THE TRUE GLORY

I have been asked to be the spokesman for this Allied expeditionary force him saying word of introduction to what you are about to see it is a story of the Nazi defeat on the Western Front so far as possible the editors have made it an account of the really important men who his campaign I mean the enlisted soldiers sailors and airmen that fought through every obstacle to victory of course to tell the whole story would take years but the theme would be the same teamwork wins Wars I mean teamwork among nations services and men all the way down the line from the GI and the Tommy to West Bath that's our enemy in this campaign was strong resourceful and cunning but he made a few mistakes his greatest blunder was this he thought he could break out of our partnership but we were welded together by fighting for one great cause in one great team a team in which you were an indispensable and working memory less spirit the free people working fighting and living together in one great collars as service well on the Western Front it will likewise defeat that other great enemy of human freedom even now in the far-off Pacific really under the bows by our gallant Commons in arms will feel pray that that spirit of comradeship will persist forever among the free peoples of the United Nations [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] - yoohoo now living in love from hope who sense the future in the surrounding air this testament is often yeah you may knock on the file and magnets of our age and the once thinness of the little cred that made us then the citizens of freedom what dark was Europe and the face of man when this begins the nation had gone mad and struck out everywhere the compass knew he had tied of our honor fell away and left it's wreckage on a hundred coasts the German cast his fires about the globe his strength drawn from the smoking Tsar and war lay in our weakness and at last his conquests builder behind the barriers of his arms along the channel where the sea strikes France stood the west wall of concrete stone of Steel to mock the frail hopes of the penny free wounded hard-pressed and wasted in our strength almost like madmen then we planned to breach the wall and smash the Germans spike but well search the coast of Europe like fierce eagles between low flushing and deep harbored Cherbourg our eyes sought out the place of the assault exits and tidal range mark shadow flashing off sand of the wind canceled the Belgian coast the North Seine beaches were too small and tips barred the approaches curtain time to narrow the pas-de-calais heavily defended it all resolved on Norman on call their planes could land upon the Karthik ground the toast defenses were more light and tides had a good range and Men was saved from winds so on five miles of still unbloodied sand the fretful course of fate would be assailed by armored nations now our people bent to the construction of a steel array and took the builders hammer in their hands it seemed almost as though the Sun Stood Still in our free peoples full of rage and power keep through the air the ponderous spear of war this is our peoples story in their words [Applause] I suppose if the Battle of the North Atlantic hadn't gone right things might have been considerable different that was an ugly time for all of us merchant ships naval escort air patrol I guess I had my share of bad luck I lost three ships and some good friends [Music] [Music] I remember reading somewhere that when a seagull comes down on a patch of oil its feather stick together and it can't get off the water again there must have been a lot of dead seagulls around the North Atlantic of course we understood happening on the wall map and it was well quite real when I started there those markers we used might lift off out of some children's game but soon they became new boats and ships carrying cargoes food and supplies and weapons and men to use them I remember coming over the worst thing about the trip was you didn't know where you were going whatever it was you'd be a stranger and nobody likes that that ship was loaded from stem to stern with sad sex around a third day out things got pally like the fella said hell were all in the same boat the comic [Music] finally we got to Liverpool they had a band to play us in an English army band for chimes I'm dreaming of a white Christmas they played tell you the truth it was pretty corny but nobody said anything because I you know was a nice gesture [Music] funny thing on the way over you felt like you were the whole works you couldn't help it but then all over the UK you'd see things that made you begin to realize you were just part of a hell of a big proposition all kinds of things [Music] I was a pre-med student at Johns Hopkins in civilian life now I do know a little something about anatomy and I say it is scientifically impossible for the whole body to stand up to the training we receive an absolutely the possibility the muscles and tendons and bone structure was not designed to withstand that battery don't ask me how it happens that we did stand up to it I don't know it has no scientific explanation listen to this out of one of them army pamphlets to a young man soldier in the army of today offers exceptional advantages and opportunities such as physical training foreign travel sport and many other facilities which are normally denied to those engaged in the majority of civilian occupations the majority of occupations in civil life become monotonous to say the least but in the arm life is so varied that there is little prospect of a monotonous or exome time so been worker did without highest hours while they learn the lethal arts of war in small and secret rooms for planners met to watch their work mature beyond our view the German proud and confidence took calm in deep emplacements on the armoured coast the war was not yet one of men and blood the weapons were the factories and the maps and ycs speaking in the hidden night season-by-season all our plans advanced and those few men on whom the massive wall rested with all its weight worked ceaselessly I used to wonder whether the millions of people doing their various jobs realized they were part of it all paving the way for the invasion we kept bashing away at German targets mostly stealin oil fedora Hamburg Battle of Berlin things are getting tougher every trip more ground offensives more night fighters more crews not coming back [Music] we got away early in the morning some finds that see Lancaster's coming back a lot of times we'd Stoke up the same target they did we'd beat up aircraft factories - it was a tea service day and night 24 hours a day we dropped agents of affront must be awful to risk your neck and have to keep it secret one-man submarine torpedo boats commandos we use them all to bring that comes from Santa beaches for an elephant it had to be quick drying with a solid clay foundation it would have to support 30 ton tanks hi mr. photograph nearly every field in France real job of course was the call area but I didn't know that nor did Jerry he dropped stuff the Maquis arms ammunition sabotage materials and so on then went over ourselves and taught them how to use it we don't have to specification but we had another least idea of what kind of the gadget it was the only name it had was mulberry it was vital to know all about the same bear the tides and retrained the men to negotiate those tides and landing craft wearing down German Steve power in preparation for the day special study of the weather along a Normandy coast miles of wire netting to the beaches seven to two hundred tons of petrol per day with an underwater pipeline to carry it to France quite star as the emblem of liberation triple inoculations were all personnel new ships pouring from the stocks old ships adapted listening to the German radio outfit for fresh intelligence that was just part of the pre-invasion work by December 43 the plan itself was set and we took it to Karen for final discussion the three leaders approved the plan our Russian forces advancing from the east and invasion from the West and then the date was set [Applause] I assumed command as shade with the best all-around team for which a man could ask some had already been working for months in England others I brought with me from the Mediterranean we adopted first a master plan and then had coordinated every last detail of the ground sea and air plans by a list is going on we bent off with an air show designed to make the landing points as soft as possible to batter the German communications and to make certain we'd have control of the air it was quite a show those Airmen did a magnificent job he had tolis French checks all sorts in our outset it natural way in the mess about what they've been after the only way you could ever make out was marshalling yards as Bombardier seemed to do nothing but look down on French [ __ ] those days we used to ask each other if you'd cut me good bridges lately well finally there was only one whole railway bridge left over the same between Paris and the sea down in the late spring through the wounded towns of England moved the masts made by our patients to precious years of plans were put away the offices were empty all the maps were load up on the walls what had been paper enough to come a night across the channel aware of our assault with cold contempt and dirty Germans stood beside their guns and reinforcements rumbled from the right their generals were prepared that Mike was poised they looked across the heaving sea and grinned they would reap harvest of us on the beaches and even death himself would scanned amazed yet faint across the groaning of the sea came the pin Thunder of a massive power drawn from the great free peoples of the earth it gathered in the ancient ports of England to crowd upon the steel encumbered ships [Music] it was a funny sort of feeling melting down to the ships we Dalek plenty of times before of course on schemes and that kind of thing they didn't tell us this was the Big Show might have been just another exercise some of the tips track gags they wasn't very comic that we laugh I think we all guessed the general feeling was okay if this is it let's get in there and get it over with waited always got a minor even waiting for a bus never could stand it well after a bit our ship found its place in the middle of all the rest of the stuff there we stayed for days [Music] they gave us the final briefing then we knew what to do and how they told us where and when that's a briefing I listened to every word wrote it down my head like a record he's a beach in the morning ever since I became a soldier they were getting me ready for this before they've been times in front of me protecting me now the time had worn away there were only a few hours left the morning I'd have to face it I tried to imagine how much fear I would have you know to keep me from doing my job I suppose everybody else was wondering the same thing [Music] nobody said anything official but all of a sudden the ship got much busier and over the amplifier the Chaplin said he'd be saying mast 1830 hours funny I don't think I ever believed even after the final briefing that the invasion was going to come off and a voice in the loudspeaker said men who wish to take the ranty seasick pills to take the first one now [Music] [Music] I was tugging and lighter the way we always practiced it except that I've never been in the air with our whole army before three Airborne Division's this British and 82nd and 101st American just before a glider pilot car start over the landing sooner and wish them good luck of the radio seemed to sort of be an adequate thing to say a supreme commander let me break in at this point and say just a word about the Navy from the moment of embark a Shinto that of landing the full burden fell upon the Navy and our merchant fleets they hadn't sweep the mines bombard the coastal batteries marshal and protected transports along the coastline prepare toward the landing and finally man the small boats that carry the soldiers to the beach on that day there were more than 8,000 ships and landing craft on the shores and normally it was a most intricate task and a vital one for the success of our plans the courage fidelity and skill of the loyal and American ladies have no brighter page in their histories the MACT of June 6th 1944 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] back in London only a few people knew it was a well-kept secret around daybreak we correspondents were called and told to be at the Ministry of Information at 8:00 then they told us [Music] [Applause] they call our Beach Omaha don't ask me why is anything like Omaha France you can have it understand Omaha was the roughest spot lost good men took a few prisoners was a lousy trade we've been told what to expect so it wasn't like a surprise or anything just well one really happens for a while they were pinned down but a lucky thing the other beaches were going better so we got a little more than our share the old teamwork Navy come in and the air guys finally gotten full into it and they hear a lot about how long it takes to make battle-hardened soldiers out of green troops listen I got the mid-afternoon one day that day and so they paved the beaches with our blood and nursed across the dunes and reached the roads the German parried fiercely in the depths of rich green plastered Normandy the three Airborne Division's first of all the land fought line like against most grievous odds and loud across the cratered face of France came German reinforcements from Berlin a voice cried out the Allies must be hurled into the sea before another day had burned its hole in history locked in battle the armies clashed our first objective then was to merge all the beach heads into one and 50 miles of men drive on together beyond the red sands through the broken wall [Music] well I was it wasn't too bad getting sure not to let it stop it but did fight for every bloody field that was the same each time fall under belly keeping your planks laid them like had been told chuck in a few hand grenades then rush them sometimes they killed us but we were killing more than the takea spark was the farm they were regular little jerry fortresses if we couldn't manage them in our own language after wait well their company commander called back for artillery support the Navy was still with us - chuckling in michelle's ahead of it in three days were advanced seven miles then we were told to stand fast and dig in next morning we heard the news we got up from the BBC sounded great when joined up all along the bridgehead there was a solid line 45 miles of it we'd got a food bowl we were in [Music] [Applause] [Applause] we didn't have to do much navigating to get there just followed the convoys I was doing close support we waited around and then the ground troops of whistlers out and told us about something I hadn't target they wanted removed and then we go we were like taxis on a cab ring [Music] there's something nice about a beach any beach you think of a beach chances are I will remember something nice like a party or picnic house from the old days girls bathing suits the one I work Utah look more like a freight yard once we got going for quite a while we brought more supplies right over the open beach like we practiced hidden like we'd made up as we went along we worked a 24-hour shift ducks lights rats row boats all sorts of rube goldberg stuff just kept pouring him tanks trucks full ammo guys millions of thing we didn't think we'd spend 15 days in the same field outside Kong for the wood behind us and the Germans in another wood half a mile in front of us a little empty valley in between each side more turn each other all the time yes men yet to live in a slit trench he got into a routine you know stand truth from our past for our past five and two hours late for breakfast came up fairly our tin baton sausage tea of course biscuits we've been living on compare food since d-day he's go through but well you know he got tired of it I'll be giving a lot for slice of fresh bread and a cup of fresh tea 15 days a long time to stay in one place and be mortal yet say you think everyone's come straight for you [Music] I can remember every case we ever had especially the first one the ambulance brought him in late one afternoon I came over to where he was lying and he looked up and grinned I asked him how he felt he said something about the the German with a machine pistol using him for a dartboard she was quiet patient and a little bewildered he'd never been hurt before he asked how the fighting was going and he passed out the doctor came over and looked at his wounds and then swore say had no business to be alive we put him on the operating table and did what we could the guy who kept swearing all the time he was operating but couldn't stop the bleeding I remember the radio news that night they said the casualties had been surprisingly light they said the whole thing was derail Winston's idea a collapsible prefabricated harbor with everything on it except a nappy well I wouldn't put it past him it sort of ideally would have hell of a gamble but it worked in the end Melbury they called it well I felt pretty good about it because I've watched it grow right from the sinking of the first ships for the out of breakwater and further along to the West the Yanks have brought one over to then on d-plus dirty nothing it was an onshore wind started up not much at first but it got worse unloaded onto the open beach he's got very tricky we heard it over on the yank section the other harbours have been put right out of action and when the wind dropped hell mulberry looked pretty sick and up to that time it was the only bleeding novel we had at the green tip of Normandy the town of Cherbourg made a harbor for supplies our need for ports was vital as our breath the German you are lack and swiftly to his forces into tight defensive groups so to contest the issue all our plans turn upon shurberg all our strategy waited upon its empty docks and piers so the Americans sent all across Normandy to the coast swung toward the north impatient for the port to hedge until they carved their heavy where you remember back now when it seems like we took share book a couple of days after we hit the beach actually it took 19 days to cover 30 miles 30 miles in about 90 mm hedgerows in a battle at every hedgerow otherwise it was nice country like Connecticut pretty trees and orchards lots of cows and ice and farmhouses the apples were too green to eat I remember we hit it all fine with the people farmers nice beat it got tough when we pulled up on the outskirts of Cherbourg they had great defenses and the artillery really carried the ball but three days we suck at or sometimes you are pouring in at point-blank range over open sights finally old ones even the German commander tossed in the sponge that's after toneless meant to fight that attention we took Cherbourg on June 25th everything was rosy except the harbor we come from the Jerry's had really smeared at Harbor but right away our guys went away clean it up and the way they tore into it you could see that pretty soul in be waiting for us 5:10 well we fought our way up the peninsula now we'd have to fight our way on earth and everywhere inside France we men of the Maquis we are fighting to I was in the North myself he kept telephone and telegraph and high-tension lines and the Allies landed who fought in the open in the several mountains our friends held of German converts were a little easier in the mountains but reinforcements were delayed for many days factories and bridges would frequently disappear but the price we paid for it was frightful in the village of corridor alone the Germans slaughtered eleven hundred out of the twelve hundred population and the place was completely burned they were accused to have ambushed German troops every house was destroyed women children died in flames in the church were have deducted yes the price we paid was very great but our job was done [Music] Clow is a town to which the easy on ripples it's slow way to the waiting sea capital of normative and here the british struck a stone wall of germans this was no Cherbourg advance a night class through the fields but rather was the grinding of a drill inch by inch forward here it was the german fiat a quick break through to the river seine and here it was he masked his army's best ten of the twelve divisions of his armor paratroops SS men the young the Croyle against the veterans of Alamein we wanted him to fight he ran to hold the battleground because the future plans depended on him standing where he was at call the dust was darwin's every foot of ground was priceless for by mid most summer call was to be the pivot of the wall [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] on was the first decent sized town we had taken but there wasn't any celebrations because we knew nothing had been settled Jerry was as strong as ever one of the men said God are we gonna have to go right across the world doing this to beat him because mr. Kahn was best just playing death I wondered what a Hamilton back home in Canada would look like after a beating like that well anyway our tanks and the buddy started massing and move south out of the city we knew there was a big dude coming up Shawcross began south echo where the poles join up with us when we began moving forward I had a lot of the lads say rumbles on nerudin prayer that I'd been at Alamein I knew he wasn't on the road Thunder was right we're nothing lovely about the battle south ago no principle of must no outflanking no nothing like that there's an a bit of bloody slugging match you have to stay there and give as good as we got even if we couldn't give better [Music] beyond the rubble the dust of Klaw the Empire troops kept up our endless presence the German did not dare to disengage but for tamales cunning in his faith still unaware of what we planned for West isin't low the base of his defense Americans were poised and bent to fire an armored arrow that would set alight the flame of freedom from the whole of France but Ilsan low was seized the arrow awaited [Music]