WEBVTT - Normandy: Up-close & Personal. Jerry Evans talks to Armstrong & Getty 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:03.920 When you're ready to ride Metro, we want you to 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:06.560 know we're ready for you. Here are just a few 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:08.399 of the people at Metro to tell you how we're 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:11.320 doing our part to keep riders safe. We're cleaning like 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:18.320 novel before greatly you've found has stunt of toutro, no mask, 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:22.200 no Metro need one. We have a few extras at Metro. 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:25.079 We're doing our part to keep the DC area moving. 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:27.880 Find out more at wilmata dot com slash doing our 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:33.680 part remembering Normandy and D Day with the gent who 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:40.080 visited recently because four hours simply enough. This is Armstrong 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:43.840 and Getty extra large. Hey, this is cool. Jerry Evans 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.519 joins us. Jerry is the owner and general manager of 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:50.920 the Evans Broadcasting Company Incorporated, and specifically the mighty kk 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.200 FT point one news talk on which the Armstrong and 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:56.920 Getty Show airs, and we are honored to do so. Jerry, 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.000 how are you, sir? Doing good? How about you? Good? Hey? Listen, 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.120 So we understand that on the seventieth anniversary of D 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:06.280 Day five years ago you spent several days in Normandy 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:10.000 broadcasting there, met vets and did the whole deal that 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.880 had to be just an incredible time. Yeah, it was, 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:16.240 and it kind of fell into my lap. Kind of 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.640 a slightly interesting story. If you're interested, I'll share with 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.080 you fire away. Yeah, okay. So there's a guy who 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.120 lives in the area. He's one of these young gazillionaires 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:30.200 who invented the PBX firewall years and years ago. He 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:32.800 has a place there on the channel right there in France, 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:36.000 and a historic village called Old God which is down 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:39.679 the coast from Sword Beach. My daughter, who had just 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:44.600 graduated from Biola University, became that teacher. He has four 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:49.760 sons homeschooled, and she was teaching them late April early May. 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.960 He you know, asked her if she will accompanied them 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:55.840 to France for the summer. He spent his summers there 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.880 in France, and and would your parents like to go along? 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.280 Would they like to come visit? First week of June 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:05.520 would be a good week if they would like to come. 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:08.880 So my first thought was I don't want to pay 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:10.720 to go to France. I've never been interested in going 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.840 to France. But then we got to talking, my wife 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.400 and I and said, jeez, the first week of June, 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:21.280 what's the historic significance and where is he again, looked 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.880 him up and he's right down the coast from Omaha 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:28.160 and all the beaches there, and we would be there 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:32.080 on the anniversary. So um, that's how the trip came about. 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.440 And we got over there, spent a couple of days 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.400 there at Omaha, spent a day on Sword Beach. It 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:41.080 was the last year that the Normandy Veterans Association was 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.880 going to commemorate the event. Um obviously because of the age. 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:48.520 And here's a here's a real kicker for you too, 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.920 to make a point about socialized medicine and medicare for all. 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.320 So to speak with a British health care system is 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:59.640 I didn't realize this until talking to them, but it 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.639 is hard to leave the country if you're up in 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.800 age because the British do not want to have to 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:11.000 pay too met vacuum back home to England to treat you, 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:14.560 so they have a hard time leaving the country. Really, 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:19.240 that's an interesting nugget. Yeah, the country that they fought 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:23.000 for risk their lives for um, if you want to 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:24.960 even if you're in good health. But I don't know 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.120 what it is if there, if it's because of the age, 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:28.640 I don't know if you can do it. Because of 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.240 a waiver, or if you sign a waiver, but you 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:34.480 can't hardly leave the country because the government does not 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:36.560 want to pay to bring you back home if you 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:41.600 get sick or God forbid. And the casket. Now we'll 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:43.520 get off on a topic. Really easy with that one. 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.400 But dead, that's what you get. Socialize these things. So 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:50.880 we did sword Beach that day. Those guys were just boy, 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:53.640 they were just having the time of their lives, drinking champagne. 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:59.240 We interviewed several of them, Henry Grew, Doug, Austin's, Red Stevens, 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:01.400 on and on. And I'm horrible with names, but I 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:05.480 remember these guys names really well and and fortunately have 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.840 their recording. And then also um, then we spent the 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:13.680 day there at Omaha and um that was really good. 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:16.799 And here's one point I would make about France in general. 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.200 If you could make a comparison or an analogy between 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:25.000 San Francisco and the San Joaquin Valley, It's like Paris 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:30.440 and Normandy. Normandy is the countryside, and those people love Americans. 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:36.120 Everywhere you go along the coast, you'll see Canadian, British, French, 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:40.880 and American flags in everywhere that you could possibly think 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.680 to see them. They and it's a national holiday. All 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:48.599 the radio stations broadcast with speeches on d Day when 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:52.560 we were there, you know, it was Obama, the Queen, Putin, 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:56.120 etcetera there and it's carried on every broadcast that there 0:04:56.279 --> 0:05:00.120 is hundreds and hundreds of school buses and so tho 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:03.479 is people get it, um, the people of the countryside 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.760 of France and so uh and if I can plug, 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:12.200 we're gonna rebroadcast what we did, uh you know, five 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.600 years ago this Saturday on this radio station. It's also 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:20.080 available on our podcast through our website at FM talk 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:21.960 dot com. Thanks for let me do that. Oh yeah yeah. 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:23.880 In fact, let's make sure we have a link at 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.480 Armstrong and getty dot com so people can find that. 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:28.880 And what time is that going to be Saturday? It's 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.800 gonna be nine to noon this Saturday podcast. And give 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:34.320 me a heads up because I want to get in 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:39.719 one thing that was extremely um interesting to me in rewarding, 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:44.080 which was my host um new a family over there 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:46.719 that had been there forever. They have a big estate 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:51.360 called val Roche near the coast, and so I interviewed 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.880 this lady. In fact, he prepped it with this will 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.920 make your broadcast. So I spent a day over there 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.240 at this place called val Rochet, on top of a hill. 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:04.080 This woman named Pauline was about eight or nine years 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.440 old when the Germans invaded and they took over this estate. 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:11.160 They didn't destroy it. But and there is a distinction 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.359 between the Nazis and German soldiers and and so the 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:19.880 German soldiers they basically occupied this estate during the war. 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.800 They drew all sorts of pictures all over the there 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:25.960 was a big room above the garage. And by the way, 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.880 this was built this it was built originally as an 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:33.279 abbey in eleven fifty. They don't they don't make them 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.080 like that anymore. Uh, it had been added onto And 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.680 by the way, during the war they parked their car 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:45.839 in the dining room. That's not that's impolite at dinner parties. 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:48.760 But that's not cool. They weren't pretending to be at 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.560 the drive and but no gasolane, so um they and 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:55.159 and to keep it from being bombed or whatever, they parked. 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.279 That's how big the estate was. And uh, and just 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:04.080 extremely interesting interview with her again she was eight or 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.520 nine through this time. She played it. She said her 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.920 and her sister. They took the bullets um from the 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.800 soldiers and they would play a game, not even though 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:16.000 the soldiers weren't playing along, but they take their bullets 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.160 and throw them in the She called it a lake 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.400 on the property. It was just a big pond, but 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.480 she would take their ammunition and throw it in the lake. Wow. 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.240 This morning, this morning, President Trump referenced something I thought 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:32.000 was really interesting. Uh. He was talking about the American 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:35.840 soldiers that are buried in Normandy, and he was saying 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:41.480 that that French families had pretty much adopted those soldiers. 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:44.360 Each family would take one of the soldiers and they 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:46.640 would come out every year and they put flowers at 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:50.960 the graves and actually brought them into their own family. 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.000 Had you did you experience that kind of kind of vibe? 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.320 I mean, did you hear that? Have you heard that story? 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.680 I haven't heard that per se, But I will tell 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.800 you the if you want to move being experience you 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:05.600 walk around that cemetery and I can tell you. We 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:07.560 have a listener a friend of ours who has a 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:10.680 cabin up on Silver Lake near us, Carol Winzel, who 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:16.360 wanted us to go and look at her uncle's grave. Um. 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:19.440 You know, they give you the row and everything and 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.640 just really moving. You know, I didn't. I try not to, 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:27.000 you know, go John Baynard, Glenn Beck on the microphone. 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:31.680 But the most moving experienced my my wife's uncle was 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.680 with a hundred first and dropped in behind anime lines 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:38.760 and standing there on the beach, there's this big map 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:41.679 and in fact, I think I saw Trump and uh 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:46.120 some other dignitary standing at that map this morning on television. Um, 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:50.520 looking at that map where it shows you where what happened. Uh, 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:54.280 that was pretty moving. Um. But the the cemetery itself, 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:58.000 here's another interesting thing that people do. Um. And the 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:01.520 beach is gold, the sandy is gold colored. And by 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:05.360 the way, UM, I want to finish this thought, but 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.600 then get to the next one, which is something that 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.360 was interesting is people will take some of that sand, 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:16.439 that wet sand, and they'll put it in the names 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:20.160 on the crosses, which are I don't know the right term. 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.240 It's not embossed, but you can put it in there. 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:24.120 So it'll stay there for a day or two while 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:26.839 it dries out. So it's kind of a unique look 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:30.120 and it's kind of I don't know, there's significance. I 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:32.400 can't really put it into words where people will take 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:35.240 the sand off the beach where they were killed and 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.839 put it rub it into the on the cross. So 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.720 it's it's in their names. And there's something really poignant 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:44.520 about that that I can't come up with the words 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:48.160 to describe. But at the other point I wanted to 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:52.920 make is it is the best depiction of D Day 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.280 is saving Private Ryan when you're there on the beach 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.240 and it's just wide open, the tide goes out forever 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:02.880 and you're just a shooting. I mean, it's just there's 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.319 nothing to protect you as you're running out of those 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:08.960 Higgins boats onto the beach. Uh. And we stood in 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.560 some of those German bunkers where they were you knew 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:15.120 that they were just mowing down Americans nearly nine thousand 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:19.280 that day, And um, it gives you a weird feeling. Yeah, 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.240 I'm sure it does. And so can you can you 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.480 walk on the beaches? Are they blocked off at this point? Can? 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:31.720 We played that song from that veteran that Jim Radford, 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:33.679 So it's the number one song on Amazon right now. 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:35.800 And he wrote this song in n because he showed 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:37.280 up there and kids were playing on the beaches and 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:39.480 he thought, Wow, people have forgotten what happened here? Are 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:41.959 there still kids playing on the beaches? Are they more 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.520 you know, marked off as hallowed ground at this point? Uh, 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:49.559 I would say the former, as in, during the year, 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:53.160 I don't know, um, but during leading up to and 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:55.760 during D Day, you can you can walk those beaches. 0:10:55.800 --> 0:11:00.559 I mean I would assume, um that, uh, that you can. 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.640 It's I mean it's a kind of like the Pacific coast. 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:07.240 That's the coast of France. Sure now, but during that 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:09.079 you see a lot of roses, a lot of flowers 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.920 in the beach. Um. It is really a moving experience 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.640 that I want to tell both of you guys everybody 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.200 listening there, that you you really should do. This is 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:22.079 one of the if you if you don't want to 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:24.320 go to Europe like which I don't really like going 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:25.920 to Europe very much at all, and I haven't been 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:27.840 to Europe that much at all. This is one of 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.240 the bucket list things that you gotta do. Is and 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:33.120 especially if you can be there around that time. You 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:38.240 won't get anywhere near on D Day. Um, the roads 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:40.320 are just you you just can't get there. But if 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.439 you can get there a week before three or four 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:45.719 days before and spend some time there. You will, It's 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:48.000 experience of a lifetime. I'm gonna do it, Jerry, and 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.679 we'll get on the phone and uh and and compare 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:54.360 notes or have a cold beverage or something that sounds good. 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:57.480 Alright the time, Jerry Evans, we appreciate your time too, 0:11:57.520 --> 0:11:59.400 and thanks for doing that. This is just a great 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:01.920 thing to do, and we'll look forward to hearing that broadcast. 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:05.360 I'd like to do that with my boys someday. That'd 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:07.560 be pretty cool. Oh yeah, so when they get older, 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.880 maybe that's a plan I make. Yeah, yeah, till oh 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:12.720 my god, my mind just went to the end of 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:16.480 saving Private Ryan. Oh again, gonna get Dusty in here. 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:17.880 I don't know if I've seen the end of Be 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:21.760 Honest with You, Um, the end is uh. One of 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:24.920 the characters in the movie spoiler alert, who who's there 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:27.400 at the cemetery with his grandkids, I think it is 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:29.760 and talks about the men who are lost and talks 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:33.360 about just wanting to be having lived a life worthy 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:37.920 of surviving um and worthy of them that was lost, 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:42.000 that we're lost. It's incredibly moving, touching, and again, if 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:44.000 you want to check out that rebroadcast. We have the 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:50.320 link for yet armstrong and Getty dot com extra large. 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:53.240 When you're ready to ride Metro, we want you to 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:55.880 know we're ready for you. Here are just a few 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:57.720 of the people at Metro to tell you how we're 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:01.440 doing our part to keep riders safe. Cleaning like nouble before, 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.560 but half built a great clean You've found half stand 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:08.240 towns of stations all over the Metro. No mask, no 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.520 Metro need one. We have a few extras at Metro. 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:14.360 We're doing our part to keep the d C area moving. 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:17.199 Find out more at wilmata dot com slash doing our 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:17.520 part