This week marks the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Landings at Normandy. This amphibious

allied effort comprised a joint effort between British, Canadian and American troops. Operation

Overlord was massive in scope and required effectively launching 12,000 planes and 7,000

vehicles, landing 24,000 paratroopers into enemy territory and transporting 160,000 troops

across the English Channel, down to over 50 miles of beaches. To commemorate this epic

operation, I talked to historian Alex Kurshaw about his latest book, The First Wave,

D-Day Warriors Who Let The Way To Victory in World War II. We began our conversation with

the context of the invasion and how the plans for began years before 1944. Alex then walks

us through the pre-dawn missions that paved the way for the larger invasion in the morning

and how peristedly close the first missions came to failing. Along the way, he tells the

stories of individual men who took part in the sweeping operation, including Frank

Lilliman, the first paratrooper to land in Normandy, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., a 56-year-old

general and son of President Theodore Roosevelt, and Lord Love It, the Scottish Commando

who brought along his personal backpiper, the pipe the British Commando's ashore on

D-Day. Alex and I discuss why only four medals of honor and one Victoria Cross were

awarded on D-Day despite the high number of heroic acts performed that day by ordinary

men placed in extraordinary circumstances. We inter-conversation discussing the legacy

of D-Day, three-fourths of a century later. After shows over, check out our show notes

at a-o-m dot-i-s slash D-Day. Alex joins you now via ClearCast dot-i-o.

All right, Alex Kirschau, welcome back to the show.

Great to be with you.

So we had you on last time to talk about your book The Liberator, the 45th Infantry Division

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