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Speaker 1: When you're ready to ride Metro, we want you to

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Speaker 1: know we're ready for you. Here are just a few

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Speaker 1: of the people at Metro to tell you how we're

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Speaker 1: doing our part to keep riders safe. We're cleaning like

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Speaker 1: Neville before to the great clean. You're found halts out

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Speaker 1: of thouse of statist all over the Metro. No mask,

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Speaker 1: no Metro need one. We have a few extras at Metro.

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Speaker 1: We're doing our part to keep the DC area moving.

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Speaker 1: Find out more at Well nota dot com slash doing

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Speaker 1: our part the Armstrong and Jetty show. That was not

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Speaker 1: one man in all a true but what plage all

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Speaker 1: we had waged for that day through five long years

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Speaker 1: of war. We knew that many would not return. But

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Speaker 1: all a hot spread. Oh we aloun? Oh Well, that's

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Speaker 1: Jim Radford singing what is the number one song on

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Speaker 1: Amazon Singles chart. He was fifteen on a ship's galley

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Speaker 1: on June, making him the youngest No known D Day veteran.

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Speaker 1: And it is all our luck that he can carry

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Speaker 1: a tune. Yeah, I decided to sing a song, but

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Speaker 1: that that is that is some song. We have actually

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Speaker 1: decided we're gonna play the whole song at the end

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Speaker 1: of the show. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty good luck keeping

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Speaker 1: a dry eye. We're joined now by a good friend

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Speaker 1: of the Armstrong and Getty Show, Mike Clients, military analyst

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Speaker 1: for CBS News Major Mike Clients significantly, Mike, how are you, sir?

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Speaker 1: Good morning guys. Great to be back to you today

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Speaker 1: of all day. So it's it's always a pleasure. So

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Speaker 1: as a man who has actually commanded troops UM in combat,

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Speaker 1: what do you think of when you think of D Day?

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Speaker 1: What what thoughts spring to mind? Yeah? I think, first

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Speaker 1: of all Dwight Eisenhower and how he was the right

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Speaker 1: person at the right place, at the right time in

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Speaker 1: history for the job, and about how powerful he was

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Speaker 1: to make the decision that he made, UM getting input

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Speaker 1: from all the other commanders. There's a big report this

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Speaker 1: morning on the weatherman about how we had an advantage

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Speaker 1: on the weather in terms of when we knew this

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Speaker 1: the slight window of when the military operation had to

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Speaker 1: take place in order for it to succeed, and how

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Speaker 1: the thrust of that was on his shoulders to make

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Speaker 1: that decision, and how as soon as he made that

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Speaker 1: decision to go, delayed it for a day and then

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Speaker 1: the next day said okay, we'll go makes that decision,

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Speaker 1: and he goes whim being the most powerful man in

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Speaker 1: the world, it's really the most power less many it

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Speaker 1: has no power. Then everything has turned over to the

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Speaker 1: local commanders to execute on the mission. And those men

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Speaker 1: that day seventy five years ago today executed it perfectly,

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Speaker 1: um with vehicles that were newly invented, with airplanes that

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Speaker 1: were just built against an enemy to save, to save tyranny,

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Speaker 1: for incivilization, for what we know. I believe June is

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Speaker 1: the most significant day in the twentieth century, and had

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Speaker 1: gone any differently, we would not see the world we

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Speaker 1: have today. Jack mentioned some of the numbers behind the

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Speaker 1: D Day invasion. Uh in the last hour, the fifty

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Speaker 1: three hundred ships, eleven thousand airplanes, a hundred and seventy

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Speaker 1: five thousand men deposited in one area basically overnight, with

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Speaker 1: fifty thousand vehicles of all types. It's just astonishing now,

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Speaker 1: it is, And you think of all those conditions that

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Speaker 1: went into that, and how um you know, we dropped

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Speaker 1: airplanes and gliders and you know, men landed in fields

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Speaker 1: six hours before twelve thirty one o'clock in the morning,

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Speaker 1: and St. Mary Blaze and places of the airborne troops

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Speaker 1: jumped in from the sky against boets that were there,

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Speaker 1: and um, you know, the whole whole ships. Unfortunately we're

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Speaker 1: sunk in the channel, never made it out and then

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Speaker 1: whenever even got out of their boats. The level of

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Speaker 1: sacrifice again, it was just amazing, I think. And you

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Speaker 1: look at movies like Saving Private Ryan, you see what

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Speaker 1: what that sacrifice you seem to be getting of how

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Speaker 1: that that was something that's always with me, and um,

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Speaker 1: it is the logistical the wind up of that fist

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Speaker 1: never could take couldn't do that again today because you

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Speaker 1: wouldn't have the same element of to rise le be impossible. Well,

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Speaker 1: and you can speak with much more authorities than I

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Speaker 1: can on this topic, but you have the contrast between

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Speaker 1: the astounding, the nearly incomprehensible sophistication of the planning and

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Speaker 1: then the moment the paratroopers were in the fields and

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Speaker 1: the troops hit the beach. To quote Colonel Paul Good

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Speaker 1: who was breaking the seventy fifth Infantry Regiment, twenty ninth

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Speaker 1: Infantry Division, he said, get your ass on the beach.

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Speaker 1: I'll be there waiting for you, and I'll tell you

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Speaker 1: what to do. There ain't anything in this plan that's

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Speaker 1: going to go right. And so the minute you meet

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Speaker 1: the enemy, then it's overcoming obstacles, it's it's changing on

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Speaker 1: the fly, it's creativity and and and you know, and

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Speaker 1: made the better force prevail. Yeah. And one thing that

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Speaker 1: our enemies, the Russians and the Germans say about American

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Speaker 1: forces back then is we don't pay attention to our

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Speaker 1: doctrine and that you're right. Once we hit the beach

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Speaker 1: and once the plan uh in east enemy contact, everything

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Speaker 1: goes out the window and it's down to American initiative

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Speaker 1: and wherewithal. And that's really what separates our country. I

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Speaker 1: saw it when I was in command in battle, and

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Speaker 1: I see it every day. And how we train, it's

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Speaker 1: one of the undercurrents of how I think we raise

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Speaker 1: our our children. It's it's part of our athletic department,

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Speaker 1: it's all, it's all part of our culture that Americans

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Speaker 1: will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

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Speaker 1: We had great intent that day. The intent, to your point,

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Speaker 1: was take that beach and don't give it up. Once

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Speaker 1: we did it, in a hundred men made sure that

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Speaker 1: was the case. So I was watching the NBA Finals

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Speaker 1: last night. There was some analysis where they were saying,

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Speaker 1: you know, to win a championship, you gotta have a

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Speaker 1: really good play and it just takes some luck. And

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Speaker 1: all the people that had won championships agreed that you

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Speaker 1: gotta have some luck on your side. What luck did

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Speaker 1: we have on our side of the allies for this

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Speaker 1: to happen? Aside from the weather, which is a pretty

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Speaker 1: big deal. Yeah, I think the luck was one thing

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Speaker 1: didn't go wrong. Um, you know, if one major aspect

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Speaker 1: of it in any big operation, there's always the one

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Speaker 1: or two lynch pins that if you pull those things out,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't happen. We talked about nine eleven for example.

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Speaker 1: If one stewards just say, hey, these guys look kind

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Speaker 1: of funny in first place, first first class, something's going

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Speaker 1: on with these guys and pull those guys aside, the

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Speaker 1: whole operation falls apart. So that's what didn't happen, Dur Indeed,

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Speaker 1: there was not you know there was in a hidden

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Speaker 1: German tank division that was on the horizon, uh, because

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Speaker 1: that's what it would have taken. Another you know, a

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Speaker 1: couple of three and sixty four German tanks could have

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Speaker 1: changed the entire picture of what happened that day. They

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Speaker 1: could have read Cavoc along the beach and could have

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Speaker 1: saw those American, Canadian and Bruce forces back into the sea.

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Speaker 1: That's where we got lucky. There was not that one

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Speaker 1: lynch pin that when you pulled it out, the operation

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Speaker 1: totally changed. Well, and getting back to the weather, my

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Speaker 1: understanding of it was that the meteorologists told you can

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Speaker 1: probably do it on June six, looks okay, and he said,

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Speaker 1: all right, let's do it. And they also told him listen,

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Speaker 1: a week from today it ought to be great. And

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Speaker 1: as it turns out, a week from today turned out

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Speaker 1: to be the most severe windstorm ever seen in that region.

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Speaker 1: They just got it that wrong. And if I get said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we can wait a week, I mean that's that might

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Speaker 1: have turned human history. Yeah it could. As it also

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Speaker 1: was the moon. They wanted to make sure that the

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Speaker 1: moon was right. You attack it dawn as the sun

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Speaker 1: comes up in the enemy's space, and and having the

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Speaker 1: moonlight to travel along the channel was something that was

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Speaker 1: important to him. So the moon would have been left

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Speaker 1: a week later there too, but and he already delated today.

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Speaker 1: And that's the thing having been in a combat zone

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Speaker 1: where we had the same thing. We were D minus

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Speaker 1: two and we were put on hold back in desert storm.

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Speaker 1: I could tell you this, when you're when you're leaning forward,

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Speaker 1: ready to go, when you're on your vehicles and all

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Speaker 1: of a sudden you get told to wait. Uh, that

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Speaker 1: creates a whole different situation. Now you multiplied that by

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Speaker 1: a hundred thousand troops, that's a pretty significant waiting period.

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Speaker 1: He knew those troops around those ships. He knew they

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Speaker 1: were going to be seasick if they didn't get moving,

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Speaker 1: so he only could wait only twenty four hours. There

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Speaker 1: seems to be a lack of understanding of what happened

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Speaker 1: after June six, as the battle for Normandy went on

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Speaker 1: for two and a half months and a lot of

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Speaker 1: people died. It's called the breakout of sat Low, and

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Speaker 1: that just has to do with the kind of terrain

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Speaker 1: that was there and how the Germans were able to

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Speaker 1: reinforce some of their units. We were not able to

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Speaker 1: get enough equipment there and and to figure and to

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Speaker 1: figure out a place to again break that front line

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Speaker 1: and move in a direction due east at the time,

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Speaker 1: head first to Paris and then eventually through the Rhine,

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Speaker 1: across the Rhine into into Berlin, but it took on

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Speaker 1: him a couple of weeks um they were trying to

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Speaker 1: get through the middle of July, so D Days in June.

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Speaker 1: By the end of July August the breakout starts to

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Speaker 1: take place, and then Operation Market Garden the Battle and

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Speaker 1: arn And takes place in in September, which was unfortunately

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Speaker 1: failure from the Allies perspective. It was the plan from

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Speaker 1: the Brits in order to try to end the war quickly.

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Speaker 1: That was a movie at Bridge too Far. But but

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Speaker 1: again it was some heavy battles that took place along

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Speaker 1: the sat Low area that took place after D Day, right,

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Speaker 1: I think what's forgotten what Jack was pointing out is

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Speaker 1: the the amphibious assault and the paratroopers. The rest of

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Speaker 1: it was to give us a chance to retake France,

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Speaker 1: and once the assault was success us full then commenced

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Speaker 1: the many weeks long battle which was terribly, terribly costly.

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Speaker 1: And so I just don't want people who are you know,

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Speaker 1: casual fansy history to think, okay, so we uh we

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Speaker 1: we landed on the beach and beat the Germans and

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Speaker 1: then just went and enjoyed some champagne in Paris. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't like that at all. It was just yeah, Paris

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Speaker 1: was liberated to the summer, and you didn't have the

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Speaker 1: day until April of you you had ended up again

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Speaker 1: Market Garden. The US lost a couple hundred thousand troops

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Speaker 1: between d A and the end of at the end

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Speaker 1: of the war in Europe to Battle of the Bulls.

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Speaker 1: It took place in um in December. So you follow

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Speaker 1: Echo Company first of the five or fifth Banded Brothers

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Speaker 1: who follow one of those units, and you can see

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Speaker 1: they did. They endure tremendous hardship from the second that

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Speaker 1: they landed on D Day, and those guys in particular

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Speaker 1: parachuted in well miclines. We appreciate you coming on today

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Speaker 1: to give your perspective, and I guess we all hope

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Speaker 1: that we never have a day that that best that

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Speaker 1: in terms of defending the free world. Yeah, Mike guy,

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, We've got like twenty seconds left, so we

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Speaker 1: went there on today day like today, just be an

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Speaker 1: American worth fighting for because some men died for us.

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Speaker 1: It's five years ago today and that's what we've gotta

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Speaker 1: live our lives right now. And are still doing it today.

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Speaker 1: Don't forget that. My clients, thank you so much, are

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Speaker 1: strong and getty. When you're ready to ride Metro, we

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Speaker 1: want you to know we're ready for you. Here are

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Speaker 1: just a few of the people at Metro to tell

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Speaker 1: you how we're doing our part to keep riders safe.

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Speaker 1: Were cleaning before the Great Queen. You've found half down

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Speaker 1: of thousand stat no masks, no Metro need one. We

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Speaker 1: have a few extras at Metro. We're doing our part

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Speaker 1: to keep the DC area moving. Find out more at

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Speaker 1: well mata dot com, slash doing our part