RADIOJanuary 13, 2025

The INFURIATING Reason Why Fire Hydrants Ran Dry in Los Angeles

The wildfires around Los Angeles are a historic disaster. But why was California so unprepared? Glenn reviews one of the biggest issues that has allowed these fires to spread: fire hydrants have dried up. At first, Governor Gavin Newsom, who loves big government, said this was a local issue. However, since then, he has started an investigation. But why, Glenn asks, did he first try to avoid the blame? Glenn reviews where California’s water situation came from: public-private partnerships between companies and unelected bureaucrats. “California, are you starting to understand?” Glenn says. “That’s why we say the Deep State is bad…no one is accountable.” So, will this tragedy be enough for Californians to wake up?

If you would like to help with the relief effort, you can donate at https://MercuryOne.org

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: So as of yesterday, yesterday afternoon, the LA Times reported that at least five people have died in the fires raging across Los Angeles.

Officials believe the actual numbers are much higher than that. Thousands of homes have been destroyed. There is zero containment at this point. Over 130,000 people are under evacuation orders. The freeways are parking lots. It's absolutely out of control.

With it not even contained and heading towards Los Angeles, it is projected to possibly the costliest wildfire disaster in history.

Now, I mean, there's a tendency when things like this happen, to rush to politics, and that's understandable. There are questions that need to be answered.

Why does this keep happening in California? And why do the people in California, keep putting up with it?

Why is California never prepared?

You would think California would be prepared for wildfires. Right?

I'm going to address part of that, first. But first, let me tell you about Mercury One. As usual, one of the first responders there is Mercury One.

We are collaborating with multiple partners to get food and supplies to those who need it most. We are working with churches on the ground. Yes. There are some.

We are working with the nonprofits. If you would like to help the relief effort, go to MercuryOne.org. And contribute to the relief effort. A lot of work that needs to get done, and a lot of work that has to happen quickly.

By the way, so you know, and I'm going to give you all the information on this later. In North Carolina, while the president is saying that he's going to take care of everybody in Los Angeles. Don't worry about it. He's -- checks are on the way. The government will cover absolutely everything.

While he was saying that, Mercury One was on the phone, doing a transaction with several hotels, to pay for people who have nothing! And got their big 700-dollar check from the government. They were being kicked out. And I think we've -- I think -- I think we've put them up now for another six or seven weeks.

So, you know, what -- whatnots used in California, or they don't need in California, they still in need other disaster areas.

And we are there. So go to MercuryOne.org and help if you can. Now, many questions have to be asked and answered. Story came out yesterday, and I believe it was a pretty chilling example of what is to come in California.

If it continues to be as crazy. And it will be a blueprint for the rest of the country, if we don't all wake up. The story from The Daily Mail reads, quote, Governor Gavin Newsom's infuriating reaction after being asked why fire hydrants ran out of fire during the LA fires. Now, the fire hydrants ran dry. Right as firefighters were going to try to contain the breakout.

Now, this sounds like a conspiracy theory. But it happened!

And what was governor Newsom's response. I will read the quote. And try not to lose your breakfast when you hear it.

Quote, well, local folks will have to figure that out. That will be determined by local authorities.

Wait a minute. Hang on just a second. So the guy that holds the highest political office in California, who is constantly meddling in every single person's personal life. Who loves big government. More than comfortable with the phrase, trust us. We're the government. We know better. We're here to help.

The rubber meets the road. He's been doing all the deals with water. And he looks. Has the balls to look at the camera and go, what do you want from me? It's those guys. You talk to your local person, I have nothing to do with it. No, sir. That's not the way you guys have set California up.

California's water situation.

I mean, we've talked about this for years.

Years, we've talked about.

It is interesting to look at it. Because it's exactly what the Biden administration was doing with public/private partnerships.

It's all public/private partnerships. We talked about this before. We first saw this spoken out loud with places like the World Economic Forum

And then later canonized from the Biden administration. But what do public/private partnerships have to do with water in the Palisades.

Drying up in the middle of the most costliest wildfire disaster in American history.

Well, I recently saw Ana Kasparian send out a tweet on X.

Straight up dunking on Democratic leadership in California. She said, the Democrats were responsible for this disaster. No more passing the buck! She said.

Ana, quote, tweeted a video from an organization called, more perfect union. The tweet from the video states, quote, one billionaire couple owns all the water in California.

In 1994, the Resnicks, secretly seized control of California's public water supply. Now their companies use over 150 billion gallons every year.

While working class people suffer under drought conditions. Now, the video goes on to demonize Resnick and the family.

And the business conglomerate, for owning a vast amount of California water.

Now, I'm not letting this California company off the hook, okay?

But this is the response that always happens from the left. They treat corporations all across the spectrum the same way. And you see it in health care. Food production. Pharmaceuticals. On and on and on.

It's never the government's fault. It's those damn corporations.

It's always the corporation. Well, the corporations.

You know, a lot of people were mad when Donald Trump said, you know, the debate in 2016.

Well, how much taxes did you pay? He said exactly the amount I was supposed to pay.

Well, you didn't pay, you know, income tax on this or this.

And he's like, you want me to pay more taxes, then you have to change the law. I am operating in the system, you've gamed.

And everybody does this! So don't try to stick me out, because I'm rich. This is the way the income tax code works.

And he's right!

Well, they're doing the same thing with these corporations.

They make it so you can public/private partnership. They make it so you can go in and game the system.

And everybody has taken their share. All of -- you know why people aren't talking about Panama? The Panama Canal run by China now? You know why you never heard that?

Because all of the politicians. Most of them on both sides, were taking money from China. So they're never going to say anything. But now that China is bad, now that that's been exposed, I'm shocked that Donald Trump is actually exposing it. Because it's going to expose the graft on all sides.

And I'm happy about that. It's never the government's fault. May I propose, maybe there's a little bit more to the story here. Let's stick with California water here.

How did one family get into position where they hold the keys to a vast amount of the state's water. Well, the video goes into it. Listen.

VOICE: In 1994, state water officials, water infrastructure contractors, and agricultural land owners with water rights, arranged a secretive meeting at a resort in Monterey, California.

These groups, a mix of private companies and public agencies, rewrote California's water rules, without any input from voters, taxpayers or legislators. The new rules, called the Monterey Plus Agreement or the Monterey Amendments were devastating for working Californians and great for agricultural billionaires.

GLENN: Okay. This is going to make you very, very happy. Let's stop here for a second.

Is it really only good for the agricultural billionaires. And bad for the voters?

Were the giants of agricultures, the only ones at this, quote, secretive table.

No!

Now, they tried to make it sound, well, there was no legislator over there. There was no government officials.

Huh. Well, it's interesting.

Because corporations don't write laws. Or do they?

Can you get things done without your congressman or senator being involved at all?

Yes, you can!

Through the administrative state. Exactly what conservatives have been saying about the United States government. This way, there's no one to blame!

The members of the California assembly can all say, I didn't have anything to do with this.

And they didn't. They just set the system up. To be run by a bunch of bureaucrats. Who can make the deals for them. So who was joined in this secret table conversation?

State water officials. That's who. So in 1994, the Resnicks didn't twist their mess tash I don't see while simultaneously screwing over the state.

And I will tie Nel to the railroad tracks too. They were given this deal. They were made public/private partners with the lawmakers in California.

Now, after this deal was struck, water control, in times of shortage, went to the agricultural conglomerates, and first, then the urban areas like the palisades second.

You've got a problem with that? Well, who will you take it up with? The unnamed water officials that made this deal?

No! It should be with the elected officials. So there's someone you can go to and say, wait a minute. You made this deal.

This is a corrupt deal. Or this is a deal not in the best interest of the people. We're voting you out!

But see, progressives don't like accountability.

Progressives make it so the agencies have all of the power. California, is this starting to maybe come together for you?

You're starting to understand? That's why we say, the Deep State is bad?

Because they can get into all these public/private partnerships and do deals, and no one is accountable for it?

And then when it falls apart, then when people die, that's when all the government officials come out with their cronies in the media. And say, well, we had no idea.

This is wrong.

Those res nicks. Bad!

Well, they might be. I don't know. They might be bad.

But who sat at the table and put that deal together?

All right.

GLENN: So all the money that is exchanging hands here, isn't just good for the private businesses.

Oh, man, oh, man.

It's good for public lawmakers as well. Let's go back to the video.

Cut two.

VOICE: The Resnicks donate millions of dollars to politicians and research institutions, which help them secure control over water systems.

And even get more water and more taxpayer funding.

One important project is the proposed California Delta Tunnel, a taxpayer-funded project which would send water from Northern California to Central, where the Resnick's farms are.

They expend hundreds of thousands of dollars on state and federal legislation, and politicians who support the tunnel.

But their favorite politician is Senator Dianne Feinstein.

VOICE: You come in here and say it has to be my way or the highway.

VOICE: Chair of the energy and water subcommittee. She's a close personal friend of the Resnicks, attending their holiday parties in Aspen, and maintaining their financial interests.

A quick look through the bill she sponsored, shows several which would direct money to current adjacent water projects. The Resnicks even ask for things directly. When a pesky study about endangering salmon and fisheries, threatened the Delta Tunnel, Stewart wrote a letter to Feinstein, demanding a new study. She immediately forwarded it to the Obama administration, who agreed to spend 750,000 dollars on a new study.

GLENN: Yeah. A study came out the same way.

So we saved Chad Fishes. I don't know. I know one of the reasons why California is burning down is because we had to save the smelt. And who doesn't like a good smelt from time to time?

Okay. You buy the politicians. Then you buy off the experts.

You buy off the scientists. And you put it all together. And then you bring it to some bureaucrat. And they shut town the water.

That's what's happening in California. Oh, well, that and fact that remember, one of the last forest fires was blamed on the electrical companies.
Because they had a transformer blow.

And, well, that just never happens. And it started a wildfire. And so what did they do?

This time, when there was a wildfire, the electrical company said, we don't want to make this worse, shut down the power. Well, when they shut down the power, that also shut down the pumps, at the water pumping stations.

So they couldn't pump any water, if they had any water.

And the -- Gavin Newsom actually addressed this yesterday.

And he said, we've talked to the -- we've talked to the White House. And we're having generators shipped out here, as fast as we can get -- you don't even have generators at your water pumping station?

What the hell!

I mean, how did you not think this?

How?

What -- what was your plan? I would love to see their plan!

But this just explained. What you're seeing in California is exactly what is set up by the progressive left, all over the country.

It also explains how corrupt government officials and their crony relationships are destroying more than just California. It describes what's happened to American health care. It explains what's currently happening with big pharmaceutical companies.

Big food. The media. The border. The homeless problem.

In blue states all across the country see California?

That's what you're going to get. Public/private partnerships are poisoning the soul of our country.

They're also causing some to turn violent.

The stage is being set for the coming insurrection. If you know what that means, I don't use that lightly.

Taxpayers give their money to the government. The government then goes into business with private partners.

The money and the profit stays in their lucrative little circle.

But when anything goes south, who gets the blame?

It's not the government. They get off scot-free.

Progressive, leftists, they will pin the blame solely on corporations. Or when it comes to water, Gavin Newsom tries to pin it on the local people. I don't know. You will to have talk to the local people.

What does the local person have to do with the water coming out of the water fire hydrant?

What? What do they have to do with that?

They sit back and laugh over and over again.

I think it's country. We're going in deep on this. On Blaze TV very soon.

But I think -- I think this is a turning point.

You know, who had on their bingo card, the complete and total destruction, of the second largest city in the country?

As the turning point for progressives?

And if they don't turn on this one, man, what is it going to take?

The moon coming crashing through the roof of your house. That's been painted. Wake up!

Would that -- would that do it? Maybe. Space aliens. They took out their little drones. And they spray-painted the moon, wake up. And California still didn't wake up. So they just started dragging the moon closer and closer and closer to your house in California!

My gosh. Wake up, California.

I think they are. I think they are.

But will they just replace Gavin Newsom with somebody else exactly like this?

Or will they start to wake up and say, wait a minute.

Our government is corrupt. It's making deals that don't actually help or represent the people of California.

They may not have our best interest at heart.

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.