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I still get the same reaction
when I see a B-17.
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But isn't that a beautiful aircraft?
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It's like a piece of sculpture.
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{\an8}And it's lovely in the air
when your wheels are up.
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When you flew in formation...
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sometimes with a thousand aircraft...
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it was a very beautiful
and dramatic sight.
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In the cold, blue skies over Europe,
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a new kind of combat was fought
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in an environment
that had never been experienced before.
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It was a singular event
in the history of warfare.
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Unprecedented and never to be repeated.
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Airmen from 40 American bomber groups
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bled and died in staggering numbers
in air combat.
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One of these groups,
hyperaggressive and undisciplined,
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suffered so many casualties
in such a short period of time
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it became known as the Bloody Hundredth.
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Germany has invaded Poland.
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{\an8}In a big attack, about nine o'clock,
Warsaw itself was bombed.
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{\an8}The German army invaded
Holland and Belgium early this morning
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by land and from parachutes
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{\an8}You ask, what is our policy?
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It is to wage war by sea, land and air.
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To wage war against
a monstrous tyranny never surpassed
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in the dark
and lamentable catalog of human crime.
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If Great Britain goes down,
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{\an8}the Axis powers will control
the continents of Europe and Asia
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{\an8}and Africa, and they will be in a position
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to bring enormous military and naval
resources against this hemisphere.
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{\an8}We have witnessed this morning
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{\an8}severe bombing of Pearl Harbor
by enemy planes.
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It is no joke.
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It is a real war.
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{\an8}I ask that the Congress declare
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{\an8}that since the unprovoked
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{\an8}and dastardly attack by Japan,
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a state of war.
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At this point in the war,
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{\an8}Hitler's Germany
controlled continental Europe.
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{\an8}Great Britain stood alone and vulnerable,
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the last surviving European democracy
at war with the Nazis.
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And the question became
how to hit back at the enemy.
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Britain's bomber command
had been striking Germany incessantly
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but ineffectively since 1940,
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taking huge losses in night raids
that often missed their targets by miles.
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There was a clear
and present danger to global democracy
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because of the Nazis.
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{\an8}So, patriotism was something
that the Greatest Generation,
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{\an8}my father's generation,
took very, very seriously.
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Now, it isn't as if it was
a chore for me to talk to you
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{\an8}because I wanna speak on my
favorite subject, the Army Air Forces.
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{\an8}I can't speak from long experience.
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I've only been in the service a year,
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but I've learned a lot about
what the air forces have to offer.
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That's what I wanna talk to you about.
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The Army Air Forces need 15,000 captains,
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40,000 lieutenants,
35,000 flying sergeants.
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Young men of America,
your future's in the sky.
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Your wings are waiting.
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I was in the middle
of my sophomore year in college
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{\an8}and didn't have a lot on my mind but
chasing girls and drinking whiskey.
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Meantime, Pearl Harbor happens, and then,
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along with my other fraternity brothers,
were recruited as aviation cadets.
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Attention!
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At that time,
there was a great deal of anti-Semitism.
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And Hitler, with his talk of superiority
of the Aryan nation,
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I had a sense of frustration
that I couldn't do anything about it.
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Suddenly, that frustration disappeared.
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I'd felt now that I could do something.
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{\an8}I thought the most effective
way to serve would be as a pilot.
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I went down the next day
and volunteered to be an air force cadet.
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Before enlisting, thousands
of American flyers had never set foot
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in an airplane or fired a shot at
anything more threatening than a squirrel.
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The crews were made up of men
from every part of America
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and nearly every station in life.
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There were Harvard history majors
and West Virginia coal miners.
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Wall Street lawyers
and Oklahoma cowpunchers.
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Hollywood idols and football heroes.
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The cadets have passed their test.
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And now, they'll get their flying lessons.
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Each instructor had four students.
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The other three students
had previous flight training, I had none.
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I had never been inside of an airplane.
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After about ten hours, we'd have solo.
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{\an8}When those wheels leave the ground,
there's no one to help you.
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{\an8}You're on your own.
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{\an8}I became a navigator
because I was a flop as a pilot.
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I got washed out.
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{\an8}I'll never forget the guy that
washed me out was Lieutenant Maytag,
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{\an8}proper name for washing out
a prospective flying student.
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I had a military instructor,
and he was about to wash me out,
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and he said,
"You're gonna kill yourself anyway,
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but I'll tell you what,
I'm gonna go over and sit under that tree.
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{\an8}If you can take this up three times and
around the pattern and land it, you're in.
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If not, you're out."
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We flew from eight o'clock
in the morning to eight o'clock at night.
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I did various maneuvers
of chandelles and lazy S's.
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And on a rare day off, we would dogfight.
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I never enjoyed anything
more than I did at that time.
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Forty of my classmates,
just graduated from flying school,
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along with me,
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were all assigned to fly the B-17.
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We'd never been in a B-17 before.
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The Boeing Flying Fortress,
manned by ten men,
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this new bomber has a speed
of nearly 300 miles an hour.
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The bulges on its fuselage
are turrets for machine guns.
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With 4,000 horsepower engines,
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it can cruise for 3,000 miles
without landing to refuel.
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B-17 was the first both offensive
and defensive aircraft ever designed.
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Offensively, it dropped
very heavy payloads for its day.
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And it was called the Flying Fortress
because it had so many 50-caliber guns.
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The feel of the B-17 was wonderful.
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The plane responded so beautifully
that I immediately related to it.
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I was very happy to be on B-17s.
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We had about
five or six months of practice training
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and getting ready
for an overseas assignment.
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{\an8}In May of 1943 we were sent to England
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{\an8}to become a part
of the Eighth Air Force.
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We were told before we went overseas,
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"You look on your left and your right,
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and only one of you is gonna come back."
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We were going overseas to die.
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Just as the crews of the 100th
began arriving at their new base
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in rural eastern England,
the European war entered a new phase.
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It was the official beginning
of Pointblank,
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an around-the-clock bombing campaign,
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with the Americans bombing by day
and the British by night.
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Its purpose, to achieve air supremacy
over northern Europe
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by the D-Day invasion
the following spring.
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Without air supremacy, the Allies
could not invade the European continent.
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We'd just got there
and getting to know one another,
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00:10:01,977 --> 00:10:06,356
{\an8}and King, the pilot, asked me,
"What had you done before?"
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00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:11,278
{\an8}I said, "Well,
recently I did the work of a cowboy."
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{\an8}And he said, "Well, fine,
you'll be Cowboy from now on."
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The 100th is a young outfit,
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and it had some
pretty reckless young commanders.
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{\an8}A guy named Gale Cleven,
who was a squadron commander
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{\an8}and an air executive named John Egan.
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{\an8}Egan and Cleven didn't have to fly
as squadron leaders, but always did.
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{\an8}And that's one of the reasons
the men admired them.
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Buck Cleven,
along with Bucky Egan, they wore scarves
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and their hats cocked
on one side of their heads,
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and they were pretty cocky.
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{\an8}They'd be at the officers' club,
and they would say,
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{\an8}"Lieutenant, taxi over here,
I wanna talk to you."
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{\an8}John Egan, Gale Cleven,
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{\an8}their life's ambition
was to fly an airplane.
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And here they are, flying an airplane.
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{\an8}Doing something that they love
for a country that they love
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{\an8}on a mission that they believe in.
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Cleven and Egan
would help lead the 100th
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against the most formidable air force
in the world, the German Luftwaffe,
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whose veteran pilots had seen action
over Spain, Norway, Poland,
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France, Russia, Greece,
North Africa and England.
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{\an8}They will understand the enormity
of their miscalculation
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{\an8}that the Nazis would always have
the advantage of superior air power.
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That superiority has gone forever.
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We believe that the Nazis
and the fascists have asked for it,
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and they're going to get it.
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Captain Kirk, Captain Thompson,
Lieutenant Bushka,
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Iverson, Holloway and Hawkers
scheduled to fly.
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Snap it up.
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The commanding officer,
he'd come in, he'd come up the front,
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he'd pull back a curtain,
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00:12:07,603 --> 00:12:12,566
{\an8}and there'd be a red ribbon from
Thorpe Abbotts all the way to the target.
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This group of buildings here
is your target.
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This building will be the aiming point.
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If your bomb pattern
is concentrated in this area,
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it should very effectively
knock out the factory.
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After getting off the jeep
and getting some of the stuff stowed,
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{\an8}then climbed aboard, got settled in,
and fired up.
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Flying in a self-defending formation
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they called a combat box,
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with accumulative firepower
of as many as 13 guns on each plane,
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00:13:04,910 --> 00:13:09,206
they could muscle their way to
the target through waves of enemy planes.
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At the fighter fields,
Thunderbolts are ready.
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They set out to meet the bombers.
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00:13:20,676 --> 00:13:23,971
The two groups make
rendezvous over the English Channel,
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and with the fighters patrolling
the skies around the bomber formation,
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the air armada moves into enemy territory.
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The bombers received
limited protection from the smaller,
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more nimble fighter planes,
like the P-47 Thunderbolt,
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whose limited fuel capacity
forced it to leave the bombers
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once they crossed deep into Germany.
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The crewmen were in an alien world
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to where they physically could not survive
without specialized clothing,
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without specialized equipment,
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00:13:54,293 --> 00:13:57,254
without breathing oxygen
that was being pumped to them.
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As soon as we got to altitude,
we had to go on oxygen,
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00:14:00,674 --> 00:14:03,135
so we had an oxygen mask
clasped on our face.
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And the stark cold.
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The frigid temperatures.
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00:14:07,514 --> 00:14:11,310
We were operating
in 50 or 60 degrees below zero.
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The fighter escort did not have the range
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00:14:21,236 --> 00:14:25,282
to escort the B-17s all the way
to the targets inside of Germany,
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00:14:25,365 --> 00:14:27,534
so the Allied fighters turned around
and went back to England.
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00:14:35,334 --> 00:14:39,129
I remember that when
we first crossed over the English Channel,
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00:14:39,213 --> 00:14:43,383
I remember looking down and realizing
that we were over enemy territory,
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00:14:43,467 --> 00:14:45,427
and I had a lump in my throat.
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00:14:45,511 --> 00:14:46,845
I was nervous.
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00:14:49,681 --> 00:14:51,683
There are the black smudges of the flak
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00:14:51,767 --> 00:14:53,977
that come up from
the antiaircraft guns below.
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00:14:54,770 --> 00:14:56,939
A flak gun is a German 88 gun,
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00:14:57,022 --> 00:15:00,067
and it could fire a shell
up to 40,000 feet.
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00:15:00,150 --> 00:15:05,197
The shell would explode in the air,
and it would throw shards of shrapnel.
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00:15:07,574 --> 00:15:10,661
The skin of the plane is not steel,
it's aluminum.
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00:15:10,744 --> 00:15:13,121
So, that meant
flak just blew holes in the plane.
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00:15:15,249 --> 00:15:20,337
That was my first time to be
exposed to very heavy antiaircraft fire,
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00:15:20,420 --> 00:15:23,298
and it was frightening.
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00:15:28,053 --> 00:15:31,682
We were being confronted
by very experienced
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00:15:31,765 --> 00:15:36,061
and very well equipped
and very well trained opposition.
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00:15:36,144 --> 00:15:39,857
They were pros, and we were rank amateurs.
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00:15:43,902 --> 00:15:46,488
When the formation neared its target,
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00:15:46,572 --> 00:15:50,200
the bombardiers entered variables
such as airspeed and wind drift
217
00:15:50,284 --> 00:15:51,910
into their Norden bombsights,
218
00:15:51,994 --> 00:15:55,455
top-secret aiming devices
designed to guide the planes
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00:15:55,539 --> 00:15:59,001
to the optimal release point
for dropping their payloads.
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00:15:59,585 --> 00:16:02,546
The Norden bombsight,
it's supposed to be so accurate
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00:16:02,629 --> 00:16:07,801
that you can bomb from 20,000 feet
and drop your bombs into a pickle barrel.
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00:16:10,596 --> 00:16:12,055
When we dropped our bombs,
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00:16:12,139 --> 00:16:14,641
{\an8}I could see bombs from the planes
ahead of us dropping
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00:16:14,725 --> 00:16:17,644
{\an8}but also I could lean out
in the plexiglass nose
225
00:16:17,728 --> 00:16:21,231
and see the bombs
falling directly down from us.
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00:16:21,315 --> 00:16:25,569
And then, when they exploded,
we could actually see the explosions.
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00:16:25,652 --> 00:16:27,237
The first bombers have been over,
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00:16:27,321 --> 00:16:30,574
and the target's already partially
obscured by the fires they've started.
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00:16:31,366 --> 00:16:34,912
Hits were scored on a power plant,
submarines under construction,
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00:16:34,995 --> 00:16:36,955
and at least one U-boat in the water.
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00:16:38,957 --> 00:16:40,375
We dropped our bombs,
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00:16:40,459 --> 00:16:43,045
a couple of fighter attacks,
nobody got hurt.
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00:16:43,629 --> 00:16:45,714
{\an8}And I thought, "Well, this isn't so bad."
234
00:16:48,509 --> 00:16:52,221
The early missions for the 100th
were mostly coastal targets,
235
00:16:52,304 --> 00:16:56,558
like submarine pens
and industrial sites in France and Norway.
236
00:16:57,518 --> 00:16:59,770
The air force was trying to destroy
237
00:16:59,853 --> 00:17:02,147
the war machine of Nazi Germany.
238
00:17:02,231 --> 00:17:05,442
The factories that made planes,
that made tanks.
239
00:17:05,526 --> 00:17:07,194
The factories that produced ball bearings.
240
00:17:07,778 --> 00:17:09,488
At the British landing fields,
241
00:17:09,570 --> 00:17:11,114
word on the sky battle was out.
242
00:17:12,199 --> 00:17:14,826
Many of the fortresses themselves
were crippled.
243
00:17:14,910 --> 00:17:19,164
A few came in with feathered props
or with knocked-out landing gear.
244
00:17:20,249 --> 00:17:23,210
The B-17 had the reputation
of being trustworthy and safe
245
00:17:23,292 --> 00:17:24,502
and getting people back.
246
00:17:24,586 --> 00:17:26,630
You could lose three engines and get home.
247
00:17:26,713 --> 00:17:30,050
You could lose half
of your vertical stabilizer on the tail
248
00:17:30,133 --> 00:17:31,176
and get home.
249
00:17:31,260 --> 00:17:34,054
It would bring you home on two engines,
250
00:17:34,137 --> 00:17:36,557
{\an8}and I've seen 'em come in with only one.
251
00:17:42,729 --> 00:17:44,940
Everything was
about to change for the Eighth
252
00:17:45,023 --> 00:17:47,568
with the largest raid
they would undertake up to now.
253
00:17:47,651 --> 00:17:51,363
A double strike against
ball bearing plants in Schweinfurt
254
00:17:51,446 --> 00:17:54,241
and Messerschmitt factories in Regensburg,
255
00:17:54,324 --> 00:17:58,203
massively defended targets
deep inside Germany.
256
00:17:58,287 --> 00:18:01,498
The 100th was assigned
to the Regensburg Force.
257
00:18:02,165 --> 00:18:04,960
When they pulled the curtain
away from the map,
258
00:18:05,043 --> 00:18:07,963
and you saw that red line
going all across Germany,
259
00:18:08,046 --> 00:18:10,048
{\an8}you know, we thought, "Holy cow."
260
00:18:10,716 --> 00:18:13,427
The plan as designed
is really brilliant when you look at it.
261
00:18:13,510 --> 00:18:14,344
So, you've got
262
00:18:14,428 --> 00:18:19,057
{\an8}Curtis LeMay's Third
Bombardment Division is going to fly
263
00:18:19,141 --> 00:18:23,270
and attack the Messerschmitt factories
at Regensburg and then head for Africa.
264
00:18:23,353 --> 00:18:27,232
And ten minutes behind them is gonna be
the First Bombardment Division,
265
00:18:27,316 --> 00:18:30,068
{\an8}and they're gonna attack
the ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt
266
00:18:30,152 --> 00:18:31,653
{\an8}and then go back to England.
267
00:18:31,737 --> 00:18:35,032
{\an8}So, the Germans are gonna have to
decide which of these groups to hit.
268
00:18:35,115 --> 00:18:39,703
{\an8}The problem is-- surprise, it's August,
and there's fog in Great Britain.
269
00:18:41,205 --> 00:18:42,623
We went out that morning.
270
00:18:42,706 --> 00:18:47,169
{\an8}I had took lanterns and flashlights
and lead the airplanes out.
271
00:18:48,086 --> 00:18:51,423
I got assembled about ten minutes late,
but we got off.
272
00:18:51,507 --> 00:18:54,426
Curtis LeMay has trained
his bombardment division
273
00:18:54,510 --> 00:18:56,512
to take off in English fog.
274
00:18:56,595 --> 00:18:59,014
The other bombardment division hadn't.
275
00:18:59,097 --> 00:19:02,643
So, all of a sudden, LeMay gets
his guys up and gets them all formed,
276
00:19:02,726 --> 00:19:05,020
and the other bombardment division
hasn't even taken off yet.
277
00:19:05,771 --> 00:19:08,774
So, it ends up, instead of
a ten-minute gap, a two-hour gap.
278
00:19:11,235 --> 00:19:14,112
This captured German film
shows how quickly their 109s
279
00:19:14,196 --> 00:19:17,157
and Focke-Wulf 190s
got into action after a warning.
280
00:19:17,658 --> 00:19:21,036
They had plenty of time to amass
their fighters at a chosen point of attack
281
00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:24,790
and to outnumber our escort
at anything from 2-to-1 to 10-to-1.
282
00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:30,963
Flew across the channel.
It was a beautiful day out there.
283
00:19:31,755 --> 00:19:32,840
They hit the Dutch coast,
284
00:19:32,923 --> 00:19:35,133
and all of a sudden
the whole world exploded.
285
00:19:36,176 --> 00:19:38,136
Kept up for the next two hours.
286
00:19:41,014 --> 00:19:44,184
The training we'd had previously
gave us the idea
287
00:19:44,268 --> 00:19:46,728
that we could outrun German fighters.
288
00:19:46,812 --> 00:19:50,107
Of course,
we learned that that was not true.
289
00:19:50,983 --> 00:19:55,153
{\an8}There was flak, there were
fighters, more flak, more fighters.
290
00:19:55,237 --> 00:19:59,867
{\an8}And I could hear the top turret
chattering away with machine-gun fire.
291
00:20:00,534 --> 00:20:04,246
Cleven's plane took six hits.
292
00:20:04,329 --> 00:20:07,249
They knocked out the hydraulic system.
They knocked out one of the engines.
293
00:20:07,833 --> 00:20:09,501
The cockpit is on fire.
294
00:20:09,585 --> 00:20:13,589
Cleven turns around,
and he looks at the radio gunner,
295
00:20:13,672 --> 00:20:15,883
and the radio gunner
doesn't have any legs.
296
00:20:15,966 --> 00:20:17,050
They'd been sheared off.
297
00:20:19,887 --> 00:20:22,014
And I still remember one plane,
298
00:20:22,097 --> 00:20:24,808
fire was coming out
of every opening in that hull.
299
00:20:26,810 --> 00:20:29,521
I dreamed about that one for a long time.
300
00:20:30,564 --> 00:20:32,399
Every single member of that flight crew
301
00:20:32,482 --> 00:20:35,611
was fighting so democracy
and freedom could reign.
302
00:20:35,694 --> 00:20:39,198
But when you're in combat,
you know who you're fighting for?
303
00:20:39,281 --> 00:20:41,992
The guy to your left
and the guy to your right.
304
00:20:42,075 --> 00:20:44,328
The guy just ahead of you
and the guy just behind you.
305
00:20:44,411 --> 00:20:45,746
That's the pod you're fighting for.
306
00:20:48,707 --> 00:20:53,545
Cleven is sitting in the cockpit,
and his copilot said, in so many words,
307
00:20:53,629 --> 00:20:55,672
"We gotta get out of here.
Let's hit the bail out bell."
308
00:20:55,756 --> 00:20:57,841
Cleven said,
"We gotta get to the target.
309
00:20:57,925 --> 00:21:00,093
We're gonna complete the bomb run."
310
00:21:00,177 --> 00:21:05,432
Five minutes before we got to
the target, everything stopped.
311
00:21:05,516 --> 00:21:07,392
No fighters, no flak, no nothing.
312
00:21:08,227 --> 00:21:10,812
We succeeded in dropping our bombs.
313
00:21:13,982 --> 00:21:16,068
Perilously low on fuel,
314
00:21:16,151 --> 00:21:21,240
the Regensburg group fought its way
over the Alps down to North Africa,
315
00:21:21,323 --> 00:21:25,953
while the Schweinfurt group flew straight
into the full brunt of the Luftwaffe.
316
00:21:26,828 --> 00:21:30,207
So that means for the Germans,
they get up and ravage LeMay's guys,
317
00:21:30,290 --> 00:21:33,544
then they get to land and have
a schnapps and rearm and refuel too.
318
00:21:33,627 --> 00:21:35,420
And then they get to hit
the Schweinfurt guys.
319
00:21:39,174 --> 00:21:44,513
The whole Luftwaffe jumped on the
Schweinfurt group and just shattered them.
320
00:21:51,812 --> 00:21:53,939
Having made it to North Africa
by day's end,
321
00:21:54,523 --> 00:21:58,652
the crews of the 100th Bomb Group were
battle-worn and weary,
322
00:21:59,194 --> 00:22:01,530
but feeling lucky to be alive.
323
00:22:02,906 --> 00:22:05,784
Any commander
that had to commit forces to combat
324
00:22:05,868 --> 00:22:07,744
when they were outnumbered
325
00:22:07,828 --> 00:22:10,038
and with equipment which was not suitable
326
00:22:10,122 --> 00:22:15,794
{\an8}and with a minimum of training,
faced very tough decisions.
327
00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:19,131
It's like sentencing men to death.
328
00:22:23,594 --> 00:22:28,932
{\an8}I had landed in England
in the summer of 1943,
329
00:22:30,184 --> 00:22:33,520
{\an8}and I was sent to the 100th Bomb Group.
330
00:22:33,604 --> 00:22:36,481
Rosie Rosenthal arrived at the group
331
00:22:36,565 --> 00:22:40,736
as a replacement crew
for crews that were lost.
332
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:45,324
Egan had gotten word that
this kid, Rosie, was a pretty good flyer.
333
00:22:45,407 --> 00:22:48,952
And so, Egan took him out
and ran him through the struts
334
00:22:49,036 --> 00:22:51,038
and said, "I want you in my squadron."
335
00:22:54,875 --> 00:22:56,668
I happened to be in the bar.
336
00:22:56,752 --> 00:23:03,258
And I was having my usual Scotch
and felt this tap on my shoulder
337
00:23:03,759 --> 00:23:06,887
and turned around,
and here was the squadron commander.
338
00:23:07,471 --> 00:23:10,390
He said, "Lucky, you better go home
and get some sleep.
339
00:23:11,058 --> 00:23:12,392
You're flying tomorrow."
340
00:23:16,522 --> 00:23:20,234
When the weather over Germany
cleared on October 8th,
341
00:23:20,317 --> 00:23:24,238
the Americans launched a succession
of maximum-effort missions
342
00:23:24,321 --> 00:23:27,366
to take out aircraft manufacturing plants.
343
00:23:28,158 --> 00:23:31,870
The airmen would
eventually call it Black Week.
344
00:23:32,579 --> 00:23:36,375
On October 8th,
855 planes left Great Britain
345
00:23:36,458 --> 00:23:38,877
for a raid on Bremen and Vegesack.
346
00:23:38,961 --> 00:23:41,713
They were loaded with
two and a half million pounds of bombs.
347
00:23:41,797 --> 00:23:44,591
Two and three-quarter million
rounds of ammunition.
348
00:23:46,510 --> 00:23:50,013
As we came off the target,
out of the corner of my eye,
349
00:23:50,097 --> 00:23:56,353
I saw this flight of two Fw 190s
aiming directly for us.
350
00:23:56,436 --> 00:23:59,815
He shot down the ship
directly in front of me,
351
00:23:59,898 --> 00:24:03,735
and it blew them out of the formation,
and they exploded.
352
00:24:05,070 --> 00:24:06,738
The group was decimated.
353
00:24:06,822 --> 00:24:10,617
We were shot clear out of the formation.
Our number three engine was on fire.
354
00:24:11,869 --> 00:24:13,370
Cleven tried to move up
355
00:24:13,453 --> 00:24:16,498
and take over the group
when he was shot down.
356
00:24:17,833 --> 00:24:18,959
Cleven, he got hit.
357
00:24:19,668 --> 00:24:21,670
There's a lot of chaos in the plane.
358
00:24:21,753 --> 00:24:23,589
The cockpit caught fire. They gotta bail.
359
00:24:27,384 --> 00:24:28,927
Gale Cleven is shot down.
360
00:24:29,011 --> 00:24:33,098
This is a huge hole
left in the 100th Bomb Group at this time.
361
00:24:33,182 --> 00:24:36,476
And for all intents and purposes,
everybody thinks he's dead.
362
00:24:37,811 --> 00:24:43,317
That was the first time that I doubted
that I really was gonna get back.
363
00:24:44,318 --> 00:24:49,114
{\an8}My plane, Rosie's Riveters,
was badly damaged,
364
00:24:49,198 --> 00:24:51,325
and a couple of engines were out.
365
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:54,912
After we dropped our bombs,
366
00:24:54,995 --> 00:24:58,665
I brought what was left
of the formation home,
367
00:24:58,749 --> 00:25:01,084
which was only six airplanes.
368
00:25:04,379 --> 00:25:08,425
I mean, imagine the morale,
to lose all those crews in one day.
369
00:25:09,009 --> 00:25:11,303
What they would try to do
is clean out the barracks.
370
00:25:11,386 --> 00:25:13,388
As soon as a plane went down,
they'd clean it out.
371
00:25:13,472 --> 00:25:15,933
So, you'd walk into an empty barracks.
372
00:25:17,267 --> 00:25:20,771
Egan was in London on leave,
373
00:25:20,854 --> 00:25:23,565
and he got word
that Cleven had been shot down.
374
00:25:24,816 --> 00:25:28,695
Egan was so incensed that
he immediately canceled his leave
375
00:25:28,779 --> 00:25:33,450
and returned to the base,
and said, "I'm leading the next mission."
376
00:25:34,201 --> 00:25:37,162
The Münster raid
was a city-busting operation,
377
00:25:37,246 --> 00:25:39,289
a new thing for the Eighth Air Force.
378
00:25:39,373 --> 00:25:43,710
The target was a strategically essential
rail yard in the city center
379
00:25:43,794 --> 00:25:47,589
and also a neighborhood
of workers' housing that abutted it.
380
00:25:48,215 --> 00:25:53,345
In the fight against Nazi tyranny,
human flesh and bone became a target,
381
00:25:53,428 --> 00:25:56,557
an essential part
of the Reich's war machine.
382
00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:58,559
There was tension in the room.
383
00:25:58,642 --> 00:26:01,645
A lot of the airmen,
for the first time ever,
384
00:26:01,728 --> 00:26:03,105
questioned the mission.
385
00:26:03,689 --> 00:26:05,607
Egan makes a speech.
386
00:26:05,691 --> 00:26:10,279
They were gonna fly this one for Cleven,
and this is a revenge raid.
387
00:26:14,783 --> 00:26:19,913
{\an8}Because we had high losses,
our group was pretty well banged up,
388
00:26:20,414 --> 00:26:24,376
{\an8}and we could only
put 13 planes in the air.
389
00:26:26,003 --> 00:26:28,672
{\an8}When it came to German fighter attacks,
390
00:26:28,755 --> 00:26:34,136
if your formations were loose,
if you had 13 aircraft as opposed to 18,
391
00:26:34,219 --> 00:26:36,513
the Germans are gonna
attack the lesser target.
392
00:26:36,597 --> 00:26:40,767
We were immediately attacked
by over 200 German fighter aircraft.
393
00:26:41,351 --> 00:26:46,523
Two Me 109s came in behind us
and killed our tail gunner.
394
00:26:46,607 --> 00:26:50,360
I was sprayed with shrapnel flak
from an exploding cannon shell
395
00:26:50,444 --> 00:26:51,904
and knocked to the floor.
396
00:26:51,987 --> 00:26:54,781
It was clear
that the airplane was out of control,
397
00:26:54,865 --> 00:26:57,034
and we were going to go down.
398
00:26:57,576 --> 00:27:00,746
I remember we were about 21-- 22,000 feet.
399
00:27:00,829 --> 00:27:04,833
The ground looked a million miles away,
but I had no choice.
400
00:27:04,917 --> 00:27:07,252
I had to go out, and so I did.
401
00:27:15,719 --> 00:27:20,140
We went down the flight line,
and we kept waiting around.
402
00:27:24,478 --> 00:27:26,855
Finally, one of ours came in.
403
00:27:28,023 --> 00:27:30,567
Only one airplane
of the 100th had returned.
404
00:27:31,068 --> 00:27:33,904
Rosenthal was the man
that was flying that airplane.
405
00:27:33,987 --> 00:27:38,700
So, he had seen his share of rough times.
406
00:27:40,994 --> 00:27:43,872
We returned to the officers' club.
407
00:27:43,956 --> 00:27:46,792
There was an eerie silence there.
408
00:27:46,875 --> 00:27:49,920
There were a few people
who hadn't flown the mission,
409
00:27:50,546 --> 00:27:53,173
and nobody seemed to approach us.
410
00:27:53,257 --> 00:27:55,092
We were sort of left by ourselves.
411
00:27:55,175 --> 00:27:57,594
It was a very strange feeling.
412
00:27:59,179 --> 00:28:04,268
We certainly felt the loss
of the people that had been shot down.
413
00:28:04,351 --> 00:28:10,899
I especially lost my very best friend
on the Münster mission.
414
00:28:14,486 --> 00:28:17,948
When Bucky Egan and Cleven
were shot down,
415
00:28:18,031 --> 00:28:20,993
it was really a tremendous morale factor
416
00:28:21,076 --> 00:28:24,788
because everybody just assumed
they were invincible.
417
00:28:26,582 --> 00:28:30,544
The Münster mission was
the greatest air battle up to that time.
418
00:28:30,627 --> 00:28:33,338
Not just a raid, but a titanic struggle
419
00:28:33,422 --> 00:28:37,009
between two large
and murderous air armies.
420
00:28:37,092 --> 00:28:40,888
The 100th had arrived in England
four months before Münster
421
00:28:40,971 --> 00:28:43,807
with 140 flying officers.
422
00:28:43,891 --> 00:28:48,854
After Münster, only three of them
were still able to fly and fight.
423
00:28:49,354 --> 00:28:52,065
{\an8}This kind of record got around,
424
00:28:52,149 --> 00:28:54,359
{\an8}and people became worried about us.
425
00:28:54,443 --> 00:28:56,361
{\an8}They called us the Bloody Hundredth.
426
00:28:58,697 --> 00:29:00,407
When you're an airman, and you go out,
427
00:29:00,490 --> 00:29:02,534
you have four hours of pure terror.
428
00:29:02,618 --> 00:29:04,953
All of a sudden, you get on your bicycle,
go to the local pub,
429
00:29:05,037 --> 00:29:07,956
drink a beer, go out with a local girl,
go back to base,
430
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:09,291
sit nice and peaceful.
431
00:29:09,374 --> 00:29:12,461
Then, the next day, you're up,
and you're back into the terror again.
432
00:29:15,047 --> 00:29:22,012
This had the ultimate result,
in some cases, of causing people to crack.
433
00:29:25,599 --> 00:29:27,100
After Black Week,
434
00:29:27,184 --> 00:29:30,270
morale in the Eighth
plummeted to a new low,
435
00:29:30,354 --> 00:29:32,856
and commanders worried about crew revolts.
436
00:29:33,398 --> 00:29:35,901
There were distressing reports
from flight surgeons
437
00:29:35,984 --> 00:29:40,906
and air force psychiatrists
of abnormal behavior among crewmen
438
00:29:40,989 --> 00:29:46,578
as combat insidiously shook the moorings
of airmen's self-control.
439
00:29:46,662 --> 00:29:48,664
I have seen instances
440
00:29:48,747 --> 00:29:53,961
where they weren't in control enough
to just walk out of the airplane.
441
00:29:54,962 --> 00:29:57,673
Those were individuals
that were on the verge
442
00:29:57,756 --> 00:30:01,051
of what we called
victims of combat fatigue.
443
00:30:03,345 --> 00:30:06,098
We have learned that
many of these men with neurotic reactions
444
00:30:06,181 --> 00:30:07,349
can recover quickly
445
00:30:07,432 --> 00:30:10,269
when the battle situation
has been left behind temporarily.
446
00:30:10,769 --> 00:30:13,397
Fundamentally, we must depend
for this recovery
447
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:16,108
on the patient's own recuperative powers.
448
00:30:16,191 --> 00:30:19,945
But these powers can best be
exercised away from a hospital atmosphere.
449
00:30:22,155 --> 00:30:26,660
We would try to get them
out of the wartime environment
450
00:30:26,743 --> 00:30:30,497
for a few days and sent to the rest home.
451
00:30:30,581 --> 00:30:32,457
We called it the Flak House.
452
00:30:33,500 --> 00:30:37,588
Oftentimes, it was effective.
Sometimes it was not.
453
00:30:39,089 --> 00:30:41,967
This was a problem that all commanders
had to deal with
454
00:30:42,050 --> 00:30:46,430
because there are some people
whose chemical and mental makeup
455
00:30:46,513 --> 00:30:49,141
is such that
they just can't stand this sort of thing.
456
00:30:49,808 --> 00:30:53,312
We had to immediately remove those people
457
00:30:53,395 --> 00:30:56,440
from the crew and from the base
458
00:30:56,523 --> 00:31:00,611
because that sort of attitude
was contagious,
459
00:31:00,694 --> 00:31:04,448
and we couldn't afford to have it affect
the morale of the rest of the people
460
00:31:04,531 --> 00:31:08,660
that were going out every day
and continuing to perform their duties.
461
00:31:10,954 --> 00:31:13,832
You can argue not only
has the Allied air forces
462
00:31:13,916 --> 00:31:17,002
don't have any sense of air superiority
over Germany and Europe,
463
00:31:17,085 --> 00:31:18,962
you could argue
they're losing the air war.
464
00:31:20,422 --> 00:31:23,800
You know, we did not drop into
a pickle barrel all the time.
465
00:31:23,884 --> 00:31:27,095
{\an8}We would scatter bombs
even on good, clear days,
466
00:31:27,179 --> 00:31:29,640
{\an8}several miles from the intended target.
467
00:31:30,724 --> 00:31:32,351
They couldn't hit their targets,
468
00:31:32,434 --> 00:31:35,938
and they were much more,
themselves, a target
469
00:31:36,021 --> 00:31:39,650
{\an8}for German fighter defense.
So the force was being slaughtered.
470
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:43,779
Every few cubic feet
of this pile contains a plane,
471
00:31:43,862 --> 00:31:46,198
22,000 hours of American labor.
472
00:31:47,157 --> 00:31:50,869
Every yard of it means
ten American boys dead or captured.
473
00:31:56,208 --> 00:31:59,795
Probably the most dreadful thing
that one could expect was to be shot down.
474
00:32:00,420 --> 00:32:02,214
We always knew it was possible.
475
00:32:02,297 --> 00:32:05,175
Being young
and thinking that we were immortal,
476
00:32:05,259 --> 00:32:07,678
we always figured that
they might get everybody else,
477
00:32:07,761 --> 00:32:09,012
but they wouldn't get us.
478
00:32:09,930 --> 00:32:12,683
I knew how much
my mother worried about me,
479
00:32:12,766 --> 00:32:14,601
and I knew that she would be getting
480
00:32:14,685 --> 00:32:18,605
a missing-in-action telegram
from the War Department,
481
00:32:18,689 --> 00:32:21,149
and she would not know
what happened to me.
482
00:32:23,527 --> 00:32:26,822
Airmen were given parachutes
but not trained how to use them,
483
00:32:26,905 --> 00:32:31,034
and they were given only scant training
in escape and evasion tactics.
484
00:32:31,118 --> 00:32:35,247
Nor were they properly warned
when civilians in bombed-out towns
485
00:32:35,330 --> 00:32:38,667
began to attack downed airmen
in increasing numbers.
486
00:32:40,794 --> 00:32:43,172
Cleven, he goes down,
487
00:32:43,255 --> 00:32:46,717
and he can see
that farmers are gathering all around.
488
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:47,843
The next thing he remembers,
489
00:32:47,926 --> 00:32:51,471
a farmer has a pitchfork
a ninth of an inch in his chest
490
00:32:51,555 --> 00:32:52,639
and wants to press down on it.
491
00:32:53,307 --> 00:32:56,226
Some local Luftwaffe police show up.
492
00:32:58,312 --> 00:33:01,690
I was taken to a German Air Force airfield
493
00:33:01,773 --> 00:33:03,066
that was a collection point
494
00:33:03,150 --> 00:33:06,236
for all of the American flyers
who had been captured that day.
495
00:33:11,700 --> 00:33:13,577
I got interviewed by this guy,
496
00:33:13,660 --> 00:33:17,289
and he congratulated me on my promotion.
497
00:33:18,207 --> 00:33:22,377
I had just gotten first lieutenant
about three days before.
498
00:33:22,461 --> 00:33:24,963
That sort of took me by surprise.
499
00:33:25,047 --> 00:33:27,716
And he hands me a 3-by-5 card,
500
00:33:27,799 --> 00:33:33,013
and there's my name and birth date,
my parents' name, and my address.
501
00:33:34,765 --> 00:33:37,643
The Germans had spies
in the United States
502
00:33:37,726 --> 00:33:40,145
send them their hometown newspaper.
503
00:33:40,229 --> 00:33:41,313
So, they relax you
504
00:33:41,396 --> 00:33:43,941
to get this sense that
you're having a conversation,
505
00:33:44,024 --> 00:33:46,109
and they know everything about you.
506
00:33:46,193 --> 00:33:48,237
This cagey interrogation technique
507
00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:51,907
was sometimes effective
in persuading unsuspecting airmen
508
00:33:51,990 --> 00:33:55,452
to give up information
they considered inconsequential,
509
00:33:55,536 --> 00:33:58,372
but which master interrogators prized.
510
00:33:59,289 --> 00:34:02,626
The next morning, they put us in a boxcar.
511
00:34:02,709 --> 00:34:05,796
There were 30 or 40 of us in the boxcar.
512
00:34:07,089 --> 00:34:09,049
None of us knew what was gonna happen.
513
00:34:15,556 --> 00:34:17,558
I can remember walking through the gate,
514
00:34:17,641 --> 00:34:19,935
and there were big, wooden stakes there,
515
00:34:20,018 --> 00:34:22,688
and there was barbed wire
all over the place,
516
00:34:22,771 --> 00:34:25,732
and there were guard towers
at all the corners.
517
00:34:25,815 --> 00:34:30,152
And there was about a 10- or 12-foot space
between the big fence,
518
00:34:30,237 --> 00:34:32,322
and then there was a smaller fence.
519
00:34:32,406 --> 00:34:35,324
We were told not to
go over the small fence, or we'd be shot.
520
00:34:36,577 --> 00:34:38,911
The American POWs who were there,
521
00:34:38,996 --> 00:34:41,456
many of whom
were members of the 100th Bomb Group
522
00:34:41,540 --> 00:34:44,501
who had been shot down
before I was shot down.
523
00:34:44,585 --> 00:34:46,378
The minute they saw us come in,
well, they--
524
00:34:46,460 --> 00:34:49,089
Some of them laughed and said,
"Well, we've been expecting you.
525
00:34:49,172 --> 00:34:50,174
You're finally here."
526
00:34:51,592 --> 00:34:56,096
{\an8}Cleven and Egan arrived at
Stalag Luft III within days of each other.
527
00:34:56,179 --> 00:34:59,683
Cleven was immediately wisecracking
with the injured Egan,
528
00:34:59,766 --> 00:35:02,269
and soon, the two were roommates again
529
00:35:02,352 --> 00:35:05,564
and quickly assumed leadership roles
inside the camp.
530
00:35:05,647 --> 00:35:08,275
We lived together, cooked together,
531
00:35:08,358 --> 00:35:11,236
washed our clothes together,
showered together.
532
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,781
Showers were once a week,
maybe, if you were lucky.
533
00:35:15,782 --> 00:35:18,243
Life inside the Stalag Luft camps
534
00:35:18,327 --> 00:35:19,953
was very, very regimented.
535
00:35:20,037 --> 00:35:23,248
Everything was done in a military way
to keep their minds busy,
536
00:35:23,332 --> 00:35:26,335
to keep discipline,
and basically to keep everybody alive.
537
00:35:31,882 --> 00:35:34,092
At a secret meeting
at the Tehran Conference
538
00:35:34,176 --> 00:35:36,094
in late November 1943,
539
00:35:36,178 --> 00:35:41,767
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agreed to
a second front against Nazi Germany
540
00:35:41,850 --> 00:35:45,521
to be planned and executed principally by
the Americans and the British.
541
00:35:47,022 --> 00:35:49,483
There was to be
a massive amphibious assault,
542
00:35:49,566 --> 00:35:50,984
the greatest in history,
543
00:35:51,068 --> 00:35:55,656
across five beaches in Normandy, France,
code-named "Overlord."
544
00:35:55,739 --> 00:36:00,911
It was scheduled for May 1944,
just six months away.
545
00:36:01,787 --> 00:36:04,331
General Eisenhower
has been brought to London.
546
00:36:05,666 --> 00:36:09,837
He said that we can't launch the fleet
until you knock out the Luftwaffe.
547
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,381
That is our mission now.
548
00:36:12,464 --> 00:36:17,803
We were aware
that no land invasion can occur
549
00:36:17,886 --> 00:36:20,722
unless air superiority has been achieved.
550
00:36:22,266 --> 00:36:25,102
The ultimate goal
was to shoot down so many fighters
551
00:36:25,185 --> 00:36:27,646
that the Germans could no longer
put up a fighter defense.
552
00:36:30,858 --> 00:36:36,738
{\an8}We had been having
very high losses due to fighter action.
553
00:36:37,406 --> 00:36:42,661
{\an8}And so, a rush program at home
began to get us more and more fighters.
554
00:36:43,370 --> 00:36:46,331
Late 1943,
a fighter aircraft arrived in England,
555
00:36:46,415 --> 00:36:49,334
and it was the fighter plane that
the Eighth Air Force had been waiting for.
556
00:36:49,418 --> 00:36:51,170
It was the P-51 Mustang.
557
00:36:52,171 --> 00:36:54,423
{\an8}The Mustang. The P-51.
558
00:36:54,506 --> 00:36:56,884
The longest-range fighter in the world.
559
00:36:56,967 --> 00:37:01,305
Speed, fast climb, quick dive, tight turn.
560
00:37:01,847 --> 00:37:03,891
When P-51s came over,
561
00:37:03,974 --> 00:37:08,645
they had the range to accompany us
to the target and back.
562
00:37:08,729 --> 00:37:11,857
And they also fixed up the 47s
563
00:37:11,940 --> 00:37:15,485
and put wing tanks on them
so that they could accompany us.
564
00:37:17,613 --> 00:37:21,491
When we went to Emden,
and I saw all those gorgeous P-51s,
565
00:37:21,575 --> 00:37:23,869
I thought, maybe for the first time,
"I'm gonna get through."
566
00:37:25,746 --> 00:37:26,872
The primary mission
567
00:37:26,955 --> 00:37:28,790
is not to protect the bombers
and get 'em home safely.
568
00:37:28,874 --> 00:37:33,086
It'll be to go after the Luftwaffe
in the air and on the ground.
569
00:37:37,508 --> 00:37:40,135
Sunday morning 20 February,
570
00:37:40,677 --> 00:37:42,930
we prepared for the heaviest assault
571
00:37:43,013 --> 00:37:46,808
in the history of the American
Strategic Air Forces up to that time.
572
00:37:47,976 --> 00:37:50,729
This was the prelude to invasion.
573
00:37:52,022 --> 00:37:57,027
They planned a succession of
continuous raids one day after the other.
574
00:37:57,110 --> 00:37:58,987
This is gonna decide the whole war.
575
00:38:05,744 --> 00:38:07,788
Day after day, month after month,
576
00:38:08,288 --> 00:38:13,460
Mustang, Thunderbolt against
the Me 109s and the Fw 190s.
577
00:38:13,544 --> 00:38:16,630
Our fighters attack, attack, attack.
578
00:38:17,339 --> 00:38:20,592
Our victory column soared
at the rate of 4-to-1.
579
00:38:21,885 --> 00:38:25,222
The casualty rate for
German pilots on the western front
580
00:38:25,305 --> 00:38:29,726
between January and May 1944 was 99%.
581
00:38:29,810 --> 00:38:31,812
I mean, they just get butchered.
582
00:38:33,981 --> 00:38:36,650
It wasn't until
the Mustang really got involved in the war
583
00:38:36,733 --> 00:38:39,903
that America and England
gained air superiority over Germany.
584
00:38:41,238 --> 00:38:42,865
If you want to go
to the heart of the enemy
585
00:38:42,948 --> 00:38:47,202
{\an8}and be sure the Luftwaffe will be
pulled into the sky, you go to Berlin.
586
00:38:48,245 --> 00:38:50,789
{\an8}When they had the briefing,
and they pulled the curtain back,
587
00:38:50,873 --> 00:38:53,458
{\an8}and the tape went all the way to Berlin,
588
00:38:54,168 --> 00:38:57,754
first it was just stunned silence
and then just a shout.
589
00:39:01,425 --> 00:39:03,427
You can't hear what's going on down there
590
00:39:03,510 --> 00:39:05,095
five miles below you,
591
00:39:05,637 --> 00:39:09,683
but marshaling yards
and chemical tanks, ships and warehouses,
592
00:39:09,766 --> 00:39:14,313
spare engines, and ball bearing factories
are disintegrating in molten chaos.
593
00:39:15,522 --> 00:39:20,110
This would be the American's
first foray into bombing Berlin.
594
00:39:20,194 --> 00:39:23,197
It would be the toughest target
the Eighth ever attacked,
595
00:39:23,780 --> 00:39:25,115
but it had to be done.
596
00:39:27,242 --> 00:39:29,453
I can say that if I had been in Germany
597
00:39:29,536 --> 00:39:35,083
and witnessed, everyday, hordes of bombers
coming over and dropping bombs,
598
00:39:35,167 --> 00:39:37,753
it would have had
a very adverse effect on my morale.
599
00:39:37,836 --> 00:39:41,798
It must have had an adverse effect morale
on the civilians and military alike.
600
00:39:47,763 --> 00:39:50,974
One of the worst things
about being a prisoner of war
601
00:39:51,475 --> 00:39:54,728
is that you don't know how long
you're gonna be held captive.
602
00:39:54,811 --> 00:39:57,731
It's not as if you've been given
a fixed sentence.
603
00:39:57,814 --> 00:40:01,401
You're going to be there
until you either escape or it's all over.
604
00:40:02,194 --> 00:40:03,904
I did start a tunnel.
605
00:40:04,404 --> 00:40:07,449
They had an old toilet
that had a tile floor
606
00:40:07,533 --> 00:40:10,327
and I figured, well,
let's see if we can do something here.
607
00:40:10,410 --> 00:40:14,665
And my object was
to have these removable tiles
608
00:40:14,748 --> 00:40:16,166
and we could start digging.
609
00:40:16,250 --> 00:40:18,627
The guards caught that almost immediately.
610
00:40:20,170 --> 00:40:25,133
{\an8}Some 76 British prisoners
tunneled out of the compound
611
00:40:25,217 --> 00:40:28,846
immediately adjacent to us
through a tunnel that they dug.
612
00:40:28,929 --> 00:40:31,139
It was known as the Great Escape.
613
00:40:31,223 --> 00:40:37,312
All but two were recaptured,
and 50 were executed by the Germans.
614
00:40:38,397 --> 00:40:41,358
What little decent relations
we had with the Germans
615
00:40:41,441 --> 00:40:43,318
evaporated completely after that.
616
00:40:46,655 --> 00:40:49,950
One day I received
a telephone call and they said,
617
00:40:50,033 --> 00:40:52,202
"General LeMay would like
to speak to you."
618
00:40:52,286 --> 00:40:55,289
He said,
"Jeffrey, I need a group commander
619
00:40:55,372 --> 00:40:58,208
at the 95th Bomb Group
and the 100th Bomb Group.
620
00:40:58,292 --> 00:40:59,960
You can take your choice."
621
00:41:00,627 --> 00:41:03,172
The 95th could essentially do no wrong.
622
00:41:03,255 --> 00:41:05,174
They lost the minimum number of airplanes.
623
00:41:05,257 --> 00:41:09,469
Their bombing record was good,
and I figured that I could do more
624
00:41:09,553 --> 00:41:11,430
for the 100th than I could for the 95th.
625
00:41:11,513 --> 00:41:15,142
So, I called him back
and I told him with his permission,
626
00:41:15,225 --> 00:41:17,269
I would accept the 100th Bomb Group.
627
00:41:17,352 --> 00:41:19,396
And I asked him,
"When do you want me to report?"
628
00:41:19,479 --> 00:41:20,689
And he said, "This afternoon."
629
00:41:25,194 --> 00:41:30,324
My first action was to ask General LeMay
if he would take the 100th
630
00:41:30,407 --> 00:41:33,869
off of operations
for two days and he granted that.
631
00:41:33,952 --> 00:41:35,621
And so, over the next two days,
632
00:41:35,704 --> 00:41:37,706
four hours in the morning
and four hours in the afternoon,
633
00:41:37,789 --> 00:41:42,085
we flew every airplane
in the 100th Bomb Group in formation.
634
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:49,301
Tom Jeffrey, he was dynamic,
charismatic and knowledgeable,
635
00:41:49,384 --> 00:41:53,138
not only about the aircraft,
but about combat flying.
636
00:41:54,681 --> 00:41:56,725
I had people in the lead airplane
637
00:41:56,808 --> 00:41:58,060
photographing the formation
638
00:41:58,143 --> 00:42:01,522
so that we could identify
who was flying good and who wasn't.
639
00:42:01,605 --> 00:42:05,359
And then I took an old airplane
and circled around the formation,
640
00:42:05,442 --> 00:42:08,403
back and forth,
and tried to herd 'em into position.
641
00:42:08,487 --> 00:42:10,989
{\an8}The commanding officers
were just blue in the face
642
00:42:11,073 --> 00:42:13,992
{\an8}about us keeping our formations tight.
643
00:42:14,076 --> 00:42:16,787
You think you're tight
and they say tighten 'em up more.
644
00:42:17,788 --> 00:42:19,831
At the end of two days,
645
00:42:19,915 --> 00:42:23,961
the 100th was flying the best formation
that I have ever seen.
646
00:42:25,087 --> 00:42:30,300
It was not until Jeffrey came
did we become a superb group.
647
00:42:31,093 --> 00:42:33,679
I think the best group in the air force.
648
00:42:37,766 --> 00:42:42,271
An Eighth Air Force bomber crew
had a tour of duty of 25 missions.
649
00:42:42,354 --> 00:42:44,314
Once you completed your 25 missions,
650
00:42:44,398 --> 00:42:46,441
you were rotated back home
to the United States.
651
00:42:47,693 --> 00:42:52,322
Upon completion,
I was told that I could either remain
652
00:42:52,406 --> 00:42:58,120
and accept command of a squadron
or rotate back to the States.
653
00:42:58,203 --> 00:43:04,376
I concluded that
I had been extremely fortunate
654
00:43:04,459 --> 00:43:09,756
and lucky to have survived
and that I shouldn't push it any further.
655
00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:13,051
So, I elected to return.
656
00:43:14,845 --> 00:43:17,222
Rosie Rosenthal completes his 25 missions
657
00:43:17,306 --> 00:43:21,143
on March 8th, 1944, on a raid over Berlin.
658
00:43:21,852 --> 00:43:25,606
The crew urged me
to buzz the field when we returned.
659
00:43:25,689 --> 00:43:29,109
I was a very conservative pilot
and I said, "I don't think so."
660
00:43:29,860 --> 00:43:33,363
But on the way back,
I said, "What the heck."
661
00:43:33,447 --> 00:43:38,035
And headed right for the tower
and everybody hit the deck there
662
00:43:38,619 --> 00:43:42,414
and I buzzed the field
three or four times and then came in.
663
00:43:42,497 --> 00:43:44,416
And then somebody approached me and said,
664
00:43:44,499 --> 00:43:48,504
"Rosie, did you know
that General Huglin was there?
665
00:43:49,004 --> 00:43:52,424
And he hit the deck and he--
his clothes are all messed up."
666
00:43:52,508 --> 00:43:56,220
And there coming into the debriefing room
was General Huglin.
667
00:43:56,303 --> 00:43:58,597
He came over and grabbed my hand
668
00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:01,391
and he said,
"One hell of a buzz job, Rosie."
669
00:44:02,476 --> 00:44:05,437
Everyone knew
that D-Day was on the horizon
670
00:44:05,521 --> 00:44:10,192
and finishing off the Reich
was a big objective for Rosie.
671
00:44:10,692 --> 00:44:14,613
To leave here is to
leave the center of the universe.
672
00:44:14,696 --> 00:44:17,991
And that's when I decided
to continue flying,
673
00:44:18,075 --> 00:44:22,621
and ultimately,
I was assigned to be a squadron commander.
674
00:44:23,539 --> 00:44:27,709
On this day,
650 American flying fortresses
675
00:44:27,793 --> 00:44:31,463
inflicted severe damage
on German defenses along the coast.
676
00:44:35,843 --> 00:44:39,137
I had flown over to France
to drop some bombs on some target.
677
00:44:39,221 --> 00:44:42,516
And when I returned,
I was met at the airplane
678
00:44:42,599 --> 00:44:48,272
and told that I was to report to
General LeMay's headquarters that evening.
679
00:44:49,523 --> 00:44:54,945
{\an8}General LeMay marched in
and announced to us that the Allied Forces
680
00:44:55,028 --> 00:44:58,740
{\an8}would land on the beaches of Normandy
the next morning.
681
00:44:58,824 --> 00:45:03,120
{\an8}But he said in order for you
to thoroughly understand
682
00:45:03,203 --> 00:45:06,415
{\an8}the importance of this occasion,
683
00:45:06,498 --> 00:45:11,420
that the Eighth Air Force will expend
every airplane that it has
684
00:45:11,503 --> 00:45:14,882
in its inventory to be sure
that these people got ashore.
685
00:45:16,133 --> 00:45:18,343
{\an8}I remember coming to the briefing
686
00:45:18,427 --> 00:45:22,723
and when they moved the curtain
from the map and there were cheers.
687
00:45:22,806 --> 00:45:25,726
I had never heard
this kind of thing from the crews.
688
00:45:25,809 --> 00:45:27,644
Finally, D-Day had arrived.
689
00:45:31,732 --> 00:45:34,276
Soldiers, sailors and airmen
690
00:45:34,359 --> 00:45:36,361
of the Allied Expeditionary Force,
691
00:45:37,905 --> 00:45:40,991
{\an8}you are about to embark upon
the Great Crusade
692
00:45:41,074 --> 00:45:43,660
{\an8}toward which we have
striven these many months.
693
00:45:44,578 --> 00:45:46,538
The eyes of the world are upon you.
694
00:45:47,998 --> 00:45:50,125
Your task will not be an easy one.
695
00:45:51,001 --> 00:45:54,588
Your enemy is well trained,
well equipped and battle-hardened.
696
00:45:55,088 --> 00:45:56,757
He will fight savagely.
697
00:45:57,633 --> 00:46:02,721
I have full confidence in your courage,
devotion to duty and skill in battle.
698
00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:06,975
We will accept
nothing less than full victory.
699
00:46:10,437 --> 00:46:12,022
As we flew over the channel,
700
00:46:12,105 --> 00:46:16,860
we looked down and saw thousands of ships
in an armada down there.
701
00:46:18,570 --> 00:46:25,452
It was so thrilling one of the crew
started to pray, and we all joined in.
702
00:46:30,541 --> 00:46:34,336
This is Robert St. John
in the NBC newsroom in New York.
703
00:46:34,419 --> 00:46:37,339
This is a momentous hour in world history.
704
00:46:37,923 --> 00:46:42,177
The men of General Dwight Eisenhower
are leaving their landing barges,
705
00:46:42,261 --> 00:46:45,889
fighting their way up the beaches
into the fortress of Nazi Europe.
706
00:46:46,723 --> 00:46:48,517
They are moving in from the sea
707
00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:52,271
to attack the enemy
under a mammoth cloud of fighter planes.
708
00:46:53,522 --> 00:46:56,149
The fury from the air went on and on.
709
00:46:56,233 --> 00:47:01,113
Our airmen in tactical support of
the ground forces took no rest that day.
710
00:47:01,196 --> 00:47:05,534
Back from one sortie, they gassed up,
loaded their bombs and ammunition belts
711
00:47:05,617 --> 00:47:08,829
and grimly went out again and again.
712
00:47:12,207 --> 00:47:16,587
There was hardly any
air intervention by the Luftwaffe
713
00:47:16,670 --> 00:47:17,880
when we invaded Normandy.
714
00:47:19,089 --> 00:47:21,466
The Air Force really paved the way
715
00:47:21,550 --> 00:47:24,761
for the invasion
across the English Channel.
716
00:47:28,473 --> 00:47:31,018
Germany now had to fight on two fronts,
717
00:47:31,101 --> 00:47:35,314
{\an8}against the Anglo-American allies
in the west and the Russians in the east.
718
00:47:35,397 --> 00:47:39,318
In August 1944,
the Red Army discovered Majdanek,
719
00:47:39,401 --> 00:47:44,531
an abandoned Nazi concentration and
extermination camp near Lublin, Poland,
720
00:47:44,615 --> 00:47:50,204
indisputable evidence of Hitler's program
to exterminate the Jews of Europe.
721
00:47:56,084 --> 00:47:58,837
Our invasion forces are on the offensive
722
00:47:58,921 --> 00:48:03,884
against Nazi troops who have been
ordered to die rather than retreat.
723
00:48:03,967 --> 00:48:08,096
However, die or retreat they must,
for this attack is being made
724
00:48:08,180 --> 00:48:12,684
with all the strength
the Allied Command can throw into battle.
725
00:48:12,768 --> 00:48:15,270
{\an8}The army camp had
these clandestine radios
726
00:48:15,354 --> 00:48:19,358
{\an8}and we knew just about
everything the BBC knew.
727
00:48:19,441 --> 00:48:23,362
When the invasion started in June of '44,
728
00:48:23,445 --> 00:48:25,697
we knew that we weren't
gonna be there forever.
729
00:48:26,990 --> 00:48:30,577
Downed airmen
were still streaming into Stalag Luft III.
730
00:48:30,661 --> 00:48:32,412
Among them, a number of Black pilots
731
00:48:32,496 --> 00:48:36,875
{\an8}including Second Lieutenants,
Alexander Jefferson and Richard Macon,
732
00:48:36,959 --> 00:48:41,672
{\an8}who were with the renowned
332nd fighter group, the Red Tails.
733
00:48:41,755 --> 00:48:45,008
The Tuskegee pilots painted
a deep red on the tails of their planes.
734
00:48:45,092 --> 00:48:48,178
{\an8}Even when people didn't know that these
were Black pilots flying the planes
735
00:48:48,262 --> 00:48:50,556
{\an8}they recognized that they were Red Tails.
736
00:48:51,056 --> 00:48:54,768
We didn't have any concern
about running into the enemy
737
00:48:54,852 --> 00:48:57,813
because we knew that
we were better flyers than they were,
738
00:48:57,896 --> 00:49:00,440
{\an8}and I would "Ready, aim, fire."
739
00:49:02,276 --> 00:49:04,653
These courageous
Black flyers had been waiting
740
00:49:04,736 --> 00:49:09,575
to contribute to the war effort, and
they distinguished themselves brilliantly.
741
00:49:11,785 --> 00:49:15,622
Within the Air Force,
and especially among the bomber crews
742
00:49:15,706 --> 00:49:20,294
that are making those long dangerous runs,
say that they appreciated the Red Tails
743
00:49:20,377 --> 00:49:23,922
{\an8}more than any of the other squadrons
that they flew with in the war.
744
00:49:24,715 --> 00:49:27,134
Macon and Jefferson
had been racially segregated
745
00:49:27,217 --> 00:49:29,803
on Air Force bases in America and Italy,
746
00:49:29,887 --> 00:49:31,388
and were shocked to discover
747
00:49:31,471 --> 00:49:34,850
that the barracks
at Stalag Luft III were integrated.
748
00:49:34,933 --> 00:49:36,602
There were approximately 150 men
749
00:49:36,685 --> 00:49:40,022
who had come in to this camp,
and we were lined up.
750
00:49:40,105 --> 00:49:45,444
{\an8}Finally, down the line
came a long, tall Kentucky hillbilly
751
00:49:46,195 --> 00:49:50,991
{\an8}and he walked back and says,
"By cracky, I think I'll take this boy."
752
00:49:51,074 --> 00:49:54,328
Colonel walked across and said,
"Lieutenant, you go with him."
753
00:49:55,162 --> 00:49:56,163
"Yes, sir."
754
00:49:57,164 --> 00:49:58,999
The Germans took me into the room
755
00:49:59,082 --> 00:50:03,086
and showed me where I was going to be,
on the third bed up.
756
00:50:03,629 --> 00:50:06,340
I didn't realize
how badly I had been injured.
757
00:50:06,423 --> 00:50:09,009
I was paralyzed from my waist down.
758
00:50:09,092 --> 00:50:11,595
So, once they saw that I couldn't move,
759
00:50:11,678 --> 00:50:14,431
the Germans tried to tell them
760
00:50:14,515 --> 00:50:17,559
who will give up his bottom bunk
for this man.
761
00:50:17,643 --> 00:50:19,019
Nobody moved.
762
00:50:19,102 --> 00:50:23,232
And finally, the guy from Texas said,
"He can have my bunk, I'll go up there."
763
00:50:23,857 --> 00:50:26,443
He and I became the best of friends.
764
00:50:27,361 --> 00:50:30,155
These men had to come together
to survive the prisoner camp.
765
00:50:30,239 --> 00:50:34,701
They let whatever racial attitudes,
racial animosities go or at least lessen
766
00:50:34,785 --> 00:50:37,371
because they had to work together
to keep up each other's spirits
767
00:50:37,454 --> 00:50:38,580
to survive that experience.
768
00:50:40,582 --> 00:50:44,753
One of the last Air Force
operations was to starve the Reich of fuel
769
00:50:44,837 --> 00:50:47,881
by bombing German synthetic oil plants.
770
00:50:47,965 --> 00:50:52,094
The Allies also would need to hit
transportation and storage facilities
771
00:50:52,177 --> 00:50:55,389
for the coal
that powered jet production plants.
772
00:50:55,472 --> 00:50:58,892
This air blockade
would cripple the Reich's war machine
773
00:50:58,976 --> 00:51:01,603
and leave the German army
without adequate air cover
774
00:51:01,687 --> 00:51:04,314
in the culminating battles of the war.
775
00:51:04,398 --> 00:51:07,109
{\an8}We were in the officers' club
until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m.
776
00:51:07,860 --> 00:51:10,112
{\an8}Suddenly we heard the announcement:
777
00:51:10,195 --> 00:51:12,114
"Be prepared
for a mission in the morning."
778
00:51:15,033 --> 00:51:18,370
We put up 2,000 heavy bombers.
779
00:51:18,453 --> 00:51:22,374
All you could see was
four-engined bombers to the horizon.
780
00:51:24,918 --> 00:51:27,004
To knock out one plant in World War II,
781
00:51:27,087 --> 00:51:29,214
a place called Leuna near Merseburg,
782
00:51:29,298 --> 00:51:35,262
it took 6,000 bombers flying
about 40 missions to knock that plant out.
783
00:51:36,597 --> 00:51:40,392
Our group
led one of the biggest raids on Berlin.
784
00:51:40,475 --> 00:51:42,186
It was a very beautiful day.
785
00:51:42,269 --> 00:51:44,938
The sun was shining, not a cloud in sight.
786
00:51:45,606 --> 00:51:49,776
As we approached the target,
the plane was hit,
787
00:51:49,860 --> 00:51:52,863
but we continued and bombed the target,
788
00:51:52,946 --> 00:51:56,200
knowing that we couldn't
return to our base.
789
00:51:56,783 --> 00:52:00,537
There was smoke and fire in the plane,
and I knew I had to get out.
790
00:52:00,621 --> 00:52:03,123
And when I got out,
I thought I was in heaven.
791
00:52:04,374 --> 00:52:07,836
And suddenly,
I hit the ground and I looked up,
792
00:52:08,629 --> 00:52:11,673
and I saw three soldiers
coming at me with guns.
793
00:52:12,674 --> 00:52:16,803
One of the soldiers raised his gun
and was about to strike me,
794
00:52:16,887 --> 00:52:21,767
and I noticed that he had,
on his hat, the Red Army symbol.
795
00:52:22,434 --> 00:52:25,479
And I yelled, Amerikanski, Roosevelt,
796
00:52:25,562 --> 00:52:28,023
Stalin, Churchill, Pepsi-Cola,
797
00:52:28,106 --> 00:52:31,485
Coca-Cola, Lucky Strike.
798
00:52:32,653 --> 00:52:36,448
The Berlin raid
was Rosie's 52nd and final mission.
799
00:52:36,532 --> 00:52:39,826
The most raids
flown by a pilot in the 100th.
800
00:52:39,910 --> 00:52:42,496
After recuperating in a Russian hospital,
801
00:52:42,579 --> 00:52:44,831
Rosie made his way back to Thorpe Abbotts,
802
00:52:44,915 --> 00:52:49,294
where he had flown his first mission
a year and a half earlier.
803
00:52:52,589 --> 00:52:55,843
The Russians were knocking on the door.
804
00:52:55,926 --> 00:52:57,970
We could hear artillery
805
00:52:58,053 --> 00:53:01,431
and other sounds of combat
in the distance.
806
00:53:02,057 --> 00:53:03,559
Hitler debated back and forth:
807
00:53:03,642 --> 00:53:07,187
{\an8}should we march the prisoners
out of the camp or kill them?
808
00:53:07,271 --> 00:53:09,273
{\an8}That was a real possibility.
809
00:53:09,982 --> 00:53:11,233
And suddenly, one night,
810
00:53:11,316 --> 00:53:14,903
our American senior officer
was told by the Germans
811
00:53:14,987 --> 00:53:17,364
that we were going to be
evacuated immediately,
812
00:53:17,447 --> 00:53:21,994
and we would be leaving the camp
within an hour to march out on foot.
813
00:53:22,911 --> 00:53:25,664
They just said,
we're moving you for your safety.
814
00:53:26,248 --> 00:53:28,625
That was what they said,
but we all knew better.
815
00:53:30,502 --> 00:53:32,504
The airmen had no idea
where they're going.
816
00:53:32,588 --> 00:53:35,465
They feared Hitler
was going to take American airmen
817
00:53:35,549 --> 00:53:37,676
and use them as human shields.
818
00:53:37,759 --> 00:53:41,054
And it's the worst European winter
in 100 years.
819
00:53:42,431 --> 00:53:44,016
It was bitterly cold.
820
00:53:44,099 --> 00:53:46,560
The snow was about knee-deep,
821
00:53:46,643 --> 00:53:50,981
and they walked us all that night
until late the next afternoon
822
00:53:51,064 --> 00:53:52,065
with just brief stops.
823
00:53:57,029 --> 00:53:59,239
{\an8}At Spremberg, they put us on a train.
824
00:53:59,323 --> 00:54:01,742
{\an8}We were locked inside of these boxcars.
825
00:54:01,825 --> 00:54:04,328
{\an8}They jammed in 60 to 70 men.
826
00:54:04,411 --> 00:54:06,079
Didn't have room enough to sit down.
827
00:54:06,163 --> 00:54:07,456
It was hell.
828
00:54:08,165 --> 00:54:10,667
{\an8}That one,
we were packed in tighter than heck.
829
00:54:10,751 --> 00:54:13,670
{\an8}Anybody falling down would get stomped on.
830
00:54:13,754 --> 00:54:14,922
When the train pulled in,
831
00:54:15,005 --> 00:54:17,549
men were banging on the door
to get out of the cars.
832
00:54:17,633 --> 00:54:19,760
The guards finally opened the doors.
833
00:54:20,385 --> 00:54:22,554
It's as bad as you can imagine.
834
00:54:27,851 --> 00:54:31,146
It was a camp
that apparently had been designed
835
00:54:31,230 --> 00:54:34,525
to hold 8,000 or 10,000 people max.
836
00:54:34,608 --> 00:54:36,944
There was over 100,000 there.
837
00:54:37,027 --> 00:54:38,820
Camp Hell would be a good word for it.
838
00:54:40,739 --> 00:54:43,033
There were no barracks,
people camped outside.
839
00:54:43,116 --> 00:54:44,493
The conditions were horrible.
840
00:54:44,576 --> 00:54:46,245
No one knew what was gonna happen to them.
841
00:54:49,748 --> 00:54:52,292
{\an8}One day,
we were walking around in the camp.
842
00:54:52,376 --> 00:54:55,420
{\an8}Somebody says,
"There's a tank. There's a Sherman tank."
843
00:54:55,504 --> 00:54:57,172
And then we looked and, surely enough,
844
00:54:57,256 --> 00:54:59,633
there was a Sherman tank on the horizon.
845
00:55:00,634 --> 00:55:02,761
Patton's Third Army came through.
846
00:55:02,845 --> 00:55:07,599
I saw Patton on a tank when he came
through the main gate of Stalag VII-A.
847
00:55:07,683 --> 00:55:08,684
We'd been liberated.
848
00:55:10,936 --> 00:55:15,941
The men went to the flagpole
and rung down the swastika
849
00:55:16,024 --> 00:55:21,154
while they opened up Old Glory
and raised it, and we came to attention.
850
00:55:21,238 --> 00:55:24,241
We weren't in uniforms.
Tattered clothes and all that stuff.
851
00:55:24,324 --> 00:55:26,910
And I guess that was the greatest salute
I ever gave.
852
00:55:29,830 --> 00:55:31,665
It was very emotional.
853
00:55:31,748 --> 00:55:33,750
We were finally going to be freed
854
00:55:33,834 --> 00:55:38,630
after all those months and years
of having been held as POWs.
855
00:55:38,714 --> 00:55:42,634
In many ways, it was hard to believe that
we were finally gonna be able to go home.
856
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:45,929
This is London Calling.
857
00:55:46,013 --> 00:55:47,973
Here is a news flash.
858
00:55:48,473 --> 00:55:53,270
The German radio has just announced
that Hitler is dead.
859
00:55:55,230 --> 00:56:00,110
On May 1st, 1945, the day
the world learned of Hitler's suicide,
860
00:56:00,194 --> 00:56:02,446
the 100th flew one final mission,
861
00:56:02,529 --> 00:56:05,490
part of what was called
Operation Chowhound.
862
00:56:05,574 --> 00:56:09,745
The crews would be dropping,
by parachute, food, not bombs.
863
00:56:09,828 --> 00:56:12,956
Relief for nearly five million
starving people in the Netherlands,
864
00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:15,709
still occupied by die-hard Nazis.
865
00:56:16,210 --> 00:56:19,588
As the bombers reached
the outskirts of Amsterdam,
866
00:56:19,671 --> 00:56:23,800
{\an8}they passed over fields
of brilliantly colored tulips.
867
00:56:23,884 --> 00:56:25,469
{\an8}In one of them, the heads of the flowers
868
00:56:25,552 --> 00:56:29,389
{\an8}had been clipped to say,
"Many thanks, Yanks."
869
00:56:37,814 --> 00:56:39,650
{\an8}The war in Europe was over.
870
00:56:39,733 --> 00:56:43,028
The crews of the 100th
packed up their duffels,
871
00:56:43,111 --> 00:56:46,073
and the local folk
from the villages around Thorpe Abbotts,
872
00:56:46,156 --> 00:56:48,242
dressed in their Sunday finest,
873
00:56:48,325 --> 00:56:51,620
gathered to see them off
for their long journey home.
874
00:57:00,087 --> 00:57:02,548
When I got to Atlanta,
I went to the public telephone
875
00:57:02,631 --> 00:57:05,676
and called my mother
and told 'em I was home.
876
00:57:06,218 --> 00:57:07,845
Course, she immediately broke down,
877
00:57:09,513 --> 00:57:11,181
and they came out--
878
00:57:11,265 --> 00:57:15,769
They drove out to Fort McPherson,
and they picked me up and I got home.
879
00:57:18,438 --> 00:57:20,065
We got back to California.
880
00:57:20,148 --> 00:57:21,984
My dad and mother were there.
881
00:57:22,067 --> 00:57:25,696
There was a big reunion, of course,
and I was halfway to the moon.
882
00:57:26,822 --> 00:57:30,284
And then I saw my wife-to-be, Barbara.
883
00:57:30,367 --> 00:57:33,078
And three weeks later, we were married.
884
00:57:34,788 --> 00:57:37,958
The men of the Bloody Hundredth
were finally home,
885
00:57:38,834 --> 00:57:41,086
reunited with their families
886
00:57:41,753 --> 00:57:43,130
and their wives
887
00:57:44,006 --> 00:57:45,674
and their sweethearts.
888
00:57:46,175 --> 00:57:49,720
Some for the first time
since leaving for war.
889
00:57:50,762 --> 00:57:54,808
When I left the service, I was exhausted.
890
00:57:54,892 --> 00:57:57,186
I'd been through these trying experiences,
891
00:57:57,269 --> 00:58:00,772
and I wanted to put that behind me
and I wanted to resume civilian life.
892
00:58:01,982 --> 00:58:05,652
I went back to work
at the same firm that I had been with,
893
00:58:05,736 --> 00:58:09,198
and I was not ready, really,
to go back to work.
894
00:58:09,281 --> 00:58:12,659
And finally,
after being there for six months,
895
00:58:12,743 --> 00:58:18,123
{\an8}I heard about an opportunity
to go to Nuremberg as a prosecutor.
896
00:58:20,584 --> 00:58:23,545
On the ship over there,
I met this beautiful woman
897
00:58:23,629 --> 00:58:27,549
who was also a lawyer
and was going over as a prosecutor.
898
00:58:27,633 --> 00:58:31,178
And within 10 days,
we were engaged to marry,
899
00:58:31,720 --> 00:58:33,722
and we were married over in Nuremberg.
900
00:58:35,557 --> 00:58:40,437
I saw these defendants there
who were powerless now,
901
00:58:40,521 --> 00:58:44,149
sitting abjectly
and being tried and being convicted.
902
00:58:44,691 --> 00:58:48,779
And when I saw that,
that, in fact, ended the war for me.
903
00:58:53,867 --> 00:58:57,454
World War II was the most
devastating event in human history.
904
00:58:58,664 --> 00:59:02,125
More costly in lives
than any war ever fought.
905
00:59:03,126 --> 00:59:08,131
In it, the Eighth Air Force
suffered the highest casualty rate
906
00:59:08,215 --> 00:59:11,176
of any of the American Armed Forces.
907
00:59:14,304 --> 00:59:16,765
Now that I've survived it
908
00:59:16,849 --> 00:59:22,354
and can look back on it
for all these intervening years,
909
00:59:23,313 --> 00:59:25,524
it was a life changer for me.
910
00:59:27,025 --> 00:59:28,318
If, in this time,
911
00:59:28,402 --> 00:59:32,489
there's a feeling of excitement
and romance and mythology, it's there.
912
00:59:32,573 --> 00:59:36,994
My friends that I made then
saved my life any number of times.
913
00:59:37,077 --> 00:59:40,080
They were the friends of all friends.
914
00:59:40,664 --> 00:59:43,584
The people we served with,
they were dedicated,
915
00:59:43,667 --> 00:59:46,587
they sacrificed, they had great courage.
916
00:59:47,129 --> 00:59:50,048
We shared heartbreak and hilarity.
917
00:59:50,132 --> 00:59:54,511
We saw our comrades go down
and being killed,
918
00:59:54,595 --> 00:59:57,848
being wounded, become prisoners of war.
919
00:59:57,931 --> 01:00:02,895
{\an8}And we developed a tremendous respect
for each other and we shared a victory.
920
01:00:03,395 --> 01:00:07,191
{\an8}And I think this was
the experience of all of our people.
921
01:00:07,274 --> 01:00:09,902
Miraculously, people came together.
922
01:00:12,696 --> 01:00:16,241
You have to give all the credit
to the men and the women
923
01:00:16,325 --> 01:00:21,246
that sacrificed their lives and basically
saved the world from fascism.
924
01:00:23,749 --> 01:00:28,378
The freedoms that we enjoy
did not come about by accident.
925
01:00:28,462 --> 01:00:32,049
They were bought and paid for
by my generation
926
01:00:32,132 --> 01:00:35,302
and the generations that preceded us.
927
01:00:35,385 --> 01:00:36,720
And for that reason,
928
01:00:36,803 --> 01:00:42,601
I think the World War II generation
deserves to be remembered.