So they thought it was a B-17

squadron coming in from the West Coast of the United States. And Tyler, the man at Hawaii, said, don't worry about it. Those are famous last words. Don't worry about it. It's just a group of B-17s coming in from California. And they said, okay, we're going to go for lunch now then. And that's what happened. And so it's almost like 9-11 in terms of things are building up and things are presenting themselves. And we're saying it's something say. We assumed Kermit Tyler was a guy, and I hate to single him out, but he was the guy in the famous movie, Tora, Tora, Tora, who said, don't worry about it. It's a squadron of B-17s coming in from California. Oh my goodness. And it wasn't. It was Japanese planes coming in to sink the Arizona and Oklahoma and everybody else. Yeah, the Arizona took the worst of the damage and the Oklahoma and all 21 ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged.

Aircraft losses, 188 destroyed, 159 damaged. The majority hit before they had a chance to even take off. And the Japanese success was it was overwhelming. I mean, it was incredible. Not to compliment, but it was a great success for them. And our guys were completely caught by surprise as documented again in Remembering Pearl Harbor.

This is a clip from it in which several of the survivors on the USS Arizona describe the explosion that destroyed their ship. It's SOT 6. At nine minutes after eight, one of the bombers came over the lucky bomb. And then the big bomb hit the number two turret. Dropped it from maybe 8,000, 10,000 feet. And it went right into a million rounds of ammunition and fuel oil and aviation gasoline.

It went in there and exploded. That's what exploded. It blowed 110 foot of the ship clear off. And everything from the main mess forward was on fire. The ballast ship came out of the water about 30 feet. Blue-winged water. Where the fireball went off and it went about 500 or 600 feet in the air and just engulfed us up there in the sky control platform. A couple of things there to pick up on. It wasn't just Pearl Harbor. This hell was

unleashed in more places than Pearl Harbor. And you mentioned it before. It was an overwhelming success, but it wasn't a complete success because we did not have our aircraft carriers in Pearl Harbor that day. So can you first explain that the vast amount of areas and locations attacked and then talk about why our aircraft carriers were not there yeah i mean our aircraft carriers were delivering planes to to midway first of all the enterprise was delivering planes to midway the saratoga was undergoing repairs so the the japanese decided that you know, this based on local intelligence given by repaired in Bremerton, Washington or other places. And the Japanese also made a huge mistake in the fact that they did not attack the

oil refineries in Pearl Harbor. That would have been the third wave of the Japanese attack. So they missed their opportunity to really inflict a lot of damage on the United States at Pearl Harbor. And I think the Japanese also, Admiral Yamamoto, I go back to him because we've been to Nagaoka, which is his hometown. And we've been to places where we've interviewed his grandson. He was the only one who really had a clear understanding of the industrial might of the United States. And that you had to knock it all off at once if you wanted to sever the head of the snake. And they accomplished two of the three goals. And that third part of the goal, which is the aircraft carriers and not attacking the oil refineries at Pearl Harbor,

was a major, major mistake on the part of the Japanese. And Yamamoto was a realist. And he was also one of those people who said, you know, we have about six months to run rampant in the Pacific before the United States industrial might catches up with us. And so, but the army didn't want to hear that Tojo and the others didn't want to hear that. And, but he was, he was a realist and to hear guys like Don Stratton, who passed away a couple of years ago and Lou Conta, who's one of only two survivors still alive from the USS Arizona in that piece you just ran to, to hear them describe what it was like to me. Um, it's just incredible because they were a witness to history. The worst thing the Japanese could have done was launch a sneak attack. They could have notified us beforehand that we were

going to attack, but Americans don't. Was that done? Was that done? I mean, you know, was that done? Was that, was that, is that how it used to be done? Like an attack is coming? Yeah. I mean, it's the Japanese, because there are so many issues with the Japanese with transmissions and everything else on December 7th, 1941, their goal was to announce to us that they were going to attack Pearl Harbor, But because of delays in Washington and transcribing documents and telegrams and everything else, it became a surprise attack. And for the record, the number of military personnel killed at Pearl Harbor was 2,335. That actually includes 68 civilians, I think. So yeah, I guess when the total is

2,403 people dead, a hundred, I mean, 1,177 from the USS Arizona, which is just stunning. If you go, if you go out there now, you can see the memorial to the USS Arizona. The other ships, almost all of them were repaired and sent back out into service. The only other two that weren't besides the Arizona were just too old and too out of, you know, commission to really care about. Um, but the Arizona is the one that took the brunt of it. And I will tell you a couple of years ago, I interviewed, um, Jim Downing, who I saw in your piece, who was such a special man, such a, such a special man. So I flew out and I met him in California with his family. He wasn't on the actual ship when it got hit, but then he ran there and held the

bodies of many men who were dying and said prayers to them and continued to do so. We have a sound bite actually from Jim on the role of God for him during the attack. I'll play it now. It's Sat 12. What role did God play for you that fateful day? I thought I was going to be blown up. And so my conversation with God is, I'll be with you in a minute. But a minute went by for about 30 minutes minutes and I wasn't taken. But I experienced the greatest peace I've ever had in my life, knowing that God's in charge. He was 104 during that interview. And the loveliest thing happened to him. We talked about God, my connection to him, his connection. And Jim wrote me the most thoughtful letter after that interview,

thanking me. Of course, it was I who needed to thank him. He wrote me this long letter, thanking me and encouraging me to do a couple of things to renew my relationship with my faith and so on. I wrote back to him and a pen pal relationship developed. He would die not long thereafter in 2018, but what a special, special dear man. Jim was in the mail office in the post office on the USS West Virginia. So he read a lot of the letters that were sent home. And the West Virginia was attacked on December 7, 1941. And to me, so he got to know personally the stories of the men on that, on that battleship. And there's been a lot written about Jim and Jim to me represents the best

of America. And, um, you know, I think you were very fortunate to know somebody like him. And I think if we could somehow get back to the mindset of men like Jim, you know, we'd be such a better country for that. And he was a hero, but he didn't think himself of a hero as himself as a hero. And he read the letters home and he was kind of connected to everybody on the USS West Virginia. And Pearl Harbor was such a turning point in the history of this world that he was on that battleship and was reading the personal letters home of the people on that battleship. And to me, he's one of those people I always admired and thought, wow, here's a guy who knew the inner thinking of the people on the battleship and how they were scared and how they were looking forward to their own futures of being doctors and lawyers and maybe curing cancer or Alzheimer's or dementia.

I mean, they had so many, they had so much potential. The men on West Virginia and Arizona and Oklahoma and Maryland and Nevada and everybody else. I think what could they have done post-war that it would have changed the world? And Jim is one of those guys. That's the thing is there were almost 3,000 Jim Downings killed that day. They were all men like that. They were built differently back then. It's like the quality of person that we lost in each one of those guys is just, it's hard to match.

It makes you miss them all the more and it makes you all the angrier. Though, by the way, Jim was not angry. Of course, he was full of grace. I did ask him a question. Here's a follow-up between the two of us. This is Sat 13. You seem like you're a happy person. Are you? I am very happy. I'm a realist. I can't do anything about what happened yesterday. I can't do much about what happens tomorrow. Living today is so much fun. So I live it up every day. I love that.

We all need a little bit more Jim Downing in our lives. He's one of those guys, Megan, who understands that he represents the guys who are buried in cemeteries in Hawaii at the Punchbowl, or Normandy, or Manila, or Holland, or Belgium, or other places that, you know, he survived and was able to carry on with his life, but that he also carries the burden of being a survivor. And that's a tough burden for these guys. Why did I survive when the guy on the left of me died and the guy on the right of me died? I mean, what is my mission in life? My mission in

life is to carry on, to represent the qualities that my buddies who died had. And I think a lot of the times, I joke with people, I said, when you're in Normandy and you're jumping into a foxhole, you're not asking if that guy's a Republican or a Democrat, you're just jumping in that foxhole knowing that that guy's an American and that that guy is going to help you survive and you're going to help him survive. So why can't we get back to that time where we're looking at it as America first? America is not a party. It's an idea. It's an evolution of what the founding fathers discussed. The day after Pearl Harbor on December 8th, 1941, the president of the United States, FDR, addressed the nation in a speech that would become known for a century plus.

Here's a bit of that. December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy. The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. I mean, that's some 80 years ago, and people still know that phrase, a day that will live in infamy. I can only imagine what that did to the United States at the time, you know, his address, rousing the same president who'd been with the country, and we're not going to get into this, the 88% saying we're not going to get into this. And boy, as they say, what a difference a day makes. We rallied behind the president as we

rallied behind W on September 11th, 2001. And it just seems as though what I learned the most from World War II is that we're like an old Irish family where there are like seven brothers and all we do is beat up on each other. But if God forbid someone from outside the family beats up on one of the brothers, we all to come together and we respond. And that means like, it's like, why are we so divided now when we could all just find a medium, like Eisenhower talked about as a president, and come together and figure out what's best for America? Not what's best for the Republican Party, or it's best for the Democratic Party, or the Independent Party. What is best for America? Why does it take us being attacked to come together as a nation? In Roosevelt's speech, I mean, they detested

Roosevelt. The Republicans detested Roosevelt. A lot of the country detested Roosevelt because of the New Deal and because of everything else he was pushing. And a lot of the country despised W. Bush because of what he was pushing. But all of a sudden, because America was attacked, all of a sudden we came together and said, here is our common goal. Our common goal is to do what's best for America. And I always find that fascinating. You know, I have to say, though, I feel lucky to remember those times. I feel lucky to be one of the citizens who felt that and remembers that America first feeling like this is we love our country and we love each other and you mess with the family. You know, you're going to pay. You're going to pay. Well, back to World War Two pay. They did. We and Great Britain declared war on Japan. Hitler decided to join in and declared war on us. And it was off to the races. He believed inaccurately that we would be too distracted with the Japanese to fight him. And he again, unlike the Japanese leader who you mentioned, Hitler underestimated us in a way that would be profound.

He didn't think that we had the resolve. He didn't think we had the military. And he didn't think that despite our booming economy, we had the resources to fight on two fronts. And he was wrong. He was wrong. I mean, most of these people, the Japanese and the Germans, looked at the Americans as soft, that they didn't want war. They didn't want to fight in a war and that they would not use all of their resources and initiative and everything else to fight in a war. And they were wrong. The Japanese were wrong. The Germans were wrong.

And they paid the price for that. And so I always look at it as interesting is that they always underestimated the United States and people always underestimate the united states but hitler's two main errors in world war ii were were declaring war on the soviet union and declaring war on the united states the british were major players of course as well and uh were in a precarious position for quite some time during the war, not knowing whether they were going to face the same fate as France. Winston Churchill was the prime minister and in probably the best known speech ever. I mean, it's got to be at least one of them rallied his country to the cause, but also with a note of caution about the enemy that they faced. Here's Winston Churchill addressing the House of Commons, June 4th, 1940. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans.

We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be We shall fight on the beaches We shall fight on the landing grounds We shall fight in the fields and in the streets We shall fight in the hills We shall never surrender And if, which I do not for a moment believe,

this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire, beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British fleet, would carry on the struggle until in god's good time the new world with all its power and might steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old that was uh june 4th 1940 to the house of commons the thing about winston churchill was i just recently read a biography on him if there was one thing he was great at it was wordsmithing. And if you could take that to the next level with Winston Churchill, it was wordsmithing when it came to war, which was his particular area of expertise. It was a skill he'd worked on his entire life. He was built for that moment and he was ready for it when it came. That was before they attacked us at Pearl Harbor. Great Britain was in it. They were dealing with Hitler. They were dealing with everything. And he was the man

who got Great Britain through it, notwithstanding the fact that they would throw him out of office as soon as they won the war. There's that classic scene from The King's Speech where they're following the British story during World War II. and the king is watching Adolf Hitler speak. And the little girl, who is the future Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth, as a little girl, looks at her father and says, what is he saying? What is he saying, Dad? Masses of uniformed men stupefying to the eye and incredible to the imagination have stood in spellbound audience of the Führer. Papa? Papa, what did you say?

I don't know, but he seems to be saying it rather well. This is a guy with a speech impediment who's observing how effective a communicator Hitler was. There's a reason. There's a reason so many Germans followed this lunatic down the incredible murderous hole that they did. Yeah. And we've interviewed German soldiers. And those German soldiers have told us is that Hitler delivered us from the Treaty of Versailles. Our economy was devastated. Our military did not exist. We had no morale. By the time Hitler delivered his oratory, his ability to. Um, he had controlled the media. He had controlled everything he needed to control in order to be in charge of that country. So, um, it's, it's almost like an apology when we've interviewed German, German veterans and they're not SS, they're not fanatical. They're not the guys on the, on the the guys on the cusp of the concentration camps and

everything else. These are just general German soldiers. They said he motivated us enough to believe in him. His oratory motivated us enough to believe in him. And he also controlled the media at that time. And so the media message was his message. And by the time they discovered or they found out about the concentration camps, and they found out about the Jews, and they found out about the obsession with controlling more territory, whether it be Czechoslovakia or the Soviet Union, it was too late. It was too late for them to do anything. There would always be a resistance within the community, but the resistance would never be strong enough to overthrow what had already been done. Let's talk about it because the numbers are just stunning you know june 6 1944 it was a tuesday

more than 156 000 american british and canadian troops stormed 50 miles of normandy's fiercely defended beaches in northern france and if you look back at how the battle was fought with, you know, the men running out of the ships onto beaches that were riddled with mines, taking fire from above. You can't help it as a lay person, but to feel like they were sacrificed. There was how on earth could we not lose some 50% of our forces undergoing that kind of an assault, which we knew was going to happen. We knew it was going to happen and we'd laid traps so they would think that we weren't going to storm Normandy and so on. And they fell for our traps, but they were also prepared at Normandy as I understand it. And I just wonder as a historian, when you look at that, did we know

the extent of the casualties we were likely to take storming those beaches? We always believed as a country we were going to expect more casualties than we actually attained on that day. The paratroopers, the addition of the paratroopers, the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne, was something that was important to Eisenhower, not so much as the British. But we sustained so much less casualties than we expected that day. Eisenhower had written a note taking total blame for the failure of D-Day. Can you imagine that one person writing a note saying, I have accepted the failure of the landings on the coast of Normandy? And he did that. He wrote two notes. And one of them was because he did not know which way the battle would go. And Normandy was a defining moment in the history of World War II. And all of the plans that were laid out, and we talk about this a lot,

and it's interesting because we talk about this with corporations as well, big corporation, that every plan looks great on paper until that first shot is fired. And that is a quote from General Patton. Every plan looks good until the first firing, first M1 Garand is fired, and then all plans go to hell. And then it's the initiative of the Americans at that point. And I think it was the initiative of the Americans at that point compared to the Germans. That was the true ultimate success of D-Day in terms of knowing the plans of the divisions around you, the companies around you, knowing the plans of everybody around you. So if something went wrong, you had the training to pick up the rifle and move forward, whereas the Germans were reliant on Hitler and von Rundstadt and reliant on Rommel's orders and

things like that. It was initiative that won D-Day for the Americans as opposed to what the Germans were defending. How much prep did we put into that effort before we actually launched the attack? Tons, tons of prep, tons of maps. Everything, again, looked great on paper. And this is where we're going to land. This is where the 1st Infantry is going to land. This is where the 29th Infantry is going to land. This is where the 82nd Airborne is going to land. This is where the 101st is going to land. This is where the British are going to land. This is where the 29th infantry is going to land. This is where the 82nd airborne is going to land. This is where the 101st is going to land. This is where the British are going to land. This is where the Canadians are going to land. This is where the French are going to land. Everything went to hell in a handbasket as soon as D-Day began. But the thing is, is that the Americans and the allies were also connected with the plans of D-Day that they knew that if something failed in this area, that we'd be able to accommodate it in this area.

The Germans also had the disadvantage of Hitler having decided he would be commander in chief, and he was a terrible military commander. He was taking a nap. He was taking a nap. He was sleeping and they were waiting for him to wake up before they waited for him to make the decision whether to move the tanks forward towards the beaches of Normandy and everything else. Whereas the Americans are saying, okay, this isn't working, but the captains and lieutenants and the corporals and the colonels and the privates are taking the initiative. And that's what's so great about America is that we recognize that if something's not working, we take the initiative to make sure it works. We lead. We lead. We lead ourselves.

Yes. The toughest fighting was said to be on Omaha Beach. First waves of American fighters were cut down in droves by the German machine gun fire as they scrambled across the mine riddled beach. But U.S. forces persisted all day, pushing forward to a fortified seawall up steep bluffs to take out the Nazi artillery by nightfall. And they say all told, around 2,400 American troops were killed, wounded or unaccounted for at Omaha Beach. The Canadians were over at Juneau Beach having an equally, if not even tougher time. You have a documentary on D-Day as well. And it has an extraordinary segment of survivors talking about that moment, this moment of storming the beach at Normandy. I mean, it's a phrase now that people use to try to describe courage in a few words or less. But you think about having to be one of those guys

and actually do it. Understanding, it wasn't a mystery to them, the mines and the machine gun fire that was about to come their way. And here is a couple minutes from Tim's documentary on what that was like. As I was going into the beach, I could hear the bullets hitting on the side of the ship, on the side of my boat. And then that's when I realized, I said, well, this isn't going to be a piece of cake. This is for real. I looked into the well of the boat, and there was 35 soldiers in there. And I don't think there was an atheist in there,

because every one of us was making a sign of the cross as we were going in. And I happened to look. I looked to the right and I seen a boat. And that's when I realized what we were going into. Our job was to blow up these obstacles. They had what they called hedgehogs, and then they had these telephone poles with a ramp,

and on top of the telephone pole was a mine. That was for when the tide came in, the boats would just slide up there and the mine would explode. And our job was to blow up 50-odd gaps so the infantry could land. I carried a rifle, a web belt with canteen and ammunition and a rifle. And I forgot how many pounds of explosives I had on my back. I believe they called it touch-a-tall. And as I got to the ramp of the small boat that was in to land, there was, just as I jumped into the water, there was this explosion. And while I was on the water, maybe a couple of seconds, someone pulled me out and I couldn't

find anything. I couldn't find any of the crew that I was attached to. I found out later that they were all killed. I was the only one left. Oh, wow. American Hero. And God bless you, Tim, for interviewing these guys and getting their stories on camera. That was Day of Days by Tim Gray. You should definitely watch that one too. They're just humans. They seem superhuman, but they're just men. And they were young men asked to do the most extraordinary things and they did it without complaint and with valor. Ernie Corvesi, who you just heard from, I said, you know, what did you do after the

war? He said, I went back to high school. I mean, can you imagine that going through the fact that you're a naval combat demolition unit guy? Like today they're called frog men or Navy SEALs, and seeing all of your guys killed. And then he went on to the Philippines. I said, what'd you do after World War II? He said, I went back to high school. And I said, you know, when I was in high school, Megan, I would think I was still sucking my thumb. You know, I looked

at that guy and I'm like thinking to myself, what, um, what an incredible American you are to be able to accomplish that. And, and, and then go back to high school and finish high school. And Richard Fazio, the guy behind him who lived the first half hour of saving private Ryan and I, and Richard's still alive. Ernie passed away this year, unfortunately. Um, but I, but I look at them and I, and I, and I talk to young people today who are 17 or 18 years old, and I go, this is what you're capable of. I said, whether you know it or not, you're capable of this. You're capable of being the next greatest generation. And they look at me like I'm an alien from lost in space or something like that. And I said, these guys didn't think they were capable of doing that themselves at 17 or 18, but they did it. and gender and patriarchy, it's like, oh my God, you could be devoting your energies to something

so much bigger than just you and these immutable characteristics that we've decided to obsess over right now. Think of what you could accomplish if you would take all of that time and energy and devote it to something greater than yourself. If not a war, innovation. Solve the problem of the closure of those steel mines and the people looking for a new career or identity. Find a way to help America find its new footing in the age of electronics and the supercomputers and so on. That's what we need all the energies devoted to, navel gazing, selfies, and hysterical focus on things over which we will never have any control. on coming out of the depression and surviving the depression when their parents went from lawyer to selling apples. And they fought World War II as a war, and they fought it as a job. And they came home and they raised their kids on the values that they learned during the war and the attributes

that they brought home. And there's too much. There's too much that's going by the wayside to make America a great country. There are too many, you know, there's too much divisiveness. And this is what these guys fought about. You know, they fought about, they fought against Mussolini. They fought against Hitler. They fought against all these things that we're battling today. If he had the chance, if he wasn't killed on June 6th or June 15th or something like that. And I think to myself, boy, oh boy, you know, what a wasted opportunity that this young man buried in the cemetery under this white cross or Star of David could have changed the world, but instead was killed on June 6, 1944. And I just think, what if? What if? What would this country be?

And I look at that. I've been to cemeteries all over the world in Manila where there are 35,000 missing in action buried, you know, on the wall of the missing there, the punch killed in Afghanistan or Iraq or other places, their families feel as though, what would have been their destiny? What would they have grown to do? Those poor families, though, have such a different outcome. At least we got to declare victory in World War II, and there was zero doubt about who were the bad guys, who were the good guys, and whether it was worth it. Yeah, we don't know that today. And today, these soldiers go through a situation where when they're fighting, they don't know who. I mean, in World War II, the Germans wore helmets where we could identify them. The Japanese wore helmets and uniforms where we could identify them. And today in Iraq and Afghanistan and other countries, we don't know if that 12-year-old is the enemy or not. And that adds an entire layer of stress to these men and women who are fighting that I just can't imagine.

Yeah. Can't imagine. Yeah. Well, you were not the only one floored by the sacrifices made by our troops. You had mentioned Rommel, the German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Well, you've got a soundbite from his son, Manfred Rommel, and his dad had left the front lines to attend his wife's 50th birthday party on D-Day. And you actually got sound from his son, which is pretty extraordinary. Listen to how he reacted. SOT21. He was very surprised because he relied on the expert view of the German Kriegsmarine that nobody could land under such weather conditions. It was a very courageous decision of General Eisenhower and very successful. My father was away theater and some others as well. He said, this is really painful. They are landing while I'm not there. The British and Americans were more courageous

than the Germans concerning the better. Put that in context, a little tough to understand for the listening audience, Tim, what was he saying there? Well, his father had gone home to Germany because he did not feel as though that the Allies would be landing under such weather conditions as were the case on June 6, 1944. He believed that the Allies would land in better weather conditions. So Manfred Rommel's father had gone home for his wife Lucy's 50th birthday and bought her shoes in Paris. witnessed his father getting the call back in Hurlington, Germany, that the Allied invasion had begun in Normandy. And Erwin Rommel's headquarters at La Roche-Guillon, which is outside of Paris, was unoccupied by Rommel on D-Day. Rommel should have been there on D-Day to direct the forces, to direct the German forces. And here he is in Germany because he did not think that the Allies would land under such weather conditions, whereas Eisenhower had said the conditions are

marginal, but we'll go. And so Manfred was home watching his father's reaction, getting the telephone call back in Hurling in Germany that the Allies had landed in Normandy, and here he is in Germany. And Manfred articulated that. Manfred Rommel was an outstanding human being. He was the mayor of Stuttgart, Germany for 23 years. He also became very good friends with the family of General Montgomery after the war. And he was a humanitarian, but he was also witness to a momentous time in history when his father got a phone call in Germany that the Allies were landing on D-Day in France. And Manfred was also there when his father was taken away to be forced to commit suicide by Hitler because of the failures of Normandy and because Rommel had

been an outspoken critic of Hitler during World War II. So Manfred Rommel, who passed away several years ago, gave us this perspective of what it was like to be a 13 or 14 year old in the German army, but to witness his father's reaction to these moments. Extraordinary. And him, him relaying his father saying the Americans and the Canadians, the Brits, they were just more courageous. That's extraordinary. Your jaw must have dropped when you got that soundbite.

Well, it did. It was one of those things where as a filmmaker, you say there are certain people you want to interview who had a first-row seat to World War II. And Manfred Rommel was one of those people. And after he passed away, we were very devastated in his passing, but he was a benevolent and he was a kind mayor in Stuttgart, Germany. But he was also an observer to some of the most momentous events in World War II. And to have him in some of our films was just one of those things where it's just dumb luck that we got him when he was alive. And filmmakers are always, dumb luck is always part of being a good filmmaker, whether you're Ken Burns or anybody else. But to have his perspective on that was incredible. And he was firmly in the belief that the Allies would not land in bad weather on June 6, 1944. And that's exactly what Eisenhower did. Within a year, Hitler would surrender. The Japanese would be another story. It would take two atom bombs to make them finally surrender. And I want to get to the USS Missouri, which was the ship on which the surrender papers were signed and just a an aside as to john mccain

senator john mccain's grandfather who was on the ship reluctantly he had wanted to get back home he knew they won he he was ready to get it back home to his family and and tell us what happened. Well, you know, it was just a situation where we had dropped two bombs on Japan and the Japanese military, the army especially, still did not want to surrender. So we dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese army did not want to surrender even after two atomic bombs, which is absolutely nuts. But then they, the Emperor Hirohito decided, you know, enough is enough. So when Hirohito decides enough is enough, the Japanese military, the army decides they want to assassinate Hirohito. So we had planned to invade Japan in November of that year of 1945, and the casualties would have been in the millions, and Japan probably would have been wiped off the face of the earth.

So it goes to show you that when the surrender was officially signed by the Japanese, Hirohito was the emperor and decided enough was enough. The Japanese military still, after two atomic bombs, wanted to continue the fight. So when we knew at that point, Truman knew at that point that the Japanese were willing to defend their homeland to the last, whether that be children with spears and women and men and everybody else with everything else, he decided we would drop two atomic bombs. And those who served in the Pacific totally agreed. And those who had served in Europe totally agreed. We've never come across a World War II veteran who said that we should not have dropped the atomic bombs on Japan. Now, we're looking at this at a

20th century lens. We're not looking at this at a 21st century lens. Atomic bombs today are devastating. We do not want them. We do not want Russia to drop an atomic bomb on the Ukraine. We feel as though that would be just, you know. But in 1945, in the lens that we're looking at in the 21st, in the 20th century, that was the appropriate thing to do to save lives. So the surrender in Tokyo Bay on the USS Missouri was attended by the Navy and Marines and the Japanese, and they finally decided to surrender. But at that point, the Japanese army still did not want to surrender. So that tells you the fanaticism of what the Americans were going to face or the allies, the Russians, everybody else were going to face if they invaded Japan in 1945, November of 1945. So Japan would have been wiped off the face of the earth. We would have suffered another

million plus casualties. We'd already printed another million purple hearts in anticipation of the fight in Japan. So Truman decided enough is enough. This world war needs to end. And it eventually did end, but only because Emperor Hirohito decided that enough was enough and that the Japanese were defeated. And even then, Japanese did not apologize and have never apologized for Pearl Harbor or starting World War II in the Pacific. And that has always been a sticking point for the United States, that Japan has never apologized for that. And Japan always felt that the war in the Pacific was legitimate, and that it was caused by the oil embargo, and the embargo of natural resources, and that they were forced to do what they did. So Japan has never officially apologized for Pearl Harbor or starting World War II in the Pacific. And that's always been a little sticking point with Pacific veterans. I know one veteran who was at home one day,

and Megan, his son came home with a Honda motorcycle. And his son was washing his hands in the kitchen sink and looked outside. And his dad, who was a survivor of Pearl Harbor at Schofield Barracks, was pouring gasoline on this Honda motorcycle and about ready to light it on fire. And his son came running out and said, what are you doing? And he said, I'm not going to let you drive this Japanese motorcycle. And his son said, why not? And his dad had to explain to him why. And those feelings still linger with veterans of the Pacific War. And I tell people today that the Pacific War and the European War were two different wars. They were two specific wars. They were totally different wars.

The savagery of the Pacific War was no comparison to what was going on in Europe. And the Geneva Convention was not observed by the Japanese. And they treated prisoners as cowards. And the fight in the Pacific, beginning with Guadalcanal and moving on to the other islands, was a totally different war. And the veterans in Europe had such a respect for the veterans who fought in the Pacific because there were no rules in the Pacific War. It was a free-for-all. It was just a total, absolutely bloody free-for-all compared to what was going on in Europe. We've only touched briefly on the Holocaust and what happened there. Hitler's atrocities were discovered in full. He took his own life on April 30th, 1945, about a week before his country surrendered, as I pointed

out, Japan would come later. The story about the Missouri that I thought was kind of interesting, just because people know the name John McCain. So it's a it's a modern day reference that they can relate to is his granddad was on the Missouri when the surrender papers were, were signed. He didn't want to be there. He wanted to go home to his wife. His commanding officer said, you will stay here because you were critical to all of this. We want you to be there. So he stayed. He went home to his wife. And this is, again, John McCain's granddad. And I think it was four days later while celebrating his coming home party with his wife, he dropped dead of a heart attack, a death that was on the front page of the paper.

That's how important he was to us. And it explains so much about how John McCain wound up in military service. And he, of course, would be tortured and endured terrible things during and just, you know, his legacy and his family's legacy of sacrifice for country was only, I think, 61. It was a young man. But just the stresses of the war would take lives well beyond the end date of the surrender. Yeah, I just had the opportunity about a month ago to visit John McCain's grave at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. And also Steve Belichick, who was the father of Bill Belichick, and others at the Naval Academy. And there are others who were buried at Arlington who are in the same boat,

you know, just men who served. And our mission as a foundation is that we never forget that generation. And unfortunately, it takes December 7th or September 11th for us to all of a sudden discover the American flag. And I wish it wasn't that way. But history shows us that unfortunately, the only times that we come together as a country is during those times we were attacked. But we do have the potential, and I underline that word potential, to come together for causes that can help America as a whole. I would love to think that we'll do it. I mean, the problem is now even hanging the flag is considered a partisan act. I mean, even now, according to the New York Times, if you put the flag out in front of your house, it means you're a Republican, which is absurd.

That's absurd. There are still a lot of Democrats who love the flag. But it's being made. It's being made into a partisan uh symbol can i just spend a minute on this and i'll wrap it up but uh i read a story about how back to pearl harbor the guys who are on the ships who are dying now who survived and are dying now if if they so desire, they can have their ashes placed on the ships? Yeah. If you were on the USS Arizona and you were on the Arizona on December 7th, 1941, you can have your urn brought back to the battleship and interred in turret number four. And that's the only situation. If you were

on the Arizona, let's say you spent the night in Honolulu on the night of December 7th, you're not eligible. But if you were on the Arizona on December 7th, 1941, and you would like to go and rejoin your crewmates, the folks at Pearl Harbor and the United States Navy will make that happen. So your urn will be taken by divers down to turret number four and placed among the 42 or so urns who have been placed in turret number four since this all started in the early 1980s. If you're a Pearl Harbor survivor and you want your ashes brought back to Pearl Harbor, they can be spread in the harbor as well, or brought back to the USS Utah, which was a battleship also at Pearl Harbor. It was not an active battleship. But it's interesting because we've

attended some of these ceremonies where the sons or daughters or grandchildren of these survivors have had their urns returned to the crew. So there are about 900 plus who are still entombed on the USS Arizona who never left the battleship after December 7th, 1941 of the 1,177 who died. And at some point in their life, they decide that they want to rejoin their crewmates. And one guy, Raymond Harry, who is from the state of Rhode Island, never talked about the USS Arizona after Pearl Harbor. He never mentioned the fact that he had a strong connection. But on his deathbed, he decided that he wanted to rejoin his crewmates. So it was left up to his granddaughter to carry the urn back through New Jersey and Dallas and Honolulu and to have divers at the USS Arizona in a ceremony,

take his urn and bring his urn back to turret number four on the Arizona and put it in there with about 42 other urns. And to me, it's probably one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed as a man who never, ever talked about Pearl Harbor, who never, ever wanted to go back to visit Pearl Harbor post-World War II, was offered the chance to go back and see the memorial that was built and to see the oil that was leaking from the battleship, to smell the oil that was leaking from the battleship. He never wanted anything to do with it, never wanted to talk about it. But on his deathbed, he decided, I want to rejoin my crewmates.

The Navy diver who is responsible for lowering the remains in said as follows in one report, quote, it's a large hole. We place the urn through and then you can kind of feel it release. I tell the family when I feel that pull, it's the ship accepting back one of its own. Oh my goodness. I mean, it's to be on the Arizona Memorial when that flag is presented to a granddaughter, and then to watch the divers bring the urn down to turret number four and placed in with the rest of the guys who wanted to go back after. I mean, that to me tells me that the defining moment of their lives happened when they were 17 or 18 years old.

The defining moment of their life didn't happen when they were 40 or 50 or 60 or 30. It happened when they were a teenager. It happened when they were 18 or 20 years old. And that to me is an incredible thing to have the defining moment of your life happen when you're a teenager and to know that anything else you did in the rest of your life would be insignificant to what happened during your time in World War II. And a lot of these guys took such risks after the war. They started their own businesses. They became cab drivers or plumbers or Jack Taylor founded Enterprise Rent-A-Car or the men who came back founded U-Haul because they had been through the worst of their life. They had been through the ultimate risk in their life that anything else after that was just gravy. And I find that fascinating.

They never accept the word hero. Oh, no. They'll kick you. They'll kick you in the knee. They won't allow it. You've documented that as well. And this is one of the sound bites that jumped out at us. So beautiful. This is, again, from your second piece on D-Day, remembered, Sat 22.

I'm not the hero. I'm not the hero. I'm just a survivor. The heroes, most of the heroes over there under the white crosses that you all know about, and their mothers and their fathers and their brothers and their sisters, and even their children are some of those people. Those are the heroes of this war. We're the survivors now, And I'm glad you feel that way. And I hope you always do because democracy and liberty are too precious. And until I came over here, I didn't realize how precious it was. Yeah, that was Chris Heisler. Chris was in the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He was landed on D-Day and was taken prisoner on June 7th, 1944. And if you call these men heroes, they will cut you off right away.

And they will say the heroes are buried in these cemeteries. And there's that survivor's guilt, I think that any veteran faces that why, why the guy in the left of me was killed and why the guy in the right of me was killed and why I was spared. And that generation is really in tune with that. And, um, so when, when I, I make the mistake, every blue moon of saying, you know, Hey, you're a real hero. I know. And then I brace for the kick in the knee. And I say, these guys are going to beat me up because they're always to a man or a woman. They're going to say that the heroes are buried in the American cemeteries. And I said, God, how humble is that?

Before we go, I'm going to end it on this. On D-Day, FDR, who was president, he died in office. That's why Truman took over by the time we dropped the bomb, offered remarks to the country, which was unaware that this battle was underway and concerned for their loved ones who were over there fighting this treacherous fight. And in part, he offered the following prayer. Listen. Almighty God, our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and cruel. Give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed.

But we shall return again and again. And we know that by thy grace and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. Wow. Those words from FDR, a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Our sons will triumph. And they did. They did triumph. And they did. They did triumph. And they have the gratitude of generations after generations here in America and beyond. Tim, thank you so much.

It's been a pleasure getting to meet you and getting to watch your work. Keep it up. All the best to you. Thank you, Megan. It's been great to watch your career as well and keep up your great work as well. God bless America. Yes, definitely. From World War II, back in time to World War I. Tomorrow, we go back to the First World War,

the Great War, as it was known, with a historian. And guess what? Doug Brunt, who is also a historian, yes, my husband, will join the party when we go to World War I tomorrow. Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.