♪
>> Funding for this
program provided by...
♪
>> What's important to me -- and
Jess's dad helped remind me of
that the first year that Jess
worked for us -- one of the best
moments of their life was
when Jess got her first
paycheck, and they went out to
dinner, and this young lady paid
for it.
[ Voice breaks ]
That's what's important.
♪
♪
>> Additional support
provided by...
♪
>> My name is Bill Belichick.
I've been very fortunate to be a
professional football coach for
many years now.
It's a career I continue to feel
very passionate about and one
that I became interested in at a
very early age thanks to my
father.
The biggest influence in my life
has been my dad, Steve,
who played in the National
Football League and was also a
football coach for 50 years at
the United States Naval Academy
in Annapolis, Maryland.
That's where I grew up and
learned much about the game.
Like millions of other men of
his generation, my father, who
passed away in 2005, served his
country in World War II.
Dad was in the United States
Navy.
He spent time in both Europe and
the Pacific.
♪
The men and women of
the World War II generation,
such as my father, are
responsible for all we have
today, including my own
opportunity to be a professional
football coach.
The following is the story about
one day in World War II,
June 6, 1944,
D-day...
a time of both heroics and
horror experienced by teenagers
and young men.
Many locations still show the
marks of battle decades later.
This film brings us unique views
of the landscape of Normandy,
France.
Intertwined are the stories of
the men who fought on these
beaches and among these French
villages to preserve our
freedom.
♪
On June 5 on the southern coast
of England in towns, villages,
seaports, and airfields, tens of
thousands of men are about to
board planes and ships,
ready to begin the liberation of
Western Europe from the Nazis.
>> We'd had briefings for
several days, and so we knew
that this was the invasion
of Normandy.
>> General Eisenhower visited
our unit down in the marshaling
area.
We were in a compound behind
barbed-wire fences,
couldn't talk to anyone.
>> In our training, we were
told, you know, the old story --
"Look to your right.
Look to your left.
Only one of you is going to
survive."
>> I'm only 18 years old.
What the hell did I know
about anything?
And so I really...
I had no idea that this...
how big an invasion this was.
♪
>> The paratroopers were among
the first to leave, heading
across the English Channel
in the late hours of June 5,
taking a route that would drop
them over Normandy's
Cherbourg Peninsula.
Below them, thousands of ships
filled with American, British,
Canadian, and other Allied
landing troops, were also headed
for France.
>> Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen
of the Allied Expeditionary
Force, I have full confidence in
your courage, devotion to duty,
and skill in battle.
We will accept nothing
less than full victory!
>> I was sitting where I could
look out the door, and as far as
I could see, there were ships --
battleships, cruisers,
PT boats.
I told someone, I said,
"I swear, I think they were even
some canoes in the bunch."
Everything heading towards
France.
Everything England had.
And then when I could look up,
the sky was full of airplanes.
>> Yeah, see, looks like you
could walk over there
on the ships.
>> When we went on the plane,
there was very little noise.
No talking whatsoever.
You hear people say, "Well, I
wasn't scared."
Don't let them kid you.
When your life is on the line,
everybody's scared.
>> The pathfinders were the
first to jump on D-day.
Over 300 of this special force
parachuted around villages and
towns with names like
Chef-du-Pont,
Amfreville,
Sainte-Mère-Eglise.
and Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.
Men such as the 88nd Airborne's
Bill Hannigan headed for fields
and villages behind Utah Beach
in support of one of D-day's
first missions.
The early arrivals jumped into
Normandy to help guide in C-47
planes carrying their fellow
paratroopers in the early
morning hours of June 6.
>> They just told us it would be
a dangerous mission.
And a pathfinder goes in a few
hours ahead of the rest and
sends up a homing device.
It's a device that you put in
the ground.
And when you put it in the
ground and set it, you can't see
it, but the pilots could
in the distance.
We came in low and fast --
too fast and too low -- and we
hit the ground quickly, which we
liked, but it was dangerous.
This is not a fuzzy arrangement.
This is the real McCoy.
And you wonder if this was your
wisest move.
Maybe it wasn't.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
>> One vital objective on D-day
for American paratroopers was
the 11th-century French town of
Saint-Mère-Eglise, which was
a key road junction.
Henry "Duke" Boswell
of the 82nd Airborne
was bound for the town,
as was fellow paratrooper
Emmett Nolan of
the 101st Airborne Division.
It needed to be taken to prevent
German counterattacks from
reaching Utah Beach to disrupt
the eventual troop landings
there at 6:30 a.m.
>> Just before we got
to Sainte-Mère-Eglise, they had
a big cloud bank thousands of
feet high, and all the planes
just disappeared into it.
>> The pilots that were flying
us, this was their first
mission.
>> Our original drop zone was
Sainte-Mère-Eglise.
>> We parachuted into Normandy,
landing about 2:00 in the
morning not too far
from Sainte-Mère-Eglise.
>> I jumped, and of course, you
jump with a group of people.
But then when you started coming
down, you're all by yourself.
There's no one right near you.
The wind scatters you.
>> By the time you got dropped,
15 men traveled probably
from half a mile to a mile.
So, we were strung out all over
that Cherbourg Peninsula.
>> They were shooting at us.
Machine guns, antiaircraft.
We could see the tracers coming
up.
I got out of my chute.
I got my rifle assembled.
>> And we missed
Sainte-Mère-Eglise.
>> I can remember, when I
landed, I landed in a tree.
And I didn't know...
It was pitch black.
>> I understand that we were
the only unit that landed on our
correct drop zone, the 505.
The others had missed theirs,
some by a little, some by a lot.
>> Scattered all over, soldiers
from different divisions,
regiments, and units gathered
into small groups and headed out
for the nearest objective.
>> And we were involved in a
battle right away with the
Germans.
>> One of the companies had
jumped right over
Sainte-Mère-Eglise.
And they came down over the
town.
Some of them landed in
the trees.
They were shot by the Germans,
who were right there, before
they could get out of the
harness.
>> Walked into
Sainte-Mère-Eglise
and saw John still hanging on
the tower.
I thought he was dead.
He had been wounded,
and they later got him down.
>> At 4:30 in the morning, the
battalion commander raised a
flag over Sainte-Mère-Eglise,
over the city hall, so that was
quite an accomplishment.
So we had that town liberated.
Then we had to hold it.
Our job was to block the
crossroads and the bridges
and keep more Germans from
getting down to the beach
to drive our people off.
>> There were several attacks on
Sainte-Mère-Eglise by
the Germans.
And the 3rd Battalion,
the '05, was able to repulse
the attacks.
♪
>> All around Sainte-Mère-Eglise
and the small hamlets and towns
of Normandy were what the
French called the bocage,
also referred to as the
hedgerows.
The majority of villages in the
region were surrounded by
farmland.
And these ancient hedgerows,
dense vegetation, and trees
growing up from mounds of soil
sometimes rose to 30 feet
in height.
Dating back to the 16th century,
the hedgerows were natural
borders that kept the cows in
the fields and defined property
lines of the farms.
>> They were so thick, you
couldn't see anything.
>> The bocage in Normandy was so
dense that an American
paratrooper could be standing
just a few feet away from a
German soldier on the other side
and have no idea each other was
there.
It was an unnerving way to
fight.
>> You had to fight your way
through a century or two of
growth on them.
>> 82nd Airborne paratrooper
Bob Chisolm was bewildered by
the bocage.
>> The hedgerows was quite
difficult, and our intelligence
hadn't really briefed us on it,
so I don't think they even knew
about it.
>> Morley Piper of the
29th Infantry Division
found the hedgerows to be
an unexpected adversary.
>> We didn't understand
the bocage.
Knew it was there,
but we didn't know...
the density of the...
how hard it would be
to penetrate it.
The Germans did.
They understood it.
They'd been there four years.
So...great for the defense, but
very hard to attack.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
>> Among the hedgerows and just
about 5 miles from
Sainte-Mère-Eglise was another
key landing zone for the
American paratroopers --
the ancient village of
Sainte-Marie-du-Mont,
which provided key exits off
Utah Beach for the landings.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
Dominated by a church that dates
back to the 11th century,
the village was a key objective
of the 101st Airborne on D-day.
Like nearby Sainte-Mère-Eglise,
Sainte-Marie-du-Mont had been
occupied by the Germans
since 1940.
It needed to be taken to prevent
German counterattacks when the
beach landings began.
Unknown to Allied planners on
D-day was the location of four
German 105-millimeter cannons
just outside of
Sainte-Marie-du-Mont at a place
called Brécourt Manor.
Brécourt Manor dates back
centuries and to this day is
still owned by
the de Vallavieille family.
It remains a working farm.
On D-day, the four German guns
were located along this hedgerow
facing toward Utah Beach.
As the landings got under way,
the German guns began blasting
away.
They needed to be silenced.
The difficult mission was given
to 1st Lieutenant
Richard Winters of
101st Airborne Division.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
Winters led 11 other soldiers in
the initial attack to knock out
the guns defended by roughly 100
Germans in and around this
field.
A trench that once ran along the
hedgerow was the only route to
attack the guns.
It was early on D-day mornin
"Take out those guns" is the way
it was put to me.
The first thing I did was go off
by myself, crawl out this one
hedgerow to scout it out.
After I scouted it out, I could
see where a machine gun was, and
I thought there was a gun
in that hedgerow there.
I knew enough about where the
trench was and where
these guns were.
Came back and gave my orders
with, "Compton, you go up this
hedgerow, and I'll go up this
hedgerow.
We'll split up
what we have here
so that if we do get pinned
down, we both won't be pinned
down at the same time."
And we got everybody together
and set up the two machine guns
we had to lay down a base
affair and had Compton pop by
when -- and Malarkey go out
there and try to put some
hand grenades on them so that...
with the instructions,
"As soon as you throw those
hand grenades,
we'll all charge,"
which we did, and we were
fortunate enough to get in there
as those hand grenades
are going off.
And we got on top of them, and
we got in the trench.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
♪
>> Just a short distance from
Brécourt Manor where the four
German guns were silenced
is a monument recognizing
Richard Winters' bravery and
leadership on D-day.
The Richard D. Winters
Leadership Monument was
dedicated in 2012.
The monument not only honors
Dick Winters' own D-day
efforts, which resulted in the
Distinguished Service Cross,
but those of all American junior
officers who displayed so much
courage on June 6, 1944.
Damian Lewis played Dick Winters
in HBO's "Band of Brothers."
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
>> Around 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday,
June 6, 1944, the Allied beach
landings got under way.
Utah Beach, on the very
western end of all the invasion
beaches, was the objective of
the American 4th Infantry
Division.
Both Philip Miret
and Jim Gaff were in on the
first wave as the Navy began
approaching the beaches and
began to receive fire from
German gun emplacements
and pillboxes.
Everything seemed calm until
all of a sudden you were taking
troops to go to the beach.
>> Hard to look back out there
and think that we brought our
boats in as close as that.
>> Here is a special bulletin.
The long-awaited British and
American invasion began...
>> They were everywhere.
[ Chuckles ]
I mean, all kinds -- LCIs,
LCTs, LSTs, destroyers.
And they were...
It was just covered with ships.
>> We interrupt our program to
bring you a special broadcast.
>> Eisenhower's headquarters
announces Allies land in France.
>> This is D-day.
>> Allied troops began landing
on the northern coast of France
this morning, strongly supported
by naval and air forces.
>> My LST was just loaded with
wounded soldiers,
and the tank deck was full of
cots.
>> A landing was made this
morning on the coast of France.
>> When you think about it, an
entrenched enemy and pillboxes
looking down on the beach with
machine guns and cannon --
and those soldiers crossed that
beach.
It took an awful lot of guts.
>> The British-American landing
operations against the western
coast of Europe from the sea and
from the air are stretching over
the entire area between
Cherbourg and Le Havre.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
>> Today, a museum dedicated to
the Utah Beach landings stands
just off one of the key exits
soldiers took on June 6, 1944,
to move inland from the beach.
The Utah Beach Museum, built
from an old German bunker that
faced out towards
the English Channel, was the
vision of
Michel de Vallavieille, wounded
on D-day as a teenager during
the fight around his
family-owned Récourt Manor.
♪
At about the same time the
landings were going on
at Utah Beach, 30 miles to the
east, two American divisions
were also coming ashore
on Omaha Beach to secure that
part of the Normandy coast.
Walter Szura was with
the 1st Infantry Division.
Mort Caplin was a Navy
beachmaster tasked with
traffic control.
The eastern end of Omaha was
the responsibility of
the 1st Infantry Division.
>> Yeah, it scared you.
You tighten up,
but you don't think...
I didn't think about it.
I says, "What happens happens."
>> Several hundred yards of open
beach and murderous German fire
awaited their arrival.
>> A lot of firing.
Ships, planes -- strafing.
Well, how are you going to
explain it?
And machine guns
coming from the beach.
>> Climbing across little
fences, things of that sort.
There was something in the
water, bodies, which had been
cut in pieces.
>> I saw a lot of bombardment
on this shore.
And after the second day,
we served as a hospital ship
and carried casualties off of
this beach into London, England.
>> Then there was a cement wall.
When you hit the beach, is the
cement wall still there,
part of a cement wall?
Lot of us guys hid there.
We were lined up in there.
And that's where I headed for.
>> Today, a monument to
the 1st Infantry Division's
heroism stands guard over the
eastern end of Omaha Beach.
Nearby, the remnants of several
German bunkers and machine gun
nests stare coldly back at this
part of the beach.
♪
On the western end of
Omaha Beach, the fighting was
just as fierce as it was on the
eastern end.
Hal Baumgarten
of the 29th Infantry Division
came ashore in the second wave.
The inexperienced 29th fought
their way in just below the
French village of
Vierville-sur-Mer.
Crossing 300 yards of open beach
was the challenge facing
Baumgarten and his fellow
soldiers on their preassigned
landing zone on Omaha.
>> I got shot in the rifle.
It vibrated.
I turned it around.
My seven bullets in the magazine
section saved my life.
And so I didn't get wounded
until... after I hit the ground,
I looked up at the pillbox
number 73 on the right flank,
and an 88 went off
in front of me.
Ripped this cheek off.
Ripped the upper jaw off.
Hole in the roof of the mouth.
Teeth and gums on my tongue.
[ Somber music playing ]
>> The men had not seen combat
yet, and consequently, you know,
they had that innocent...
innocent high morale,
and exceptional training, and if
anybody could do it,
they knew they could.
And it was interesting because
they combined that rawness with
their planning partner to the
east, the 1st Infantry Division,
which was exactly the opposite,
and...
You know, they had already been
in two amphibious assaults and
were highly, highly experienced.
And so it was a good combination
of the two units because they
brought two different
perspectives to the whole
operation.
>> All these guys that you knew
as your friends -- you trained
with them -- and there they're
laying dead.
When I look at Dog Green sector,
I see all the bodies.
It's...
So, it's kind of sad each time.
For example, on Dog Green
sector, you know, we lost 85%
casualties in the first 15
minutes.
>> As is the case on the eastern
end of Omaha, time stands still
on this part of the beach, with
German gun emplacements and
bunkers still intertwined
with the landscape.
♪
While the Americans fought their
way ashore on Omaha and Utah,
over on Gold Beach, the British
began to land close to 7:30 that
morning.
Frank Amalfatano was an American
assigned to a landing craft
responsible for bringing British
troops into Gold Beach.
>> Well, I can remember, in
front of us was a big hill.
Then there was a lot of
resistance up in front of us.
And then we got into trouble
that the soldiers didn't want to
get out of the boats.
We used some rough language, but
then we finally got them off.
♪
>> Within range of Gold Beach
and Frank Amalfatano's British
troops were the large German gun
emplacements at Longues-sur-Mer.
>> And there was a lot of
booming, banging going on.
And I...
think to myself that we were
18 years old, and we didn't know
what the heck we were doing
and what was going on.
>> By 6:20 that morning, three
of the four long-range guns had
been knocked out by British
naval fire.
The fourth would not be silenced
and captured until June 7.
♪
Roughly halfway between Omaha
and Utah Beach in the American
sector lies the 100-foot-high
cliffs of Pointe du Hoc.
George Klein was with
the 2nd Ranger Battalion.
>> And in the end of March of
'43, they asked for volunteers
to join the 2nd Ranger
Battalion,
for which I volunteered.
And seeing as I was a graduate
[ Chuckles ] of the 2nd Army
Ranger School, I became
company commander
[ Chuckles ] of Fox Company of
the 2nd Ranger Battalion.
>> Klein was prepared for his
mission.
>> Immediately before and after
D-day, the Allied air effort was
concentrated against military
and communications targets in
northern France and the
lowlands.
Direct hits are scored
on the target.
>> On D-day, George Klein and
224 of his fellow Rangers were
facing what was considered to be
a suicide mission --
climbing the cliffs under German
fire to eliminate six big guns
believed to be on the Pointe.
The mission was called the most
important on D-day by
Supreme Allied Commander
Dwight D. Eisenhower, as the
enemy cannons had Utah and Omaha
Beach and the ships in the
English Channel within range.
Thanks to the air force prior to
D-day and then shelling by
Allied ships in the Channel on
June 6, the Pointe is forever
scarred with massive craters.
>> What I really wanted to see
was whether or not time has
worked its...its wonders
on the landscape.
And it has.
I mean, it looks a lot
different.
>> Decades later, 2nd Ranger
George Klein has returned to
bomb- and artillery-pocked
Pointe du Hoc.
♪
Returning to Pointe du Hoc opens
up a reservoir of memories and
vivid recollections about D-day.
>> We knew that this was not
going to be anything like
training.
He's the one who saved us.
>> On this day on top of
Pointe du Hoc,
Ranger George Klein finds
John Siewert.
>> Here comes my lifesaver.
>> George?
>> Yeah.
>> Pleasure.
>> My pleasure.
Ah.
You remember what we...
You remember what you did?
>> Oh, yes.
>> Huh?
>> Yes.
>> You do, huh?
You knocked the hell out of that
machine-gun nest.
Took care of an antiaircraft
battery gun.
>> We used everything we had
that first day.
>> Siewert was a helmsman on the
USS Satterlee on D-Day.
The Satterlee saw the struggles
of the 2nd Rangers in getting up
the cliffs.
The destroyer pulled to within
400 yards of the Pointe and
pounded German positions.
>> I was telling somebody if...
any commander had the guts
to bring his ship within
400 yards of the shore today,
he'd be court-martialed.
[ Chuckles ]
But...it was wonderful seeing
them there.
>> Yeah.
♪
>> We were getting grenades
thrown at us.
We were shooting up at whatever
we could see up here, whether we
could see anybody or not,
until the fellas started going
up the cliff.
The climb, even with a ladder,
was pretty tough.
As we got up here, there were no
Germans in sight except the few
who were lying on the ground,
and some of the Rangers were
already on the ground --
wounded or dead.
We were running as...not as
Fox Company.
We were running as individuals.
And I think that every...
I know that every single Ranger
knew exactly what we were
supposed to do.
We knew what our mission was,
and it didn't make any
difference whether it was being
led by a company commander,
a platoon leader, a platoon
sergeant, or a PFC.
The mission was...
mission was the same.
♪
>> We could see
the observation bunker, and
that was the only way we were
able to locate the various gun
positions because our gun
position was the farthest south.
We had guns number one and guns
number two were our mission,
along with the machine-gun nest
that was behind them.
♪
>> For the first time since
D-day, 2nd Ranger George Klein
finds himself approaching
Pointe du Hoc
via the English Channel.
The memories of June 6, 1944,
return in waves.
>> For some reason, down here
it's an easier feeling than it
is up on top.
The memories down here are not
like the memories up there.
♪
From this distance, we were not
shooting back.
Can't see anything to shoot at.
I don't know what...
If I look up there, I don't know
if those are people or if that's
bushes and so forth.
And that's what we saw.
As we got closer, then it was
a little bit different because
then we could start shooting
back.
Those things look...
They look as tall as they did
before, and as I said, the
closer you get, the taller they
get.
>> It turns out the guns
the 2nd Rangers had been after
had been moved inland to a
nearby apple orchard.
Eventually, they were discovered
and taken out, completing the
Rangers' original D-day mission.
Of the 225 Rangers assigned
the mission, 135 were dead or
wounded after two days of
battle.
♪
Today, a monument on top of
Pointe du Hoc recognizes the
Rangers' courage and sacrifice.
♪
Back behind Utah Beach, another
fight was raging.
Just outside of
Sainte-Mère-Eglise in the tiny
hamlet of La Fière,
Ted Morgan, a medic in the
American 82nd Airborne Division,
found himself right in the
middle of the fierce battle.
La Fière and this bridge
and causeway along
the Merderet River had become
some of the most important
real estate in Normandy.
>> I think we had to be there on
the scene to understand what a
major objective that was.
>> Where the Germans were trying
to get across and we were trying
to push them back.
>> The Germans needed the
1,600-foot-long causeway to send
reinforcements towards
Utah Beach and the American
landings there.
The 82nd Airborne was fighting
to prevent that from happening.
>> Because that was the major
bridge over which the Germans
could send in reinforcements,
and they weren't able to do that
once we secured the bridge.
>> I've heard it described as
one of the most important
battles of the Normandy
campaign.
And they lost quite a few
people.
>> There was artillery fire,
small-arms fire.
♪
>> Disabled German tanks
symbolize the fierce fight going
on to hold the bridge.
>> With their weaponry, they had
a...
This 88 was just an amazing
weapon.
We had to be covered.
We had to take cover.
But eventually, with the
reinforcements, with tank
reinforcements from the beach,
we were able to secure the
bridge.
But it took two or three days to
do that.
It wasn't a simple task.
>> The fields surrounding the
causeway had all been flooded by
the Germans to prevent
paratrooper and glider landings.
>> Some of our men became
casualties.
They drowned in the water that
had flooded the fields.
>> The destruction of the local
manor and the surrounding
buildings was extensive.
Across the causeway on the
German side, the ancient church
in the hamlet of Cauquigny
was leveled.
The entire area had become the
focus of a fight that may very
well determine the success or
failure of the Utah Beach
landings.
>> There was one of our troopers
injured on the side of a road
going to the bridge.
I remember taking care of
him, and while I was taking
care of him, there was a German
tank coming toward us.
And he kept saying, "Morgan!
There's a tank out there!
There's a German tank
coming toward us!"
And I wasn't about to leave him.
I couldn't carry him.
And I just didn't pay much
attention.
And all of a sudden, the tank
drew up beside us, and a German
head popped out of the turret.
He looked down at us, and the
casualty -- he says, "They're
going to kill us, Morgan.
They're going to kill us both."
All of a sudden, the head went
back down.
The tank cover closed.
The tank took off up the road...
which was probably a miracle,
I guess.
But that was...
I remember that vividly.
>> Finally, on June 9, after
three days of savage fighting
and hundreds of casualties,
La Fière and Cauquigny were in
the American hands.
Today, a monument to the fight
stands near the Merderet River
just yards away from the bridge.
It features an Airborne
paratrooper, referred to as
Iron Mike.
♪
22 miles away from La Fière
is the French village
of La Cambe.
La Cambe is inland near the
ancient French town of Bayeux
and behind the Omaha beachhead.
♪
Just outside of the village can
be found over 21,000 German war
dead from the fight in Normandy.
The German cemetery here is a
quiet and somber place...
men and young boys who died
because of Adolf Hitler's
vision for Germany.
>> [ German accent ] He managed
to call upon some
nationalist ideas.
You know, there was
a First World War, which the
Germans lost.
But the general feeling was that
we had been unjustly treated.
So he was welcomed by the
majority as a leader who takes
us out of that misery after this
First World War.
And by the time some people
became aware which way he was
going to lead us, he had enough
power so the resistance was very
difficult to organize.
>> One German soldier that I was
treating hauled out a wallet
and took a photograph out.
And it was of his family --
his wife and kids
back in Germany.
And I thought then, and I, to
this day, I felt sorry for him.
He didn't want to be there.
You know, he was forced to be
there.
And here he is seriously
wounded.
♪
♪
>> About 10 miles from the
German cemetery, at La Cambe,
outside of the village of
Colleville-sur-Mer and rising
above the cliffs overlooking
Omaha Beach is
the Normandy American Cemetery.
Over 9,300 white crosses and
Stars of David mark the resting
place of American soldiers --
fathers, sons, brothers,
and husbands who also died in
the fight for Normandy,
many on D-day.
It is meticulously cared for
by the French.
>> I'd like to say it's a very
peaceful place.
But it certainly isn't the
result of peaceful...in the way
it is so meticulously
laid out.
It's...row upon row.
Such a waste.
If there's such a thing
as a waste for a good cause,
this is...
this is what it looks like.
And...
Anybody who thinks that...
war is glorified
should come here and spend
some time.
♪
He was a good soldier.
He was a rifleman.
Uh...
He was killed about 30 feet
away from me
by a sniper.
♪
I'm not a hero.
Those are the heroes.
So, when they say...
I have a hard time responding
to "Thank you for your service"
because...thank them
for their service.
I'm here.
And they...
Their young lives ended
a long time ago.
I remember some of the good
times we had, and...
I hope they're enjoying
their sleep.
♪
Bonjour.
Hello.
Comment allez-vous?
>> They just wanted
to thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> I think it's wonderful.
I mean, those...
Really, that's tomorrow.
And if they're brought up right
and taught right, I have no fear
for the future of the world
tomorrow.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> [ Speaking indistinctly ]
>> I'm proud, proud to see that
today.
It's because of what you see
around here -- the crosses and
the Jewish Stars.
♪
>> Going back there and
standing, you know, beside those
crosses and knowing
who is buried there -- even to
this day, it's heart rendering,
really.
You think of those guys.
You remember them as if it were
yesterday.
It's a sad...
It's a sad occasion just to go
there to visit.
♪
>> I represent them.
I'm not sure that's probably the
right term.
Remember them, for sure,
and remember the deeds and...
that -- how they died,
where they died.
Yeah.
They don't grow old like
we grow old.
Forever young.
♪
>> Yeah, it is the common
sentiment that every man you
take back to Normandy says --
you know, "The only heroes
are in the cemetery."
And, you know, it's...
It's unspoken, but the
predominant theme when they
return is that it's an honor to
the men who never got a chance
to grow old.
♪
♪
>> When I got out, I had to go
back to high school,
finish high school, and then I
had to get to college.
And those were the key things
that I needed to do in my life
to get on with it.
>> The thought never comes to
your mind, "Well, I'm going to
do this because I'm a hero."
It's something you do because
it's what you're trained to do.
It never, ever entered my mind
that I was a hero.
♪
I was just doing what I was
supposed to do, what I was
trained to do.
>> Well, you were proud of your
outfit 'cause you lived up to
the tradition of the outfit,
you know what I mean?
>> Satisfaction because we had
accomplished our mission.
>> If I contributed just a
little bit to the success,
you know, I'm proud of that.
>> There was no way that I was
going to let my personal
feelings or my fear interfere
with completing the mission that
we were given, and especially if
it had anything to do with my
fellow troopers.
I was not going to let them
down.
The fear of letting them down
was more of a fear than getting
wounded or getting shot.
>> I was proud to be
a military man
during World War II.
♪
>> I earned one Silver Star,
two Bronze Stars for valor,
and six Purple Hearts.
>> It was an experience that I
knew would probably be...
The most important thing I did
in my entire life would be part
of that invasion.
>> The legacy of the men who
fought on D-day and served in
Europe and the Pacific, as my
own father did, still resonates
today.
Their courage, determination,
sacrifice, and belief in their
country and fellow man
is unrivaled in our history.
Despite the passing of my dad
and more and more World War II
veterans each day, I hope what
they humbly accomplished will
always resonate with future
generations.
The men and women
of World War II won as a team,
and that's a lesson
for all of us
as we too try to accomplish
great and noble goals in our
own lives, both personally and
professionally.
♪
Men like my father and millions
of others gave so much to make
sure we have that opportunity,
both on June 6, 1944, and during
the other momentous days
of World War II.
♪
>> Funding for this
program provided by...
♪
>> What's important to me -- and
Jess's dad helped remind me of
that the first year that Jess
worked for us -- one of the best
moments of their life was
when Jess got her first
paycheck, and they went out to
dinner, and this young lady paid
for it.
[ Voice breaks ]
That's what's important.
♪
♪
>> Additional support
provided by...
♪
♪
♪
♪