-Hi, I'm Dr. Rob Citino the Samuel Zemurray Stone
Senior Historian here at The National WWII Museum
in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Here with my good friend, Dr. Nick Mueller,
co-founder, President, CEO Emeritus of the Museum.
Nick, good to see you.
-Glad to be here, and glad to be talking in The National WWII Museum.
Originally The National D-Day Museum,
so that's appropriate, and here we are. -Here we are, where it all began.
We're here to talk about your new book today, "Everything We Have,"
it's about D-Day.
As you know, Nick, the term D in D-Day it's merely a placeholder.
When you don't know the date of a military operation,
you call the first day D-Day.
Why of all the operations in World War II is June 6, 1944,
why does it have that reputation as the D-Day?
-Well, it always will be the D-Day because it was one of the great climactic battles
of World War II,
and really all of the world history,
human history, and there were over 130 of them.
This D-Day was something different, and everybody knew it
because it was the pivot point of the war in Europe.
It was the pivot point, perhaps of the entire war,
because if we had lost, the Allies had lost that amphibious assault,
all would have been different.
Some say it was the pivot point of the whole 20th Century.
Everything before that moment,
that battle was different than everything that followed.
-Nick, the title of the book,
"Everything We Have," I couldn't help but notice that. Tell us about it.
-"Everything We Have"
is taken from a talk that Supreme Commander General Eisenhower
had with his commanders,
just a few weeks before the D-Day invasion.
He just said to his men, he said,
''Men, we're going to throw everything we have into this battle.''
That title connotes both the tension, the drama,
the sacrifice that was about to happen
as he launched the biggest invasion in world history.
160,000 troops, 11,000 aircraft, 5,000 ships
all timed and coordinated to hit the beaches at 6:30 in the morning on D-Day,
with the paratroopers coming in right after midnight.
So just think leading up to that moment,
there were millions of people working secretly on the top classification
and getting ready for this exact moment.
-If it's everything they have, it's not like there's a second chance, is there?
-There was no alternate plan, as Eisenhower said.
Everything was at stake,
it was the biggest gamble in military history,
and in world history.
Loss of that battle could ultimately have meant the delay in winning the war
or maybe losing the war.
-Nick, personal stories and artifacts, they're at the heart,
the core of this museum's educational mission.
D-Day was such a massive operation, and you've now written a book about it
but what's unique about this book is that it deals with these personal stories.
Is there one individual, one artifact that sticks with you
as you think about writing "Everything We Have?"
-Well, yes, this is a letter Gordon,
Olsand, an artillery officer, wrote to his wife three days, June 3, before the D-Day landing.
-She wouldn't have received it by D-Day?
-She wasn't going to receive it and he knew that
it's a very poignant-- He didn't make it.
He's writing, and he says, "To my beautiful wife Chickie,''
and then he says, "It's almost midnight on June 3,"
"I want you to remember that date."
"I'm going to get my first real test as an officer very shortly my sweet."
"I don't know just how I'll react to it"
"but at the present, I'm very calm."
"Chickie, when you get this letter, it will be old news,"
"and you will know what the score is."
"Honey, I'm with a wonderful bunch of men,"
"and they are all in the best spirits and morale is high."
He says, "Good night my sweets."
"PS: If anything should happen to me honey, please pay H.J the $25 I owe him."
-An honorable man to the end.
-Just think of that, and he died on D-Day, so she got this letter.
She knew the score. -Never saw his Chickie again.
-No,
but these kinds of artifacts,
photographs from the museum collection surround these personal stories
that are in this book, "Everything We Have."
-Thanks, Nick.
I'd like to invite everyone to explore Dr. Mueller's new book and our website.
The book will take you back to a time
when America and its allies were truly prepared to give everything they have
in defense of freedom.