WEBVTT

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- He didn't talk much, like most veterans

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from World War II, they don't talk a lot.

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I would love to know exactly
where he was driving around.

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I would like to know
exactly where he fought.

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I would like to know the
names of his friends,

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that probably died here, you know.

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I would like all those answers.

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(melancholy music)

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Basically, I joined the army in 1969.

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I did everything in the airborne.

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I was a sergeant. I was a jump master.

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I've got over a hundred jumps.

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Then I went to the 82nd Airborne.

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It was my time in the 82nd Airborne,

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that I realized something.

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My father was in the 82nd
Airborne, and you know,

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like I said, I started
asking him questions,

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and you know, I found pictures of him.

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I'm here now, and I'm retracing
the footsteps of my father.

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He was in the 82nd Airborne,
325 Glider Infantry,

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and I was in the First
Battalion of the 505th infantry.

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Both of these units have
some extensive history

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right here in Sainte-Mère-Église.

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This is the tough one right here,

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if you come here and you
understand what's going on here,

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then the rest of it's
going to be easy, you know?

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'Cause those guys, you know,
they fought their butts off.

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(melancholy music)

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We went over to La Fiere
Bridge, pretty much.

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This is, now I know,
this is where my dad is,

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this is where my dad landed,

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this is where my dad fought
and I'm thinking to myself,

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"Was he there or was he
over here?" You know?

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Well, it doesn't really
matter whether he was there

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or over here, he was here at this area

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and he was fighting over this bridge

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and trying to make
things happen, you know?

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They had to capture the bridge,

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they had to move their
soldiers across the bridge,

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the had to take the land.

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(reflective music)

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It brings it all back to you,

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it just brings it back to you, you know?

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It's like, "Holy cow, I'm feeling,

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hopefully I'm feeling what my dad felt

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about the people and all
this, the area here."

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You know, he survived but a lot

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of his friends didn't survive.

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To read what happened and
how many people were killed

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trying to take this area, you know,

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it's almost too much to fathom,

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it's just too much to handle
because you're looking at this

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and you're thinking the price that we paid

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to try to take this place.

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(reflective music)

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If my dad was here I'm
sure he would be impressed

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by what has happened.

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I'm sure he'd be impressed
by the idea that in fact

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the people here, the generations

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after the initial people that lived here

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are still keeping the
history alive, you know?

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It's the French, you
have to thank the French

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for doing this.

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I've been all over the world
and I have never been anywhere

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where I see so many American
flags and so many monuments

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for the American soldiers that died here.

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Do you remember this?
Do you remember that?

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Do you remember this?

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I'd love to just take him
and just show him around

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and say, "Look what you got here.

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Look what your generation did."

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There's nothing I would do differently,

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it's just a super way to see this place.

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Like I said, it's just an
emotional thing to come here.

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If you're a paratrooper this is like,

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the Mecca of the Airborne, right here.

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This is where it is, this is what happens,

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this is the history of it right here.

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It's all wrapped up
right here in Normandy.

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(reflective music)