June 6, 2025 • 33 mins
June 6th, 1944. 81 years ago today. Operation Overlord, aka D-Day, took place in Normandy as a pivotal turning point in WWII. And a turning point in western civilization. Could we do that today if we had to?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We bring you the available report, all of them from
German sources, on what the Berlin Radio calls the invasion.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
There is still no Allied.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Confirmation from any source. The correspondence who rushed to the
War Department in Washington soon after the first German broadcast
was heard, were told that our War department had no
information on the German reports. There's been no announcement of
any sort from Allied headquarters in London. The first news
of the German announcement reached this country at twelve thirty
seven am Eastern wartime. The Associated Press recorded this broadcast
(00:33):
and immediately pointed out that it could be one which
Allied leaders have warned us to expect from the Germans.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Shortly after one.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Am Eastern wartime, the Berlin Radio opened its news program
with a so called invasion announcement. Telumbia's shortwave listening station
here in New York heard the Berlin radio say, and
I quote here is a special bulletin. Early this morning,
the long awaited British and American invasion began when paratroops
landed in the area of the Sommes Estuary. The harbor
(01:04):
of la ov Is being fiercely bombarded at the present moment,
naval forces of the German Navy are off the coast
fighting with enemy landing vessels. We've just brought you a
special bulletin end of the quotation. That is the invasion
announcement as heard from the Berlin radio by Columbia's shortwave
listening stations. Now here's what Transocean, one of the German
(01:27):
news agency says, and I quote. Every Tuesday morning, landing
craft and light warships were observed in the area between
the mouth of the Samme and the eastern coast of Normandy.
At the same time, paratroops were dropped from numerous aircraft
on the northern tip of the Norman Day Peninsula. It
is believed that these paratroops have been given the task
of capturing airfields in order to facilitate the landing of
(01:48):
further troops. The harbor of la Ov is at the
moment being bombarded, and continues the broadcast, German naval forces
have engaged enemy landing craft off the coast. The Transocean broadcast,
still unconfirmed, concludes this way, the long expected Anglo American
invasion appears to have begun. This is the full text
(02:09):
of the German transation broadcasts as recorded by the Associated Press.
The German broadcasts on the long expected invasion by the
Allies were relayed both to North America and to Germans
in the homeland. Germans at home were told by DNB's
domestic broadcasts at dawn in Europe. At one point thirty
in the morning Eastern wartime, the DNB agency repeated the
(02:32):
items describing what it called the invasion operations. This was
a departure from the usual DNV practice of giving fresh
information At that time. The German controlled Calais Radio came
on the air today with this announcement in the English
language quote, this is d day. We shall now bring
music for the Allied invasion forces, so said the German
(02:55):
controlled Calais Radio across the channel from England. Not to
this time, almost an hour and a half after the
first German broadcast, the United States Office of War Information,
which facilities will be used by American press organizations when
Allied armies enter Western Europe, has not transmitted any information
at all to support the German claims. Director Elmer Davis
(03:18):
of the OWI rushed to his headquarters immediately when OWI
officials advised him of the broadcasts from Germany. He told
the United Press, we have no more information than you have.
I'll stay here until I find out whether the story
is true or not.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Isn't that interesting? The Office of War Information at briget Mouth.
Let's find out what's going on. Today's D Day June sixth.
In nineteen forty four, the Allies launched Operation Overlord. We
know it as D Day, probably one of the most
significant military operations in human history. A massive invasion of
(03:56):
Nazi occupied Western Europe took place on Normandy, served, as
well in other places, served as a pivotal turning point
in World War II, and I would add that I
think it also serves as a turning point in Western civilization.
There aren't a lot of inflect whether there are obviously many,
(04:17):
but in our lifetimes, or at least in our maybe
our fathers, or our grandfathers or our great grandfather's lifetimes,
there are very few, if any, inflection points in which
the world could have turned completely dark or have fought
back the darkness with the light and left us with
(04:41):
an amazing, an amazing heritage. You know, as I was
going through some of these old youtubes last night in
anticipation of talking about this this morning, I had one
question on my mind that I wonder what your answer is.
Could we do this again? Do we have the political will?
(05:03):
Do we have the adaptability? Because this war and the
way it was conducted is not going to be conducted
like this again, at least in our lifetimes. Oh, it'll
start out. We can watch like what's happening in Ukraine
and Russia and there's a kinetic war. But you think
(05:25):
about rather than bombers straight.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Or you know, or.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
You know, fighter jets strafing air fields, we have drones
doing it. And the same time that we've got drones
doing that to the Russians or the Ukrainians have it
doing to the Russians. We have a constant, ongoing cyber
warfare between our enemies and our allies and ourselves.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
That this took this.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
One day took years of planning, and the Allies chose
Normandy in particular because of its relatively weak defenses compared
to all the other heavily fortified areas, complex endeavor requiring
meticulous preparation secrecy.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Then think about the size of the force.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
The Allies assembled an invasion force that included more than
one hundred and fifty six thousand troops, seven thousand ships
and eleven thousand aircraft. And thing that's always fascinated me,
I mean, among many things, was the deception and how
deception played such a crucial role.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Through what was called.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Operation Fortitude, we actually misled the Germans into believing that
the invasion was going to occur at pay to Salat,
diverting German resources and attention, trying to get them to
focus all over there ahead fate. And then the invasion
began at dawn on June sixth, nineteen forty four. Thousands
of paratroopers and glider troops landed behind the enemy lines
(07:11):
so they could secure key objectives, bridge roades, and disrupt
German communications. And while that was going on, naval bombardments
targeted German coastal defenses, trying to weaken those fortifications that
we've all seen in the movies, and you can still
go see if you visit Normandy or any of the beaches.
(07:32):
So then the amphibious landings, most graphically and probably most
accurately depicted in Steep Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, those amphibious
landings took a place across five beaches code named Utah, Omaha,
gold Juno, and Sword. Our forces, American forces landed at
(07:58):
Utah and Omaha, the British troops at Golden Sword, and
Canadian forces at Juno, and every single beach had its
own unique challenge. Omaha Beach in particular, became a focal
point of intense combat because of the high cliffs that
you've seen and the strong German defenses that were on
top of those cliffs. Heavy casualties, I mean some didn't
(08:22):
even make it out of the boats. But by the
end of the day we had secured all five beaches
at a huge cost, a huge cost. Are we willing
to do that today to preserve Western civilization? Are we
willing to do that today? To preserve this republic? What
(08:47):
was the human cost? Now it was a triumphant military strategy,
but approximately ten thousand Aullied troops were killed, wounded, or
missing by the end of the day. Today American forces
suffered the heaviest losses at Omaha. German casualties are estimated
to have been between four thousand and nine thousand. But
(09:10):
the bravery, the courage, the willingness of those young men
facing combat for the very first time, that remains a testament,
an absolute testament to the courage and the fortitude that
is required for us to confront tyranny. There's a lot
(09:35):
of tyranny moving around in the world, subtly, very forcefully, quietly, subtly,
but nonetheless tyranny is afoot around the world. And I
question whether or not we have that fortitude and that courage,
and that bravery and that willingness to confront that tyranny.
(09:58):
I tend to believe that if, in indeed, we were
faced with something like look, if there was a general
knowledge among the American population that, in my vernacular, this
is it, we either stop it now, we don't stop
(10:18):
it at all. I think if we were faced with
that kind of line in the sand, I think many
ordinary Americans would take up arms, They would volunteer, they
would do whatever it took. Because while we sit dumb,
fat and happy all the time with all of our
(10:40):
technology and all of our amazing ability to get you know,
all sorts of foods from all over the world at anytime,
and walk into a grocery store and other than you know,
oh there's a storm coming, so there's no toilet paper.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Let's panic about the toilet paper.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
We live in an age of abundance, and but for
D Day, we probably would not. We never, We shouldn't
say we never, But we often don't talk or remember
the civilians in Normandy because the intense fighting in all
(11:15):
the bombardments cause horrific destruction in towns and villages, and
a lot of French civilians lost their lives, their homes.
But despite those hardships, the liberation of France began this
day in nineteen forty four, and it was for them,
for the French, it was probably the first glimmer of
(11:38):
maybe not the first glimmer of hope, but it was
the first significant sign of hope that this long nightmare
actually may be coming to an end. The success of
D Day established the crucial foothold on the Western Front,
and then over the you know, the coming weeks, the
Allies we expanded the beachhead, We liberated Paris by August
(12:04):
of forty four, push Germans completely back across France by
May of forty five, less than a year after D Day,
less than a year, we forget. But in May of
nineteen forty five, Nazi Germany surrendered, ending the war. We
get upset if we don't get things. I heard somebody
(12:26):
talking about where there's in the top of the hour
news people that don't like people, so Amazon's going to
do robots. You think about the camaraderie that exists today
among those remaining veterans. You think about the willingness of
(12:48):
those men on this day in nineteen forty four to
stand shoulder to shoulder and to be as graphic as
I can imagine, the fronts of the boats open and
the person you're standing next to is instantaneously killed.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
And yet you move forward, You keep going.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
You don't stop. Today the beaches of Normandy are hollowed,
ground memorials, cemeteries honoring the sacrifices.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
That were made.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
D Day was a defining moment in World War Two,
and it demonstrated the resolve that I question about today.
It demonstrated the resolve that the Allied forces to restore
freedom to Europe, the courage, the sacrifice, the strategic brilliance
of June sixth, nineteen forty four.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
We ought to take at least a moment.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
To realize what kind of inspiration that can be for
not my generation, for all generations, and use this day
as a reminder of the cost of liberty and the
enduring value of nations and peoples coming together in the
(14:18):
face of oppression. There ares I've said many times, you know.
In fact last weekend this week talked a little bit
about the demise of Western civilization and how we've done
some really stupid things that have brought on that, or
have encouraged and allowed that demise to get a foothold. Well,
(14:40):
we need a d Day in the hearts and minds
of Americans to push back against the tyranny. I find
it not deliciously ironic. I find it sadly ironic that
this week The Times New York Times Opinion in pages
(15:01):
have published two guest essays that explore what was being
done and undone to this republic and to the federal government,
and what it all might mean for the future of
the country. One which really irritates me by Jonathan Sumption,
a former justice of the Supreme Court of Britain and
the author of a book on democracy, writes that he
(15:22):
has watched with rising alarm as many Western nations threatened
to become failed democracies, and notes that this country, the
United States, could.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Soon join that list.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And he explains in this essay that while these countries,
including US, maintain an institutional framework, he says that we
are no longer democracies because the political culture on which
democracy depends has failed. I vigorously reject that. I maintained
(15:57):
that the fortitude and the camaraderie and the willingness is
still there in the DNA of Americans, and that we
will not allow this. He calls it a democracy, but
we will not allow this republic to fail. We can't.
(16:19):
We just haven't reached that pivot point in our lives
where we've said enough is enough. We saw little of
that in the election back in November five because we
saw what four years of a dilapidated political ideology progressivism, Marxism, fascism, communism, liberalism.
(16:44):
We realize now over decades what that has done to
the country, and looking at the choice we had of
someone who would have taken us even further down that road,
or a really odd messenger with funny hair. This says
bizarre things, posts weird things on social media, and has
(17:08):
bizarre alpha male arguments with other alpha males in public.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yesterday, we said, you know what, maybe he.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
And that kind of radical attitude will help us reverse course.
So today's June sixth, the anniversary of D Day. I
just want you to remember it and to think about it.
(17:45):
These are well, they're great text messages, and I want
to share them. Gubert number thirty one ninety eight, writes Michael.
The great book D Day by Stephen Ambrose provides the
complete story of this great day in American history. This
should be required reading of all American high school students.
I remember reading the book when it came out, but
(18:06):
I never thought about the idea of making it part
of a history curriculum. I mean, that's a brilliant idea
because it really brings to light the I mean every
aspect of D Day, every single aspect of it. But
(18:27):
then you think about in what context would they read
the book in what context when we don't have I know,
I'm making a generalization here. You know, your mileage may vary,
so just sit down and shut up. But in most
public schools, we don't teach civics in most public schools
(18:51):
American history. If you ever, you know, I would challenge you.
I've done this with my grandkids. It makes them so mad,
but I've have done in a while because the youngest
one's not quite that age yet. But the two older grandkids, Hey,
grandpeop wants to see your history books. And I go
through the history books. Now, the funny thing is my
(19:14):
grandson's history book wasn't in my granddaughters. I was in
my grandson's history book because there was a section on Katrina,
a section on natural disasters or something, and there was
a picture of me and Jeb and some other people
sitting at a table somewhere. So I said, well, you
can ignore all of that. Just read my book instead,
(19:35):
and they'll tell you what you need to know there.
But as I thumbed through it, I wouldn't say that,
I mean because I was.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
I mean, I obviously just to sit down and read the.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Whole thing, but I picked out certain parts that were
of particular interest to me, and I found that, yes,
it was somewhat slanted, and it was somewhat it was
really pablem I mean, while some of the will be
kind of leftward leaning, it was more it's like, now,
this is no wonder kids don't like history. It was boring.
(20:05):
It was a bull crab. So yes, just to hand
them a book about D Day, they would have no
context in which to understand it. Because they have no
context about the founding Documents, They would have no context
about World War One, they would have no context about
the Great Depression. It would just it would be just like, Okay,
(20:29):
I'm just driving down the highway and I saw something
and I went right past it. So while I would
love for it to be part of the curriculum, it
would be a part of a much greater expanded curriculum.
Fifty six to seventy eight, writes Mike D. Day required
it required an Eisenhower to work. Eisenhower was able to
negotiate the strong personalities of mainly Churchill and Roosevelt, but
(20:51):
also Patent and Montgomery, the organizational skills, the quiet strength
of leadership. We have a gaggle of generals, but I
just don't know that we have the right ones. My
take on that is, we do it. We have one.
We have too many generals, but I'm not willing to
(21:12):
judge that they are or are not the right generals
because I have a firm belief, very firm belief that
the times make the man, and you find out exactly
about I mean that that leadership rises to the top,
(21:36):
and so I think that leadership would arise.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
I know very few of any of the generals anymore,
but I would like to believe that in that cadre
of leadership in not just our defense department. But wow,
you look across the Atlantic now and you look at
the military of our NATO allies. With the exception of
(22:05):
some who are really trying to step it up, Great
Britain is a shell of itself. You look at in
any of the Prime ministers of our lifetime. Have you
seen another Church Hill? You look at Kure Starbar? Now
what a WUSS Guber number thirty nine eighty four, writes Mike.
(22:28):
I've spent this week sharing my dad's World War Two
info and photos with the twenty fifth Infantry Division, the
first US forced to be involved in World War Two.
The connection that generation had with a common mission to
save the world from darkness was amazing. You know. I
(22:49):
would use the frog and the boiling pot of water analogy,
but I read recently where and I don't know whether
it was MythBusters somebody, but some science has conducted an
experiment about what would the frogs really do? And the
fog frogs really do jump out, So that old analogy
(23:11):
that we're just frogs in this kind of lukewarm bathwater,
and they're slowly turning up the heat, and pretty soon
we're going to be boiled to death. Apparently in real
life doesn't turn out to be true. That's why I
say that there would be some inflection point, maybe in
(23:32):
my lifetime, maybe in your lifetime.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I don't know, but.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
There will be some point, whether that's a cataclysmic event,
it's some foreign maybe it's a foreign invasion. Maybe it's
the claps, you know. Once again, I was back on
Shiji ping last night, back listening to Gregory Kopley and
reading some more about what's really going on in China,
(23:56):
you know, the collapse of China, the collapse of the
Chinas Communist Party obviously is an amazing thing to watch.
But I could go one of two directions. It could,
in their attempt to maintain control, the People's Liberation Army
could decide that hey, this would be a good time
(24:17):
to invade Taiwan, and that starts a domino effect where,
you know, suddenly South Korea, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, the
entire Indo Pacific becomes involved. And then we have to
make a decision our strategy of strategic ambiguity would suddenly
be tested, and what would we do. I think that
(24:43):
the frog and the bulling pot of water needs to
be dispensed with because I sincerely believe that at some
point you can't have a nation of three hundred and
fifty million people or whatever it is, and you think
about the number of doesn't have to be rednecks, doesn't
have to be you know, a bunch of preppers. You
(25:06):
think about ordinary Americans who understand can you know today's
taxpayer relief shot day? Who are willing to do whatever
it takes to defend their property, their businesses, their families, themselves.
I think those same people are willing to defend the country.
So one, I'm glad that you're sharing that one. I'm
glad you have that info. And I'm glad you have
(25:28):
those photos, and I'm glad you're sharing those and kudos
to you for doing it. Seventy two fifty nine Rights Mike.
Thanks for the segment, Mike. My uncle landed on Juno.
He survived, and this breaks my heart. He survived and
one of his jobs was cleaning up the beach afterwards.
(25:58):
I confess I've never had that thought I have never
thought about because.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
For me, D Day is.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
On a timeline of moving forward, of moving east, of
starting on the beaches and moving our way, you know, eastward,
as the Russian forces are moving westward, and so I
see it as this movement. I've never thought about the cleanup.
(26:33):
Can you imagine that's your assignment and you have to
go clean that up? Seventy two fifty nine also adds
that sadly he passed just four days before the seventy
fifth anniversary of the landing. It's sad to you, it's
not sad to him. And you know why, because he's
(26:56):
rejoined his colleagues. He's rejoined his fellow soldier when he
won seventy seven rights. Mike, we were in Normandy in
Laha four days ago. It was a very moving and
somber experience. Hearing your radio broadcast from June sixth is
stirring memories of what we got to see just a
few days ago. Salute to our soldiers. It's why I do,
(27:21):
for example, on Memorial Day weekend, I do that show
about the history of Memorial Day, and then we'll have
Veterans Day. We have, you know, Pearl Harbor. We have
this day, and I think it's important because you know,
I tried to talk to my grandchildren about it, because
(27:44):
I know that my great my grandfather talked to me.
He was a World War One vet and he talked
to me some of his stories late at night. He
would tell me some of those stories. I had to
pull stories out from my father about the Korean War,
and I've got the codor chrome slides from his days
in Korea. But I think every single one of us
(28:06):
owe it to just sas Navies. Just as Native Americans
always passed down stories, we have an obligation to pass
down those stories also, and not just to our family members,
but to others. June sixth, nineteen forty four one of
(28:27):
those inflection points that we often just kind of slide by. Now,
my guess is on the network, on the networks this evening.
You know, on the five thirty CBS Evening News or
the NBC Nightly News, there'll be send casual mentioning of it.
(28:47):
But you look at the demographics who watches the networks
and you realize, well, they're they're not really reaching anybody
that doesn't already know or remember what June six is
your challenge today is to go out and among your
coworkers or maybe your own children or your family members,
(29:09):
what is D Day or what's June six? What is
June six? What happened on June six, nineteen forty four
Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The reason I don't want
to talk about it is because the cabal wants us
to talk about it. They want the spat, they want
(29:30):
the fight. I'm not surprised about the fight. I mean,
you've got two alpha males, one of which is afflicted
with Aspergers. And if you know anybody with Aspergers, and
I don't mean this in a pejorative way, but they're
odd and they and they're prone to emotional outbursts, and
both of them are dealing with the reality that I
(29:51):
have tried for decades to explain. What is Washington d C.
The Big beautiful bill. It's not perfect. There's a lot
of things in it. I don't like what Dosee has
been doing. Did they make some mistakes, Yes, However, I
think what they've said about doing is one of the
(30:15):
most amazing things that has ever been done in American politics.
Someone actually said, Hey, we're going to cut waste, fraud
and abuse, and let us show you the waste fraud
and abuse, and let's put the pressure on Congress to
do it.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
So both of.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
These men have done amazing things and both being truly
alpha males, the clash was certainly going to occur at
some point. There were times earlier that I thought the
clash was going to occur. There were times I think
I even said it on air. Musk needs to step back,
(30:55):
he needs to get out of the way. He's way
too much in the in the camera frame. And I
thought that for two reasons, for political reasons, but also
because knowing Donald Trump, you didn might share that spotlight
and he's the president and Musk is not. So I
(31:18):
think that, And in fact I heard on the way end.
It's kind of funny because when I got in the car,
I had not flipped off Fox News to go over
to Fox Business yet, so it was on that insipid program,
Fox and Friends, and the very first thing I heard
was Peter Doocy reporting from the White House lawn that
it seems that peace may be breaking out. That was
(31:39):
all I heard. I mean, literally turned the engine on
and the radio comes on, and I hear and there
may be peace coming down down the pike. My first
thought was Russia, Ukraine, What pete is that? Pakistan India?
(32:00):
Which which war are we talking about? Oh, we're talking
about the boys having a spot that you know who's
as bigger? Well, they both have big ones, so you
know what. That's what I've got to say about it.
I think that you know when you get when you
have two alpha males, both of which are prone to hyperbole,
(32:24):
one of you know, both of which are smart, both
of which are outspoken, and I think they both love
the limelight, which takes a certain amount of ego for
whether it's in business or in politics, to be successful.
They've both proven that they can do that. So I'm
with the President on his plan and getting as much
(32:47):
as he can right now, and I'm with Elon Musk
on the cuts and trying to get as much as
he can right now. So guys, take it, take it outside,
get outside, take it away from the view of the cameras,
and make up, and let's move on.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Big bear hug go around right. And if you can't,
that's fine.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
You both have important things to do, so go do
the important things.
We bring you the available report, all of them from
German sources, on what the Berlin Radio calls the invasion.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
There is still no Allied.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Confirmation from any source. The correspondence who rushed to the
War Department in Washington soon after the first German broadcast
was heard, were told that our War department had no
information on the German reports. There's been no announcement of
any sort from Allied headquarters in London. The first news
of the German announcement reached this country at twelve thirty
seven am Eastern wartime. The Associated Press recorded this broadcast
(00:33):
and immediately pointed out that it could be one which
Allied leaders have warned us to expect from the Germans.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Shortly after one.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Am Eastern wartime, the Berlin Radio opened its news program
with a so called invasion announcement. Telumbia's shortwave listening station
here in New York heard the Berlin radio say, and
I quote here is a special bulletin. Early this morning,
the long awaited British and American invasion began when paratroops
landed in the area of the Sommes Estuary. The harbor
(01:04):
of la ov Is being fiercely bombarded at the present moment,
naval forces of the German Navy are off the coast
fighting with enemy landing vessels. We've just brought you a
special bulletin end of the quotation. That is the invasion
announcement as heard from the Berlin radio by Columbia's shortwave
listening stations. Now here's what Transocean, one of the German
(01:27):
news agency says, and I quote. Every Tuesday morning, landing
craft and light warships were observed in the area between
the mouth of the Samme and the eastern coast of Normandy.
At the same time, paratroops were dropped from numerous aircraft
on the northern tip of the Norman Day Peninsula. It
is believed that these paratroops have been given the task
of capturing airfields in order to facilitate the landing of
(01:48):
further troops. The harbor of la Ov is at the
moment being bombarded, and continues the broadcast, German naval forces
have engaged enemy landing craft off the coast. The Transocean broadcast,
still unconfirmed, concludes this way, the long expected Anglo American
invasion appears to have begun. This is the full text
(02:09):
of the German transation broadcasts as recorded by the Associated Press.
The German broadcasts on the long expected invasion by the
Allies were relayed both to North America and to Germans
in the homeland. Germans at home were told by DNB's
domestic broadcasts at dawn in Europe. At one point thirty
in the morning Eastern wartime, the DNB agency repeated the
(02:32):
items describing what it called the invasion operations. This was
a departure from the usual DNV practice of giving fresh
information At that time. The German controlled Calais Radio came
on the air today with this announcement in the English
language quote, this is d day. We shall now bring
music for the Allied invasion forces, so said the German
(02:55):
controlled Calais Radio across the channel from England. Not to
this time, almost an hour and a half after the
first German broadcast, the United States Office of War Information,
which facilities will be used by American press organizations when
Allied armies enter Western Europe, has not transmitted any information
at all to support the German claims. Director Elmer Davis
(03:18):
of the OWI rushed to his headquarters immediately when OWI
officials advised him of the broadcasts from Germany. He told
the United Press, we have no more information than you have.
I'll stay here until I find out whether the story
is true or not.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Isn't that interesting? The Office of War Information at briget Mouth.
Let's find out what's going on. Today's D Day June sixth.
In nineteen forty four, the Allies launched Operation Overlord. We
know it as D Day, probably one of the most
significant military operations in human history. A massive invasion of
(03:56):
Nazi occupied Western Europe took place on Normandy, served, as
well in other places, served as a pivotal turning point
in World War II, and I would add that I
think it also serves as a turning point in Western civilization.
There aren't a lot of inflect whether there are obviously many,
(04:17):
but in our lifetimes, or at least in our maybe
our fathers, or our grandfathers or our great grandfather's lifetimes,
there are very few, if any, inflection points in which
the world could have turned completely dark or have fought
back the darkness with the light and left us with
(04:41):
an amazing, an amazing heritage. You know, as I was
going through some of these old youtubes last night in
anticipation of talking about this this morning, I had one
question on my mind that I wonder what your answer is.
Could we do this again? Do we have the political will?
(05:03):
Do we have the adaptability? Because this war and the
way it was conducted is not going to be conducted
like this again, at least in our lifetimes. Oh, it'll
start out. We can watch like what's happening in Ukraine
and Russia and there's a kinetic war. But you think
(05:25):
about rather than bombers straight.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Or you know, or.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
You know, fighter jets strafing air fields, we have drones
doing it. And the same time that we've got drones
doing that to the Russians or the Ukrainians have it
doing to the Russians. We have a constant, ongoing cyber
warfare between our enemies and our allies and ourselves.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
That this took this.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
One day took years of planning, and the Allies chose
Normandy in particular because of its relatively weak defenses compared
to all the other heavily fortified areas, complex endeavor requiring
meticulous preparation secrecy.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Then think about the size of the force.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
The Allies assembled an invasion force that included more than
one hundred and fifty six thousand troops, seven thousand ships
and eleven thousand aircraft. And thing that's always fascinated me,
I mean, among many things, was the deception and how
deception played such a crucial role.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Through what was called.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Operation Fortitude, we actually misled the Germans into believing that
the invasion was going to occur at pay to Salat,
diverting German resources and attention, trying to get them to
focus all over there ahead fate. And then the invasion
began at dawn on June sixth, nineteen forty four. Thousands
of paratroopers and glider troops landed behind the enemy lines
(07:11):
so they could secure key objectives, bridge roades, and disrupt
German communications. And while that was going on, naval bombardments
targeted German coastal defenses, trying to weaken those fortifications that
we've all seen in the movies, and you can still
go see if you visit Normandy or any of the beaches.
(07:32):
So then the amphibious landings, most graphically and probably most
accurately depicted in Steep Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, those amphibious
landings took a place across five beaches code named Utah, Omaha,
gold Juno, and Sword. Our forces, American forces landed at
(07:58):
Utah and Omaha, the British troops at Golden Sword, and
Canadian forces at Juno, and every single beach had its
own unique challenge. Omaha Beach in particular, became a focal
point of intense combat because of the high cliffs that
you've seen and the strong German defenses that were on
top of those cliffs. Heavy casualties, I mean some didn't
(08:22):
even make it out of the boats. But by the
end of the day we had secured all five beaches
at a huge cost, a huge cost. Are we willing
to do that today to preserve Western civilization? Are we
willing to do that today? To preserve this republic? What
(08:47):
was the human cost? Now it was a triumphant military strategy,
but approximately ten thousand Aullied troops were killed, wounded, or
missing by the end of the day. Today American forces
suffered the heaviest losses at Omaha. German casualties are estimated
to have been between four thousand and nine thousand. But
(09:10):
the bravery, the courage, the willingness of those young men
facing combat for the very first time, that remains a testament,
an absolute testament to the courage and the fortitude that
is required for us to confront tyranny. There's a lot
(09:35):
of tyranny moving around in the world, subtly, very forcefully, quietly, subtly,
but nonetheless tyranny is afoot around the world. And I
question whether or not we have that fortitude and that courage,
and that bravery and that willingness to confront that tyranny.
(09:58):
I tend to believe that if, in indeed, we were
faced with something like look, if there was a general
knowledge among the American population that, in my vernacular, this
is it, we either stop it now, we don't stop
(10:18):
it at all. I think if we were faced with
that kind of line in the sand, I think many
ordinary Americans would take up arms, They would volunteer, they
would do whatever it took. Because while we sit dumb,
fat and happy all the time with all of our
(10:40):
technology and all of our amazing ability to get you know,
all sorts of foods from all over the world at anytime,
and walk into a grocery store and other than you know,
oh there's a storm coming, so there's no toilet paper.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Let's panic about the toilet paper.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
We live in an age of abundance, and but for
D Day, we probably would not. We never, We shouldn't
say we never, But we often don't talk or remember
the civilians in Normandy because the intense fighting in all
(11:15):
the bombardments cause horrific destruction in towns and villages, and
a lot of French civilians lost their lives, their homes.
But despite those hardships, the liberation of France began this
day in nineteen forty four, and it was for them,
for the French, it was probably the first glimmer of
(11:38):
maybe not the first glimmer of hope, but it was
the first significant sign of hope that this long nightmare
actually may be coming to an end. The success of
D Day established the crucial foothold on the Western Front,
and then over the you know, the coming weeks, the
Allies we expanded the beachhead, We liberated Paris by August
(12:04):
of forty four, push Germans completely back across France by
May of forty five, less than a year after D Day,
less than a year, we forget. But in May of
nineteen forty five, Nazi Germany surrendered, ending the war. We
get upset if we don't get things. I heard somebody
(12:26):
talking about where there's in the top of the hour
news people that don't like people, so Amazon's going to
do robots. You think about the camaraderie that exists today
among those remaining veterans. You think about the willingness of
(12:48):
those men on this day in nineteen forty four to
stand shoulder to shoulder and to be as graphic as
I can imagine, the fronts of the boats open and
the person you're standing next to is instantaneously killed.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
And yet you move forward, You keep going.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
You don't stop. Today the beaches of Normandy are hollowed,
ground memorials, cemeteries honoring the sacrifices.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
That were made.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
D Day was a defining moment in World War Two,
and it demonstrated the resolve that I question about today.
It demonstrated the resolve that the Allied forces to restore
freedom to Europe, the courage, the sacrifice, the strategic brilliance
of June sixth, nineteen forty four.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
We ought to take at least a moment.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
To realize what kind of inspiration that can be for
not my generation, for all generations, and use this day
as a reminder of the cost of liberty and the
enduring value of nations and peoples coming together in the
(14:18):
face of oppression. There ares I've said many times, you know.
In fact last weekend this week talked a little bit
about the demise of Western civilization and how we've done
some really stupid things that have brought on that, or
have encouraged and allowed that demise to get a foothold. Well,
(14:40):
we need a d Day in the hearts and minds
of Americans to push back against the tyranny. I find
it not deliciously ironic. I find it sadly ironic that
this week The Times New York Times Opinion in pages
(15:01):
have published two guest essays that explore what was being
done and undone to this republic and to the federal government,
and what it all might mean for the future of
the country. One which really irritates me by Jonathan Sumption,
a former justice of the Supreme Court of Britain and
the author of a book on democracy, writes that he
(15:22):
has watched with rising alarm as many Western nations threatened
to become failed democracies, and notes that this country, the
United States, could.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Soon join that list.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And he explains in this essay that while these countries,
including US, maintain an institutional framework, he says that we
are no longer democracies because the political culture on which
democracy depends has failed. I vigorously reject that. I maintained
(15:57):
that the fortitude and the camaraderie and the willingness is
still there in the DNA of Americans, and that we
will not allow this. He calls it a democracy, but
we will not allow this republic to fail. We can't.
(16:19):
We just haven't reached that pivot point in our lives
where we've said enough is enough. We saw little of
that in the election back in November five because we
saw what four years of a dilapidated political ideology progressivism, Marxism, fascism, communism, liberalism.
(16:44):
We realize now over decades what that has done to
the country, and looking at the choice we had of
someone who would have taken us even further down that road,
or a really odd messenger with funny hair. This says
bizarre things, posts weird things on social media, and has
(17:08):
bizarre alpha male arguments with other alpha males in public.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yesterday, we said, you know what, maybe he.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
And that kind of radical attitude will help us reverse course.
So today's June sixth, the anniversary of D Day. I
just want you to remember it and to think about it.
(17:45):
These are well, they're great text messages, and I want
to share them. Gubert number thirty one ninety eight, writes Michael.
The great book D Day by Stephen Ambrose provides the
complete story of this great day in American history. This
should be required reading of all American high school students.
I remember reading the book when it came out, but
(18:06):
I never thought about the idea of making it part
of a history curriculum. I mean, that's a brilliant idea
because it really brings to light the I mean every
aspect of D Day, every single aspect of it. But
(18:27):
then you think about in what context would they read
the book in what context when we don't have I know,
I'm making a generalization here. You know, your mileage may vary,
so just sit down and shut up. But in most
public schools, we don't teach civics in most public schools
(18:51):
American history. If you ever, you know, I would challenge you.
I've done this with my grandkids. It makes them so mad,
but I've have done in a while because the youngest
one's not quite that age yet. But the two older grandkids, Hey,
grandpeop wants to see your history books. And I go
through the history books. Now, the funny thing is my
(19:14):
grandson's history book wasn't in my granddaughters. I was in
my grandson's history book because there was a section on Katrina,
a section on natural disasters or something, and there was
a picture of me and Jeb and some other people
sitting at a table somewhere. So I said, well, you
can ignore all of that. Just read my book instead,
(19:35):
and they'll tell you what you need to know there.
But as I thumbed through it, I wouldn't say that,
I mean because I was.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
I mean, I obviously just to sit down and read the.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Whole thing, but I picked out certain parts that were
of particular interest to me, and I found that, yes,
it was somewhat slanted, and it was somewhat it was
really pablem I mean, while some of the will be
kind of leftward leaning, it was more it's like, now,
this is no wonder kids don't like history. It was boring.
(20:05):
It was a bull crab. So yes, just to hand
them a book about D Day, they would have no
context in which to understand it. Because they have no
context about the founding Documents, They would have no context
about World War One, they would have no context about
the Great Depression. It would just it would be just like, Okay,
(20:29):
I'm just driving down the highway and I saw something
and I went right past it. So while I would
love for it to be part of the curriculum, it
would be a part of a much greater expanded curriculum.
Fifty six to seventy eight, writes Mike D. Day required
it required an Eisenhower to work. Eisenhower was able to
negotiate the strong personalities of mainly Churchill and Roosevelt, but
(20:51):
also Patent and Montgomery, the organizational skills, the quiet strength
of leadership. We have a gaggle of generals, but I
just don't know that we have the right ones. My
take on that is, we do it. We have one.
We have too many generals, but I'm not willing to
(21:12):
judge that they are or are not the right generals
because I have a firm belief, very firm belief that
the times make the man, and you find out exactly
about I mean that that leadership rises to the top,
(21:36):
and so I think that leadership would arise.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
I know very few of any of the generals anymore,
but I would like to believe that in that cadre
of leadership in not just our defense department. But wow,
you look across the Atlantic now and you look at
the military of our NATO allies. With the exception of
(22:05):
some who are really trying to step it up, Great
Britain is a shell of itself. You look at in
any of the Prime ministers of our lifetime. Have you
seen another Church Hill? You look at Kure Starbar? Now
what a WUSS Guber number thirty nine eighty four, writes Mike.
(22:28):
I've spent this week sharing my dad's World War Two
info and photos with the twenty fifth Infantry Division, the
first US forced to be involved in World War Two.
The connection that generation had with a common mission to
save the world from darkness was amazing. You know. I
(22:49):
would use the frog and the boiling pot of water analogy,
but I read recently where and I don't know whether
it was MythBusters somebody, but some science has conducted an
experiment about what would the frogs really do? And the
fog frogs really do jump out, So that old analogy
(23:11):
that we're just frogs in this kind of lukewarm bathwater,
and they're slowly turning up the heat, and pretty soon
we're going to be boiled to death. Apparently in real
life doesn't turn out to be true. That's why I
say that there would be some inflection point, maybe in
(23:32):
my lifetime, maybe in your lifetime.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I don't know, but.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
There will be some point, whether that's a cataclysmic event,
it's some foreign maybe it's a foreign invasion. Maybe it's
the claps, you know. Once again, I was back on
Shiji ping last night, back listening to Gregory Kopley and
reading some more about what's really going on in China,
(23:56):
you know, the collapse of China, the collapse of the
Chinas Communist Party obviously is an amazing thing to watch.
But I could go one of two directions. It could,
in their attempt to maintain control, the People's Liberation Army
could decide that hey, this would be a good time
(24:17):
to invade Taiwan, and that starts a domino effect where,
you know, suddenly South Korea, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, the
entire Indo Pacific becomes involved. And then we have to
make a decision our strategy of strategic ambiguity would suddenly
be tested, and what would we do. I think that
(24:43):
the frog and the bulling pot of water needs to
be dispensed with because I sincerely believe that at some
point you can't have a nation of three hundred and
fifty million people or whatever it is, and you think
about the number of doesn't have to be rednecks, doesn't
have to be you know, a bunch of preppers. You
(25:06):
think about ordinary Americans who understand can you know today's
taxpayer relief shot day? Who are willing to do whatever
it takes to defend their property, their businesses, their families, themselves.
I think those same people are willing to defend the country.
So one, I'm glad that you're sharing that one. I'm
glad you have that info. And I'm glad you have
(25:28):
those photos, and I'm glad you're sharing those and kudos
to you for doing it. Seventy two fifty nine Rights Mike.
Thanks for the segment, Mike. My uncle landed on Juno.
He survived, and this breaks my heart. He survived and
one of his jobs was cleaning up the beach afterwards.
(25:58):
I confess I've never had that thought I have never
thought about because.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
For me, D Day is.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
On a timeline of moving forward, of moving east, of
starting on the beaches and moving our way, you know, eastward,
as the Russian forces are moving westward, and so I
see it as this movement. I've never thought about the cleanup.
(26:33):
Can you imagine that's your assignment and you have to
go clean that up? Seventy two fifty nine also adds
that sadly he passed just four days before the seventy
fifth anniversary of the landing. It's sad to you, it's
not sad to him. And you know why, because he's
(26:56):
rejoined his colleagues. He's rejoined his fellow soldier when he
won seventy seven rights. Mike, we were in Normandy in
Laha four days ago. It was a very moving and
somber experience. Hearing your radio broadcast from June sixth is
stirring memories of what we got to see just a
few days ago. Salute to our soldiers. It's why I do,
(27:21):
for example, on Memorial Day weekend, I do that show
about the history of Memorial Day, and then we'll have
Veterans Day. We have, you know, Pearl Harbor. We have
this day, and I think it's important because you know,
I tried to talk to my grandchildren about it, because
(27:44):
I know that my great my grandfather talked to me.
He was a World War One vet and he talked
to me some of his stories late at night. He
would tell me some of those stories. I had to
pull stories out from my father about the Korean War,
and I've got the codor chrome slides from his days
in Korea. But I think every single one of us
(28:06):
owe it to just sas Navies. Just as Native Americans
always passed down stories, we have an obligation to pass
down those stories also, and not just to our family members,
but to others. June sixth, nineteen forty four one of
(28:27):
those inflection points that we often just kind of slide by. Now,
my guess is on the network, on the networks this evening.
You know, on the five thirty CBS Evening News or
the NBC Nightly News, there'll be send casual mentioning of it.
(28:47):
But you look at the demographics who watches the networks
and you realize, well, they're they're not really reaching anybody
that doesn't already know or remember what June six is
your challenge today is to go out and among your
coworkers or maybe your own children or your family members,
(29:09):
what is D Day or what's June six? What is
June six? What happened on June six, nineteen forty four
Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The reason I don't want
to talk about it is because the cabal wants us
to talk about it. They want the spat, they want
(29:30):
the fight. I'm not surprised about the fight. I mean,
you've got two alpha males, one of which is afflicted
with Aspergers. And if you know anybody with Aspergers, and
I don't mean this in a pejorative way, but they're
odd and they and they're prone to emotional outbursts, and
both of them are dealing with the reality that I
(29:51):
have tried for decades to explain. What is Washington d C.
The Big beautiful bill. It's not perfect. There's a lot
of things in it. I don't like what Dosee has
been doing. Did they make some mistakes, Yes, However, I
think what they've said about doing is one of the
(30:15):
most amazing things that has ever been done in American politics.
Someone actually said, Hey, we're going to cut waste, fraud
and abuse, and let us show you the waste fraud
and abuse, and let's put the pressure on Congress to
do it.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
So both of.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
These men have done amazing things and both being truly
alpha males, the clash was certainly going to occur at
some point. There were times earlier that I thought the
clash was going to occur. There were times I think
I even said it on air. Musk needs to step back,
(30:55):
he needs to get out of the way. He's way
too much in the in the camera frame. And I
thought that for two reasons, for political reasons, but also
because knowing Donald Trump, you didn might share that spotlight
and he's the president and Musk is not. So I
(31:18):
think that, And in fact I heard on the way end.
It's kind of funny because when I got in the car,
I had not flipped off Fox News to go over
to Fox Business yet, so it was on that insipid program,
Fox and Friends, and the very first thing I heard
was Peter Doocy reporting from the White House lawn that
it seems that peace may be breaking out. That was
(31:39):
all I heard. I mean, literally turned the engine on
and the radio comes on, and I hear and there
may be peace coming down down the pike. My first
thought was Russia, Ukraine, What pete is that? Pakistan India?
(32:00):
Which which war are we talking about? Oh, we're talking
about the boys having a spot that you know who's
as bigger? Well, they both have big ones, so you
know what. That's what I've got to say about it.
I think that you know when you get when you
have two alpha males, both of which are prone to hyperbole,
(32:24):
one of you know, both of which are smart, both
of which are outspoken, and I think they both love
the limelight, which takes a certain amount of ego for
whether it's in business or in politics, to be successful.
They've both proven that they can do that. So I'm
with the President on his plan and getting as much
(32:47):
as he can right now, and I'm with Elon Musk
on the cuts and trying to get as much as
he can right now. So guys, take it, take it outside,
get outside, take it away from the view of the cameras,
and make up, and let's move on.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Big bear hug go around right. And if you can't,
that's fine.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
You both have important things to do, so go do
the important things.
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