WEBVTT 00:00.939 --> 00:04.650 Glan Ralph gold sticker memories 00:04.659 --> 00:07.599 bring back uh , what I remember I've 00:07.610 --> 00:10.350 been here before the American Cemetery 00:10.359 --> 00:12.415 was the thing that impressed me more 00:12.415 --> 00:15.270 than anything else . And this 00:15.590 --> 00:17.757 impossible job they did here . I don't 00:17.757 --> 00:20.840 know how they did it . I had it easy . 00:20.850 --> 00:24.379 I was a bomb of deer and a B 17 . And 00:24.389 --> 00:27.680 we , I flew to missions on D day . In 00:27.690 --> 00:29.912 the morning , we bombed a heavy gun and 00:29.912 --> 00:33.000 placement between Khan and Sword Beach . 00:33.549 --> 00:35.549 And then in the afternoon we bombed 00:35.549 --> 00:37.819 Argentine about 30 miles south of the 00:37.830 --> 00:41.500 beaches , uh railroad junction to keep 00:41.509 --> 00:44.930 uh Germans bring their troops forward . 00:45.729 --> 00:49.169 I was 14.5 hours the day , but there 00:49.180 --> 00:51.347 was nothing compared to what was going 00:51.347 --> 00:53.450 on there around . We , I had an easy 00:53.459 --> 00:57.349 long day but I can't imagine what they 00:57.360 --> 00:59.659 go . Ground troops are going through 01:00.099 --> 01:02.540 and being here . It's even more 01:02.880 --> 01:05.099 incredible that we did what we did 01:06.190 --> 01:09.370 there . I was a tourist about 40 years 01:09.379 --> 01:12.449 ago and it wasn't as big thing as it is 01:12.459 --> 01:15.870 now . I mean , I've had 80 years of 01:15.879 --> 01:18.470 life that the other fellows did not 01:18.480 --> 01:22.129 have . I've had a family , three sons 01:22.139 --> 01:24.472 and grandchildren , great grandchildren . 01:24.660 --> 01:28.589 And these 400,000 laws in the world did 01:28.599 --> 01:31.040 not have an opportunity to do that . So , 01:31.290 --> 01:33.346 that's the thing I remember that I'm 01:33.346 --> 01:35.449 here and unfortunately they aren't . 01:35.459 --> 01:37.459 And I've had a full life which they 01:37.459 --> 01:39.681 didn't have , they didn't get married , 01:39.690 --> 01:42.839 they didn't had nothing . So , I think 01:42.849 --> 01:44.905 about them more than anything else . 01:45.930 --> 01:48.050 Well , it's not my memory . It's a 01:48.089 --> 01:50.599 history for the other people . You know 01:50.610 --> 01:53.629 what we did , not me . But every , well , 01:53.639 --> 01:57.010 there's 16 million in the armed forces 01:57.160 --> 01:59.199 and everyone had a job and all this 01:59.209 --> 02:02.199 important whether clerk for us to get 02:02.209 --> 02:06.029 off the ground . We had a truck driver 02:06.040 --> 02:08.000 bringing gasoline in the armor , 02:08.009 --> 02:11.380 bringing , putting the bombs in uh the 02:11.389 --> 02:14.490 weather man , the medics that everybody , 02:14.500 --> 02:17.149 the clerks that wrote the orders , 02:17.970 --> 02:21.940 all 16 million I think had made us 02:22.639 --> 02:26.419 what we did to . This is 02:26.429 --> 02:29.050 the counter pin from the first bomb I 02:29.059 --> 02:32.770 dropped on D day . Uh The bombs are not 02:32.779 --> 02:36.490 armed when they put aboard and the 02:36.500 --> 02:39.669 counter pin holds a vein in place . And 02:39.679 --> 02:43.110 once we read this and the bomb leaves 02:43.119 --> 02:46.350 the plane , the vein spins off and the 02:46.360 --> 02:48.380 detonator can hit the explosive and 02:48.399 --> 02:52.029 it's around . So this is the pin that 02:54.320 --> 02:56.830 10 from first bomb to legal ship . 02:56.839 --> 03:00.490 297222 on D day . June 03:00.500 --> 03:04.149 6th , 1944 RPG . That's the 03:04.570 --> 03:07.770 time 658 it was 03:08.539 --> 03:11.399 the invasions on and were bombing and 03:11.660 --> 03:13.619 nothing different and this is my 03:13.649 --> 03:17.279 seventh grade mission on D day at 03:17.289 --> 03:20.800 235 altogether and bombing me 03:22.309 --> 03:25.509 all , I guess the major towns in 03:25.520 --> 03:28.869 Germany , Berlin Leipzig , Munich 03:28.880 --> 03:32.130 Stuttgart , Schreiter , Regensburg and 03:32.199 --> 03:36.179 Dusseldorf and Breman . Name them . II , 03:36.190 --> 03:40.100 I flew 2020 into Germany and 03:40.110 --> 03:43.889 14 into France and one into Denmark for 03:43.899 --> 03:47.880 my 35 mission . Well , we're free 03:47.889 --> 03:50.111 and have democracy and we wouldn't have 03:50.111 --> 03:53.440 had it if we hadn't won . Uh , it's 03:53.449 --> 03:57.309 important for the kids I see out here 03:57.320 --> 03:59.419 are the same age as I was when I was 03:59.429 --> 04:03.294 flying . I was 22 or CO PT was just 04:03.304 --> 04:06.725 20 . The pilot was just 22 . Our 04:06.735 --> 04:09.735 governors were all 19 . So 04:11.104 --> 04:13.524 they , I forget what right . They said 04:13.535 --> 04:15.591 this morning it's up to them to keep 04:15.591 --> 04:19.484 our freedom . We did it before , but we 04:19.494 --> 04:22.195 can't have to keep fighting . I won't 04:22.204 --> 04:26.089 say fighting but be ready and keeping 04:26.100 --> 04:29.320 ourselves free or just being able , 04:29.329 --> 04:31.640 being able to honor those that came 04:31.649 --> 04:33.705 before us and those lost their lives 04:33.705 --> 04:36.820 there . And I think with the ceremony 04:36.970 --> 04:39.026 that sort of honoring those people . 04:41.619 --> 04:44.429 No , the only thing , the Air Force we 04:44.440 --> 04:47.690 did our part bombing the German 04:47.700 --> 04:50.700 physicians before D day getting ready 04:50.709 --> 04:54.709 for it . I had bombed Saint Valerie on 04:54.720 --> 04:56.989 the coast and Bologna on the coast . A 04:57.309 --> 05:00.329 bombing placement before a heavy gun 05:00.339 --> 05:03.019 placements before the invasion . So I 05:03.029 --> 05:06.170 think we did our job . We didn't do as 05:06.179 --> 05:08.068 well as we could I guess with the 05:08.068 --> 05:11.559 bunkers they had and the concrete . But 05:12.529 --> 05:14.809 no , it's just , uh , I don't know , 05:15.850 --> 05:19.450 just be able to serve and survive is 05:19.459 --> 05:23.130 the main thing . No , I did my 05:23.140 --> 05:27.100 part and that it was , but 05:27.119 --> 05:29.630 I'm proud of that . I'm proud of the 05:29.640 --> 05:32.450 service I had . Well , we were called 05:32.459 --> 05:35.690 in a briefing originally on about 10 05:35.700 --> 05:38.480 o'clock on the fourth of June and that 05:38.489 --> 05:40.589 was canceled , you know , we called 05:40.600 --> 05:43.420 back at 10 o'clock on the fifth of June 05:43.920 --> 05:46.459 and said the invasion was on , as I 05:46.470 --> 05:48.920 said , we took off at two o'clock and 05:48.929 --> 05:51.096 there's so many planes in the sky , we 05:51.096 --> 05:53.309 had to fly to Scotland come back down 05:53.320 --> 05:55.989 and three bombers three hit the beaches . 05:56.420 --> 05:59.119 And they said earlier , my target was 05:59.130 --> 06:01.869 the heavy gun in place of between Sword 06:01.880 --> 06:05.549 Beach and K and we did 06:05.559 --> 06:08.670 drop £500 bombs that day . And then in 06:08.679 --> 06:11.230 the afternoon , we a real jo we dropped 06:11.260 --> 06:14.709 £100 bombs and to disrupt the 06:15.040 --> 06:17.529 transportation coming in from the south . 06:18.130 --> 06:20.869 I was in there 14.5 hours D day and 06:21.440 --> 06:23.496 they said it was nothing compared to 06:23.496 --> 06:26.880 what was going on on the beaches for 06:26.890 --> 06:30.720 the memorable day . But at that 06:30.730 --> 06:32.786 time , it was just another mission . 06:34.239 --> 06:36.239 Now , uh during your missions , was 06:36.239 --> 06:38.350 there much anti aircraft fire or none 06:38.350 --> 06:42.059 at all on due date ? Uh I 06:42.070 --> 06:44.181 think we only lost a couple of planes 06:44.181 --> 06:47.950 all day . Uh As you 06:47.959 --> 06:50.869 mentioned earlier , the eighth Air 06:50.880 --> 06:52.859 Force and ninth Air Force had two 06:52.869 --> 06:55.799 missions . One to destroy the German 06:55.940 --> 06:58.869 ability to launch war and the other was 06:58.880 --> 07:02.600 knocked down the lof . So we have , uh , 07:02.679 --> 07:05.329 air supremacy or the beaches on D day . 07:06.179 --> 07:09.359 And we did that part as far as 07:09.369 --> 07:13.130 destroying the German go , the big war . 07:13.140 --> 07:15.690 They were just very good at what 07:15.700 --> 07:18.630 they're doing . Albert Spe , their 07:18.649 --> 07:21.239 industrious just moved everything out 07:21.250 --> 07:24.010 of the cities up to them , suburbs . 07:24.750 --> 07:28.250 And that's why the railroad bombing was 07:28.260 --> 07:32.209 so important . We really had four major 07:32.220 --> 07:34.829 targets , oil refineries , uh , 07:34.839 --> 07:38.279 aircraft plants , railroad junctions 07:38.290 --> 07:41.130 and ball bearing plants . Those are 07:41.140 --> 07:42.519 primary targets .