RADIOSeptember 09, 2024

WHAT did the FBI know before the Apalachee High School tragedy?

Once again, a killer was on the FBI’s radar. Glenn and Stu review the latest details about the Apalachee High School shooting, including some odd ones: Why is the 14-year-old killer’s father being charged? What happened after the FBI interviewed the family over a year ago? Why do we even have an FBI if all they do is spy on us illegally “for our own safety” and then fail to keep us safe?! And how do we already know so much about this killer when we still barely know anything about the attempted Trump assassin?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Let's just assume, okay.

That you don't know anything about the -- the Georgia shooter, that went in and -- and murdered a bunch of people.

Just this week. Now, here's the headline. Now, Stu, I want you to do this with me. Pretend you don't know anything about this story. Okay? Other than some kid went this and shot.

STU: Terrible story.

GLENN: Here it is. Dad of alleged school shooter. Colt Gray. Arrested. Hit with murder and man slaughter charges.

What's your first emotion? What are you feeling?

STU: Anger. Anger at the father.

GLENN: At the father.

STU: Father and the son. Did he help plan this? Did he -- did he encourage it?

You know, it they have the texts of him saying, go do it, son?

What do they have on him?

GLENN: See. My first thought was, crimes that the son commits. You don't hold the father for. Or crimes of the father. You don't hold on the son.

That was my first reaction. Like, what are we doing now?

Okay? Colin Gray 54, charged with four counts of manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder. And eight counts of cruelty to children. This is according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

This is the day after his 14-year-old son Colt Gray was charged with murder. The charges come after it was revealed that dad purchased an AR-15-style rifle to give to his son as a Christmas gift last year.

What's your emotion? What are you thinking?

STU: I mean, I can't believe he would do such a thing. Obviously, he wanted this to happen. This is what I'm supposed to feel.

GLENN: I got my first gun from my grandfather when I was 12. Try not to hurt yourself. Okay.

Try not to --

STU: That was a different era.

GLENN: My family.

STU: That's the era where they built the playgrounds with the 42-foot ladders with --

GLENN: With rocks. With no nets.

STU: Yes. That was that era.

GLENN: That's when we lived. That's when children lived. All right.

These charges. Now, I'm thinking to myself. Oh, now, this is another way to get guns. Because I can get my son a gun, as long as it's legal.

I can give him a gun.

I don't know what the laws are in Georgia.

These charges stem from Mr. Gray knowingly, allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon. Colt received the deadly present from his father, just seven months.

Now, things are going to change pretty hard.

He got his deadly present from his father. Just seven months after authorities visited the pair, when the FBI received tips about online school shooting threats.

So wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.

Dad gave him a gun after the FBI was at the house. Now I'm thinking that the dad is a total dirtbag and deserves everything.

Except, I also wonder -- now, wait a minute. The FBI knew about this kid. This is a roller coaster ride.

Okay. Colin Gray told the police at the time, that he had hunting guns at his home. But said Colt did not have unsupervised access to them.

Okay. The teen also denied making the threats. Oh. So it didn't happen then. Colt Gray allegedly gunned down two fellow students and two teachers, when he opened fire at the school on Wednesday morning. Those killed were students. Blah, blah, blah. Nine others. Seven students and two teachers were hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

Barrow County sheriff Judge Smith said, Thursday night, he was happy to reveal that all of those injured will make a full recovery.

Okay. The disturbed teenager came from a broken home. Now, this is the information that the FBI had, months before the -- the shooting.

The disturbed teenager came from a broken home. Where he and his sisters were regularly abused by their troubled mother, and visited frequently by police and child services.

Colt's mother, 43-year-old Marcy gray. Forty-three. Has a lengthy rap sheet. Spanning 17 years. And four Georgia counties.

Including arrest for drug possession, driving under the influence, and domestic violence. Lauren Vickers who lived next door to the Grays and Jefferson, said the children were always wearing dirty clothes and sometimes were hungry. It was constant abuse, she said.

Colt's aunt, Annie Brown told the Washington Post, that her nephew was struggling with mental health issues. And was, quote, begging for help from everyone around him, before he shot up the school.

Okay. Okay.

I think we know what happened here. Okay? I think we got a pretty good handle.

So I want to ask: Why do we have an FBI?

Why do we have one? You know, they're spying on us illegally, for our own safety. But I don't think it is for our safety.

You know, because they're not protecting us. Listen, Georgia school shooting, suspect, on FBI radar, since 2023.

How about this one?

FBI got a tip about shooting suspect before the -- the day before the 2021 arrest. Suspect shooter and attacks on Jewish men, was on FBI's radar.

I'm just reading headlines from the past. Iowa mass shooter on FBI's radar.

The Highland Park shooting highlights limitations in pursuing disturbing content online.
Ohio man was on the FBI's radar for months. Officials say, Ricky Schiffler, 42, was killed after hours after trying to breach an FBI office.

Main police were alerted weeks ago, about the shooters threats. Suspect in double homicide, kidnapping was on FBI's radar.

What went wrong? FBI missed signals in four mass shootings. What the hell are they -- they doing?

What are they doing? I mean, you know what, I think we should just have their radar.

I think that's all we should have. We should just have something. Boop. Boop. Boop. Just show us the radar. That's all we need.

We don't need any humans to man it. It could be running by itself. That radar. Always on their radar.

That could just be running by itself. In a room locked up. And nobody ever sees it.

That's how effective the FBI is on this. So congratulations. I wonder what they're doing. You know, besides arresting grandma. You know, the true villains of the deadliest of all deadly days.

January 6th. By the way, there's a -- there's a new series coming out from the Babylon Bee on January 6th.

Here's a -- here's a little preview. Do you have the preview here?

It's cut -- that's --

VOICE: Nagasaki. The heat of the universe. These are some of the deadliest days in history.

But none of them compare to the most deadliest day, January 6th, 2021.

Coming soon, in the most epic movie event, since Robot Jocks, Left Behind, or maybe even Sunk the Mask.

The Babylon Bee investigates the darkest day in the history of democracy.

VOICE: Where were you on January 6th?

VOICE: In January? Storming the Capitol, baby.

VOICE: Scary stuff like this happened.
(music)

VOICE: Okay.
(music)

GLENN: Just shows a guy moving the podium.

VOICE: So a scale of nine to ten, how terrifying was what you just witnessed?

VOICE: Three? I don't know.

VOICE: We go on location. We bring you 100 percent true facts.

VOICE: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was murdered over seven times.

VOICE: We asked the tough questions.

VOICE: Is it true that you have a Jewish space leader?

VOICE: This is incredibly boring. Can you please explain it to me using Marvel characters.

VOICE: The scariest crooks you'll ever meet.

VOICE: Are you a dangerous insurrection man?

VOICE: Who is asking?

VOICE: We're in. Into the lair of darkness I go. Darkness because these are Republicans, not because --

VOICE: Shame! Shame!
(laughter)

VOICE: This fall, the only way you can save democracy, is by becoming a member of the Babylon Bee. So you can see January 6th.

The most deadliest day.

VOICE: Where were you on January 6th?

VOICE: I was in that mob, that is going into the Capitol.
(laughter)

GLENN: Oh. You know, this is -- they had took something that we should be concerned about.

And just made it into a joke.

It's just a joke now. By -- by -- by calling it the deadliest day, in the history of America. Worst than the Civil War.

Really?

The most dangerous day to democracy. By doing all of that. And then going out and arresting grandmothers. And putting them in jail for two years.

You know, I think. I think they made a joke out of our Justice Department. And our justice system.

Well, that and Hunter Biden, you know, going to court yesterday.

And saying, I want to plead guilty. Without saying I'm guilty.

And the judge saying, no. You can't do that.

All right. Then I'm guilty. I did it. What? The Justice Department say total yolk. A total joke. And you know whose advantage that works out for? People that want to cause chaos? I don't know. I don't know. You know, when you can't arrest people, let me -- let me give you this. Cut -- cut 11. Here's cut 11.

VOICE: Answers about a weekend attack, police say, they found the victim lying in a bed with a pickax, embedded in his skull.

A witness says, that they saw 26-year-old Hanson Hernandez-Moran hitting the victim multiple times, with the farming tool. Hernandez is charged with second-degree attempted murder. And we showed you these pictures, a large police presence. And KPD cruisers lined up outside the home where it happened.

GLENN: What about the --

VOICE: According to the report, Hernandez-Moran ran off, turned himself in to the police at the scene. The victim was transported to UT Medical Center with --

GLENN: But is he a citizen? Yeah. No, you see. This is an illegal. An illegal took a pickax to somebody.

But that's -- you know, that's no big deal. That's really no big deal. You know.

Okay. So we have a few Venezuelan gangs. Do you know that the Venezuelan gangs, do you know that they made themselves apparent to the police, about a year ago?

STU: Here on the radar? Of the police?

GLENN: They were on the FBI radar.

Why? Why has nobody come in and just said, yeah. We're going to take all of these guys out. We're going to put them in prison, or we'll kill them.

But they're not going to do this. No.

I mean, where a-- where is this story?

Where has this story been for a year? Answer: Not with the media. Because they're lying to you. Just like that last story.

She didn't say who that guy was. It is important to say, he's not a citizen.

Let me translate. This wouldn't have happened if we didn't have open borders.

STU: That's why it's good that we have a prosecutor in chief, that can come into the Oval Office.

And she's the only one, Glenn, who has prosecuted cartels. The only one. And that is why we need her in there. The tough on the border, border hawkish Kamala Harris.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's prosecuted the cartels. You know, I'm a little more for Donald Trump, just sending planes with bombs over their compounds.

That's what I'm for. That's what I'm for. No prosecution. We don't have to prosecute them. We know where they live. We know who they are.

Stop -- you know, stop trading in children.

And stop making fentanyl, and shipping it across our border. Or we will deem you an enemy of the United States. Buh-bye.

Now, I would like a justice system. But I don't think we have one right now.

Don't think we have one.

STU: Well --

GLENN: And until we can scare the hell out of the bad guys, we're not going to have much time.

To go through court. You know, for three or four years.

Let's -- let's -- let's make sure that our enemies, that know we're serious. And I think Donald Trump will do that. I think he will do that.

STU: Can I ask a question on this entire series of stories? And perhaps maybe we take a break, and you come back, and we talk about.

GLENN: Well.

STU: The -- like, for example, this case in Georgia. You know what I listened to this morning?

Glenn. What I listened to this morning. Was the audio of the entire conversation, that police had with this kid and his dad. A year ago.

I know about him. I know about his family's history. I'm really -- I've heard about the abusive mom. I've heard about her leaving. I've heard about the Christmas presents he's purchased. I've heard an incredible amount of detail about this case. And great.

Why have I heard almost nothing about the guy who tried to shoot Donald Trump?

GLENN: Well, because he had no footprint. He had no digital footprint, Stu. None whatsoever. None was what. Back in just a minute, with a little more on that.

You know, it was a very disingenuous question, that Stu just posed.

You know, why -- why do I know everything about this shooter, but I don't know really, very much about Nashville?

You know, or the guy who killed the president.

Or tried to kill the president.

You know, we all know, he had no digital footprint.

I mean, there are a lot of teens that have zero footprint.

And even more teens that have secret encrypted accounts with foreign entities, in three different countries.

That happens all the time.

But the real answer on why we don't know, is because they're taking this so seriously, Stu. They're putting the same guy, that was -- was -- and still is, on the -- the Vegas shooting.

They got him on the assassination.

And he also -- I mean, he's got a lot of things going on.

He's also looking into the pipe bombs. At the DNC.

STU: Oh, good.

GLENN: And RNC.

STU: So they were on top of it.

GLENN: Yeah. He's on top of it.

It's Bill.

He's like, oh, no. Another massive case?

All right. It will take me a little bit longer to get this information out.

But I'm the guy. I'm the guy.

So we have our best guy on it.

STU: Bill?

GLENN: Yeah. Bill.

I would like to tell you more about him.

But I can't get that information from the DOJ. Or the FBI.

But rest assured.

It's on their radar.

It's on their radar.

The ONE “forever war” Glenn Beck supports

This Fourth of July, Glenn Beck reveals the only “forever war” he supports. It’s the war Americans have been fighting since our nation’s founding, and we must continue the fight…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Two hundred forty-nine years ago, I think it is tomorrow. Right? Is tomorrow the second, or is it the first?

What day is it today?

So it was 200 -- 249 years ago, tomorrow, that somebody sat alone, in a -- in a one-room hotel room.

And scratched out the words, when in the course of human events. Those are the first six words of a document that is so dangerous!

Still today, so revolutionary.

It was whispered in those candle lit rooms by men who knew. Knew. That if I signed this document, that's a death warrant.

I'm dead!

I'm dead.

But in the course of human events, shh.

Jefferson wrote them!

33 years old. Adams would later say, you do well to revere Jefferson. But he didn't write alone. Basically, I was there too.

And so was Ben Franklin. The ideas were forged in the minds of men like Franklin, who is old enough to know better. And Adams, who was stubborn enough, not to care. And they weren't perfect men. But I love this about the left. They try to make you think.

That you think are perfect. I don't think they were perfect! I mean, Ben Franklin used to walk around naked in his house a lot. That shows, I mean, for as smart as that guy was. It shows, maybe he had a lack of mirrors. But they weren't perfect!

They owned slaves. They argued. They compromised.

How does that make them different than us?
I mean, we should be able to relate to them!

What is it that we tolerate right now?
What is it that we compromise on?

What is it -- what are our failures that future generations are going to go, these people just didn't get it? Perhaps what we should notice is that they, unlike most of us. They were willing to gamble their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

For something that had never, ever been done before. Something entirely new!

The idea that rights don't come from a government, or from a king, or from a parliament.

They don't come from the majority voting. Everyone has certain rights.

You know, for all these people who are, you know -- going in Macy's, and burning down towns. And then stealing clothing. And they're like, because I've been oppressed!

And you can't -- I've got rights, you know.
Yeah. Yeah.

You know who the first people were, to articulate those rights?

You know the only country that actually has stood for those rights?

And we're imperfect!

That idea came from the Founders, that you say you hate.

But the actual rights come from God, which you dismiss!

Think of this. Just ponder this for a second.

That all men are created equal! That their rights are given to them, by a creator.

It's not a political assertion. It's a genius. That's eternal truth!

That's theological dynamite, lobbed straight in to the thrones of Europe.

All over the world, it's still dynamite.

They knew what they were doing.

And I don't mean like, they knew what they were doing.

They had it. No. They knew that the British crown had the largest military force in the world. And these guys, they were farmers. They were printers. They were lawyers. They were a ragtag collection of intellectual and idealists, facing down an empire, where they said, the sun never set on the British empire. Meaning, the colonialism was everywhere!

You could not escape England. And yet, they declared it. We're leaving, without apology!

And they said that when a government becomes destructive of the ends of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness, it's not only the right of the people, it's their duty to throw it off!

Wow. And you know what is amazing? That's not rebellion.

That's -- that's not revolution. That's -- that's responsibility.

That -- that kind of language today, that would have you flagged, shadow banned. Labeled an extremist. In most countries, disappeared!

But that is the foundation of what we call America. The American experiment. And it's that. The American experiment.

And it's just that, an experiment. We didn't know if we could get it right. And we haven't gotten it right. But isn't it worth experimenting?

Isn't it worth trying to get that concept right?

When you fail on that concept, you're like, eh. That's a stupid idea.

That's not a stupid idea. That's the greatest idea of all time.

Why are so many people willing to just quit?

The experiment is self-rule. It's not perfect.

Never has been. Slavery. Jim Crow. Internment camps. Assassinations.

My God! Forgive us, for what we have done.

But at the same time, what nation has done more to correct its own errors?

What people have shed more blood, not for conquest, but for freedom.

Twice in the last century, we crossed oceans. Not to claim territory. But to liberate that territory!

Our sons and daughters fought and bled on foreign soil to push the darkness back, to fight against Naziism and fascism and Communism. And here we are. Here we are today.

After 249 years tomorrow of that experiment, standing at the lip of the very abyss, those men feared.

A godless chaos, rising in the east and a cold atheistic utopia, clawing at the foundations of the Western world. Islamism and Communism, two ideologies that have killed tens of millions of people. Now dressed all in new robes, selling old lies.

And we can't even teach a child where their rights come from. We have replaced Jefferson and Adams with TikTok influencers and bureaucratic groupthink.

We're raising generations to not even know the truth about their own identity.

But to question their identity. And they could be, oh, you're a funny, funny colored unicorn today. What do you want to be tomorrow?

We don't teach them anything about truth, or their inheritance, most importantly. Their inheritance. What good are hot dogs and fireworks, if the soul of the nation is up for auction? What is the meaning in Fourth of July, if we have forgotten the why? If we don't even call it Independence Day anymore. Most people don't even know who we fought against for independence.

They think we fought for its independence! Most people think we fought the South!

And yet, we'll light the sparklers, or blow our fingers off, because we're just that stupid.

This Independence Day weekend, would you do me and yourself and your country a favor, and read the words out loud. Speak the words out loud.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with one another.

And to assume among the powers of earth, the separate, but equal station, to which the laws of nature.

And nature's God entitle them.

A decent respect to the opinions of mankind, requires that they should declare the causes, which impair them to the separation.

What are they saying?

Look, we want to be decent people.

We want to be decent people.

And we have to separate them.

But we believe it's only right that we tell you why we have to separate. And it's not because of all the bad things you've done. We'll get to those later. It's because we're different. And you don't understand. You have been telling us all of these things, we no longer believe in. We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal, and they're endowed by their creator with certain inalienable. Unchangeable rights.

And just among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, government are his instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

My gosh. Read those words. And let your children hear what thinking and courage sounds like.

That to secure these rights, I'm telling you, the king, who thinks that your government was given to you, by God.

And you are the ruler.

And you will tell everybody what to think, what to do. What to buy. What to sell. What to tax. What not to tax. Who gets land. Who doesn't get land.

No, no, no. Government are his instituted among men, deriving their powers, their just powers, from the people. And that government is only there, established by those men to protect the rights that God has given each of those men.

Let them feel the chill, that runs down the spine, when Jefferson writes, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the government, or from the governed. Let them hear the words, of -- of responsibility. What responsibility sounds like, with courage and freedom. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these rights, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

And to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their a lot of and happiness.

In other words, you have the right, you have the responsibility to stop tyrants. And if the government has gone bad, to throw that government off.

But reconstitute a government, that will do a better job at protecting those rights. Not to form a communist government.

Not to do anything else. But you want a new government?

Fine! Let's find the way to make men more free. This is not a metaphor. This is a declaration of war on tyranny in all of its forms.

I mean, I said, yesterday, freedom isn't free.

It was paid for by somebody's blood. But you have to remember, they paid for their freedom, not for our freedom, necessarily.

We -- there comes a time, we have to pay for our freedom. And God forbid, that it comes down to blood.

But at least shake off the apathy. We -- we must renew this promise of this experiment of America.

We need to fight for it as well. An out-of-control government that seeks to rope us into forever wars, over and over again. We're all against forever wars. I'm against it.

I hate them.

But there is one forever war, that is required in a free society. A different kind of forever war.

A war against ourselves, a war against human nature in each of us. Because of human nature, we get fat. We get lazy.

We get tolerant of abuses. Let your children hear you speak these words. And when you speak them, ponder them yourself.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils are sufferable than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms in which they're accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a sign to reduce them under absolute despotism.

It's their right. It's their duty. To throw off such government. And provide new guards for such future security.

In one paragraph, we make the point twice. And they tell us, look, we've studied people.

We know you're going to get fat and lazy and apathetic. And you won't want to do stuff for transient causes. Because this is really not good.

But when push comes to shove. And everything is moving towards absolute despotism. Absolute tyranny. Then you must stand up.

I ask you to ponder this. This particular part, when a long train of abuses and usurpations. Prudence will indeed dictate that governments long established should not be exchanged for light and transient causes.

And accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind is more disposed to suffer while the evils suffer, than to right themselves.

Aren't we exactly the same people, that their experience was talking about?

Aren't we the people that are more disposed to suffer, than to right ourselves? Because we're too comfortable. Or we're too afraid, just to stand up and simply say no to lies.

No!

There is a difference between men and women.

No! Communism is to be feared. It's killed over 100 million people, in the last 100 years.

No!

Muslims aren't bad. Islamism is!

It's evil. No!

You can peacefully protest, any time, any place. And I will fight to the death for your right to do that.

But when you start burn cities down to the ground, no!

We're just a few days away. And we have marked our 249th birthday. Maybe. Just maybe, this year, can we stop asking what America was, and start deciding what America will be?

Where it just slips quietly into history. In the dark of apathy and ignorance.

Because the only thing more dangerous than tyranny is the people who have forgotten what it took to break its chains.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

We need REAL jobs in America — Trump should do THIS now!

It is clear we need to create more productive, high-paying jobs for American citizens. But that doesn't mean bringing back the same exact jobs of the past in massive numbers. It means creating and supporting jobs of the present and future that will better the lives of Americans. Glenn Beck and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts break down exactly what this entails and how President Trump can make it a reality.

Watch Glenn Beck's FULL Interview with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts HERE

The most INCREDIBLE World War II story you’ve NEVER HEARD

One of the biggest American World War II cemeteries in Europe is in a small town in the Netherlands, where thousands of Dutch people continue the tradition to this day of “adopting” a fallen US soldier and checking in on his family. “The Monuments Man” author Robert Edsel joins Glenn Beck to tell this incredible story, which he documents in his new book, “Remember Us.”

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Robert, welcome back to the program. How are you, sir?

ROBERT: Great to talk to you!

GLENN: It's great to talk to you.

Can you remind me? You were on with us, after Monuments Men. And you talked about this great service that is still going on, where people that -- they were still looking for paintings and pieces of art, that had been taken by the Nazis.

And if I remember right, didn't somebody in our -- our own audience reach out to you, and say, I think we found one of those paintings?

ROBERT: Yes, sir. Absolutely.

The Glenn Beck audience. And Glenn Beck, you yourself deserve a lot of credit.

Because I hadn't walked out of your studio last time. You know, in Dallas at Las Colinas.

Headed back to our office at Monuments Men and Women Foundation office, before someone in my office contacted me and said, we've already had a lead, as a result of your interview with Glenn. And it turned out someone whose aunt had been given two paintings during World War II.

She had worked for the government overseeing Germany, and these two paintings were missing.

We were able to identify who the rightful owner was, and get them back.

So it's a great thing that you performed. And, you know, it's a magnificent conclusion, though obviously a very difficult part of history.

GLENN: What was it like to give that back to the family?

ROBERT: It was a deeply moving experience. We -- the foundation found and returned more than 30 works of art, from paintings to documents, ancient books. Tapestries, to museums. Individual collectors, and so on.

And, you know, when we see, oftentimes, the people just stand there, and they cry.

They don't even know what to say. Because they may have worked 50 or 60 years, trying to find some work of art that's been missing. And they haven't had leads. And to -- to see us standing there, with something that belongs to them.

Not asking for anything in return. Don't charge anybody for doing it. Because we feel like everybody who went through World War II already paid enough.

Words -- words just fail. It's just pure gratitude.

GLENN: I can't wait for you to tell this new story.

Tell me the story of the care takers. The care takers of --

ROBERT: Well, it's a story that found me, just as Monuments did.

I have written about -- in the Monuments Men, I told the story of two Monuments Officers who were killed in combat, one British soldier and one American, Walter Huchthausen. And Huchthausen was killed. He once did a last casualty at war. He was killed in the last month of World War II, and is buried in the American benevolence, American cemetery, in Margraten in the Netherlands. I knew that story, and I had made mention of a young girl who was harbored in September '45, asking for the address of his mother, wanting to write her and tell her, that she walked 5 miles, several times a week, from her house to the American military cemetery. It was called then. To put flowers on his grave. Because her family knew them. And they were grief-stricken to know that they were killed.

And I knew that story too. I mentioned that. And then in 2015, the nephew of Huchthausen wrote me and included a photograph of this elderly lady with this crown of white hair. And he said, here's a photo with Frida, and I couldn't place who this was.

I had no idea who it was. And I realized, my God, this is that 19-year-old girl that is still alive. So I flew to England. She married a British soldier after the war. And I went to meet with her. She started showing me photographs of when the American -- Americans liberated her area of the Netherlands.

And all these American soldiers that they knew.

And she said, you know about the American military cemetery.

She said, have you been there?

And I said yes. And she said, so you know about the great adoption program?

And I said, what? She said, the great adoption program.

I said, I have no idea what you're talking about. So I started doing some research on this. And learned, at the end of World War II, our largest World War II cemetery in Europe, was not Normandy. It was the Netherlands American cemetery, where 17,800 boys and a few women buried at this cemetery by May 1946.

And by that time, every single grave had a Dutch person, a local person, who volunteered to be an adaptor of that brave.

Go out there on the first death date of the soldier, Veterans Day, Memorial Day.

And if they had the contact information for the next of kin, send them a photograph of the grave.
And a letter.

Because they realized, it was okay to adopt the bodies of dead boys.

But where the real need was, was to reach across the ocean, into the American homes and try to assuage the grief of the families.

And they knew some of these boys. And I found it the most heartwarming, uplifting, and certainly unique conclusion to a World War II story that I think has been written.

GLENN: So are they still some of them still doing this?

ROBERT: Not some. In fact, there were about -- in 1940, 748.

American families were given the choice to have their loved ones sent home, or to be left overseas in a military cemetery.

The Army had no idea, how many -- how many families would want their boys sent home, and as a consequence, they couldn't tell how many cemeteries they would need.

We thought almost everybody would want to have the families sent home. But it turned out not to be the case. So about 61 percent came home. About 39 percent stayed in Europe, which was about the numbers from World War I.

Although, the numbers in this area, in the Netherlands were higher.

The -- the graves that are there now.

There are 10,000 boys there. And four women.

8300 graves. 1700 names on the walls of the missing.

Every one of them has an adaptor for 80 years.

All those graves have been adopted, without interruption.

There's a waiting list of almost a thousand people in the Netherlands, to become a doctor. This is a -- not just a --

GLENN: This is --

JASON: A privilege. Because they take their kids out to the cemetery. They turn the cemetery into a classroom. And you go out there. And, yes, there's a somber element. They're instilling in their kids, you're able to think, and say what you want to. Because of the freedom that was given to you, by this American girl or boy. And we don't do that in our country anymore.

GLENN: So this is one of the most incredible stories that I've -- I've ever heard.

And I'm shocked that the world doesn't know this!

Is -- have you -- is there anything like this, anywhere else in the world?

JASON: No. We couldn't even find a comp of any nature.

There are -- that is not to say, the people in Normandy area, don't care about Normandy and other cemeteries. They do, of course. As do the Belgians in other cemeteries.

But there's no place that created an organic great adoption program, during the war, in January 1945!

These people in this area of the Netherlands were so grateful, having been neutral in World War I.

And having not lost their freedom for 100 years!

And they didn't like it!

And when the Americans liberated them in September 44. I'll never forget this woman Freda. This elderly woman I met, looked at me, the first time I interviewed her. I knew her for eight years. The last eight years of her life.

I delivered a eulogy two summers ago. She looked at me, there were the eyes of the 19-year-old. And she said, when I saw that first tank over the hill and I realized, we were saved.

I looked at my dad, and I said, Papi, these American boys come all the way across the ocean to say this. And there were tears in her eyes.

Because they didn't -- they couldn't imagine how we could have moved that equipment across -- across the ocean.

And why we would have cared so much.

So there isn't anything like it.

But January 45, these people in this little town of Margraten.

A mile from the cemetery, organized a meeting of the town leaders. The town who got 1200 people.

And they were trying to find an answer to the question: How do you thank your liberators, when they're no longer alive to thank? And they came up with this idea of this great adoption program, and it's a story that I tell, following the lives of about 12 different American combat soldiers.

Bomber recipients.

Tankers.

Because we don't know that story.

We don't what knows to an American story, when they're killed on the field of battle.

Because it's depressing.

We move on to the next scene in a movie.

Well, I want people to know, you started your program with freedom is not free.

It's ugly.

Let's talk about that. Let's talk about what the cost is.

Let's talk about the stripping line that the body goes through, and the removal of dog tags, one being put in the mouth, if there's still a head. And the other being nailed to the cross, because they don't have time to stencil the names on yet.

Let's talk about that, and let people know, it's not just a Marvel movie. Or a gang war.

This is real. This is painful. And, of course, at the end of the war, when we Americans declare victory, and move on with our lives, there's millions of family members in the United States, whose lives will never be the same.

So it is -- it's still happening today. It's still happening today.

GLENN: The name -- the name of the book is Remember Us.

And take us -- I mean, because that's really kind of the -- the -- the beauty of it.

Take us through the rest of the book, just briefly.

It starts with what?

ROBERT: Well, I follow -- I began what a nice life was in the Netherlands. Until May 10, 1940.

And the Netherlands does not get much attention from World War II, and yet everybody has heard of Battle of the Bulge. And Battle -- those are all within 50 miles of what we're talking about.

They happened around there. Of course, World War II, in western Europe, begins right here in this area. Because the German tanks roll across the border.

So I cover the life of these 12 different Americans. I interviewed all their family members. Some make it through the war. Some don't.

You read the book, you realize who makes it, who doesn't. But their lives converge around this area of the Netherlands. And when post-world War II stories end, with the war being over, remember us kicks into a transcendent moment when the Dutch come up with this idea of this great adoption program. The Americans refuse to provide the names and addresses of the next of kin.

So they're foiled with trying to achieve their ultimate objective. Which is to try to contact all the American families.

And frustrated, there was -- one of the key figures of the book.

A woman who is the mother of 12 children.

Who takes it upon herself. She's a woman of action.

She writes president Truman. And pleads for him to get involved.

When that doesn't work. She gets on the first airplane, she's ever flown on. She leaves her kids behind.

She flies to New York. Lands in LaGuardia Field.

She goes to Washington, and meets the members of Congress. Including a young guy from Texas, named Lyndon Johnson.

Who says, young lady, you need to go to Texas. Because there are so many military bases there.

She flies to our hometown. And lands in Lovefield.

In June of 1946. And is met by two family members. And for five weeks, she lives with American families, that lost somebody during a war.

And to each of them she says, leave your boys with us. When the election comes.

We will watch over them, like our own forever.

And they have done that. Now, today, these 10,000 Dutch doctors only have contact information for 20 percent of the American families.

They couldn't ever get the others.

GLENN: You're kidding me. Where is the list? Do you have a list?

ROBERT: Yeah. The Monuments Men and Women Foundation entered into a joint venture with the Dutch Foundation for Adopting Graves.

Not charging anybody for this. And we have created a website called foreverpromise.org.

And on that website is a list of all 10,000 men and women, more women that are buried at the cemetery, or whose names are on the walls missing.

And it's a searchable database. We're asking people to go and see. Do you have someone you know, or a relative, who is buried there.

And if so, we have a short questionnaire. What's your relationship? Are you aware of this great adoption program? Are you in contact with your adopter? Would you like to be? Would you allow us to share your contact information?

I connected a lady from Richmond, Texas. Saturday night. To her -- to this young Tammy, that's the adopter of her brother.

She's 93 years old.

She was in tears. At the thought when she leaves this world, there will be someone there to watch over her brother.

And that's what we're all about is this connecting.

GLENN: Rob, I have to tell you.

You've really done something with your life. I mean, I know you don't need me to say it.
But what a great job you have. And what a great service you have done for so many years.

Thank you so much.

Please, look this up.

The forever promise project.

You can find it at foreverpromise.org. Foreverpromise.org. Robert Edsel is the author's name. The book is Remember Us. It's a perfect read for this week.