 Took a picture of John Kennedy over on the south lawn and he had his photography and I said why'd you bring that he said oh Sidy said I'm sure you won't have film in your camera Well, mr. President what I wanted to do was as you well know just briefly Get your thoughts on the day your memories of it You know like the films and that let's start out chronologically because my hunch is that as a boy World War I was very much in your it was even in mine My father was over there and France the idea of Americans fighting in France must have been something that you dealt with as a kid. Well, I was it as a matter of fact in first grade at the time but the the fever the fervor and the Of course, if you remember it met war the great propaganda about atrocities in Belgium and so forth which were really strange and Foreign to us and so they made it tremendous impact on everyone but Yes, I grew up and I can remember as a small child aware of all of this having nightmares that They would be marching down the street. You know, I had no conception of how they would get there or anything but and Waking up thinking where would I hide if this were true and American GIs I assume in that story were Quite the heroes in your yes as a matter of fact. I remember a Troop train coming through we lived in Galesburg at the time And a troop train coming through and my mother took my brother and made down there, too as everyone went down to on the train stopped and to You know show their support for the soldiers and all the windows and the cars were open and the soldiers all waving out and I Remember my mother lifted me up and I had a penny And I handed it to a soldier for good luck And I've often wondered Who he was and if he had good luck. Yeah, that's wonderful. What then where were you at D-Day? June 6th, 1944 G. Did a then I was at my desk in the first motion picture unit of the Army Air Force Culver City We were directly that post was directly under Air Corps intelligence and we were responsible for all of the Air Corps teams Photography teams we trained them put them together and sent them all over the world every Air group did you know it was coming? Did you know the day? Yes, except that did not know that exact moment because if you remember The There was a 36 hour break in the weather on the channel Yes, and when Eisenhower got word of that He gambled and said go because other than that they didn't know how long they might have to wait And of course the longer you waited the more The enemy could be prepared and know of your preparations So we were generally aware just as we'd known that There had been an original plan much earlier I mean a year earlier and Was evidently decided Against that there was There was not agreement among the allies as we understood it, but we were in addition to all those combat camera crews then we handled all the film and the the documentaries and training film and everything else and I was I was the Executive officer of the of the base. How did the word come to you first? Do you remember that moment? That I'm trying to remember Did you listen to the radio then what what did you know? I'm quite sure that we got it Officially and probably before it was public and But I actually cannot bring to mind that That exact detail, but it was no surprise to us because as I say we we knew and that it was in the offing and we had the crews there and everything did you did it dominate your Life then for the next few hours. Oh, yes. Yes, this And as the reports would come in and as I say when the film began to arrive then after D-Day because we had access to all the film from Not only the Air Force branch, but other branches and we put together Staff reports for the general staff Like putting a newsreel together And tell me about that as well You'd watch that film go into the projection room and watch that film that was going to be edited and You'd see so many shots that people have seen since on television of the troops coming off the landing barges and heading for the beach and up the beach and I Would watch as closely as I could because knowing that this was real and they were under fire And it just used to tear you in two because you Out there and all those men you'd see the individuals that were hit go down and I Had one interesting story later after the war out of that young man from my hometown was a naval officer and He was on a ship that was picking up the wounded when they would be ferrying the wounded back out in the landing barges to the These boats offshore and he was on the bridge and down below on the deck They were pulling them aboard and he through the glasses was watching a German pillbox an artillery pillbox on the beach or up on the the bluffs and He saw them he could he could even see the range find the man with a range finder you know setting getting the range and the shot came over and landed just short of their ship and Then he watched and the second shot came and was a little long Well, that's artillery Practice you then split the difference and he knew that the third shot and he could see the man up there in the range He knew the third shot was going to be it and he said he just had an irresistible desire to put the glasses down and tell the men down on deck never mind and While he was watching and feeling that I'm thinking that the pillbox Disappeared our cruisers behind them offshore shelling got a direct hit and the third shot never came Did you have any relatives or any other special friends involved? Well friends, but yeah No, no relatives. He have you been back there at all. Have you gone to Norm? I've seen the beach since the war. No and Nancy has I will I Some years ago when I was there and went across France landed at Calais Not too far from all of this, but Nancy visited when we were over there for the summit The ex I went down with her on that very moving. I know it's going to be and I've had letters from A letter from a young girl whose father didn't die there Came home But she told me so eloquently in the letter how it was the most Significant moment in her father's life and so all the time from a child up She remembers the stories that he would tell including his own feelings about that day and he died a few years ago of cancer and She and her family just feel that They must go there Now and see that place that meant so much to you Is there any particular one of the beaches or spots that you are interested in that that you want to see especially? No, there are so many great and heroic stories about all of them that I don't suppose you can see them all but You know Omaha Beach, of course was the the one that seemed to Linger most in everyone's mind But then the other spots the one where the Rangers climbed those sheer lefts under fire Yeah Something what did you have any feelings at that time about Franklin Roosevelt as the man that ordered this You know when you were in when you heard of the D-Day and the whole operation the president's role in it Well, you at that time I was a New Deal Democrat and I Thought that he was a great war leader when we were once we were in there and So I I had no criticism of any kind I see what's your sense now sitting here in the office Looking back. I think you said the other day at Arlington or someplace that we that this sort of thing won't happen again hopefully But as a president that would have to order that kind of an immense Assault by armed forces. Do you have any other thoughts? from this perspective well, yes and yet the how Inevitable it seemed to become that we had no choice But to become involved and then of course the Japanese Took care of that with the Pearl Harbor attack But at the same time I remember this about him and all fairness when Hitler first was rattling the saber and Doing the things and there was the great controversy Should we take him seriously or not? 1938 I believe it was that Roosevelt made a speech in Chicago and in that speech he called for What we would call the free world to Quarantine Nazi Germany to close its borders to any kind of contact even to a phone call To simply seal them off until they would agree to join the the other nations in disarming and Stopping and settling the disputes without conflict and He was so assailed for that speech So criticized for it that you now you look back and see isn't this some of the same thing that we talk about today and that we've not as much so with regard to any possible threat, but You say had we done that There wouldn't have been a world war two So many places along that route that had we others taken action and by the same terms their tone he He was Begging his own Congress. It was his so it wasn't partisan. He was begging for more of a build-up and when you stop to think that was only days before the Pearl Harbor that Congress Retained the draft and I think it was by only one vote that they were trying to even cancel the draft. I know that some of our Military men when they could talk to their counterparts in Japan Asked them why Pearl Harbor And the Japanese said why not I said we didn't think you'd fight You were having your great Louisiana maneuvers the biggest war games. I think we've ever had And he said some of your soldiers were carrying wooden guns and you used cardboard tanks to simulate armoured war Armoured warfare. What's your feeling any any sense of this now as again as president the difficulty In this office of ordering men and particularly like D-Day so many in such a tough fight so far away. Oh this must be The most heartbreaking thing that anyone could ever have to do We know the story about Ike visiting the paratroopers the night before and that he was crying when After that when they climbed aboard the planes and flew out but I've often wondered sometimes if The deaths that we've had among so many in high command positions in the military And so many of them Seem to be heart Problems and you wonder if that couldn't be from the stress and then afterward to live with the thought of Maybe second-guessing and wondering Had you done all you could do to To minimize casualties. I don't know but I've wondered that sometimes How does this compare do you think D-Day in terms of our nation's history? Rank with our military efforts and just the big events in our national life. Oh, I think it is a There's no question about the magnitude of of that That war and that operation. I don't know of any other war that quite reached the Dimensions no war reached the dimensions of that one that truly was a world war and we were fighting on across both oceans and That operation It was necessary it had to be done. Have you seen the movie the longest day? Yes Ryan movie of some time ago. Yeah Oh Which was fairly graphic I think oh, yes kind of it any Lastly any going to do anything special other than the ceremony over there? No Just it's at several places. They've at least we are getting to the various spots No, I'm looking forward to it all on it. I Know I'll probably have trouble getting through it. I see again one of those very emotional time I found myself getting unable to speak at the recent ceremony for the unknown soldier You you know You see the veterans today, and I think of our young people. I once said to Bob Hope that he has all that film from all those Trips that he made and I said Bob, did you ever think about Putting all of that together just so that kids today could see kids of Yesteryear they you know, no one ever thinks their parents are young and So you see today the the veterans and so forth and it's impossible for young people particularly to visualize them as young people and I Always remember what George Marshall said about them Someone asked him if we had any secret weapon And he said yes the best damn kids in the world Great on that note. Mr. President. Thank you. I'll see you there