RADIOJuly 29, 2024

Trump Campaign Spox SLAMS FBI Suggestion That He Was Hit by Glass

In his congressional testimony, FBI Director Christopher Wray suggested that former president Donald Trump may have been hit with a glass shard, not a bullet. But Trump 2024 Deputy Communications Director Caroline Sunshine joins Glenn to reject this narrative – which even the New York Times has debunked. She also discusses whether Trump is a changed man after surviving the assassination attempt: “I think the bullet that grazed him may have changed the country more.” She also slams the media for “wasting time” arguing whether it was glass or a bullet when 2 things are clear: someone wanted to assassinate Trump and another American is dead. Caroline Sunshine further comments on the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and whether Kamala Harris will actually be the Democrats’ presidential nominee.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: This is the Glenn Beck Program.

So the Secret Service is encouraging President Trump to stop with the outdoor rallies. I think that diminishes his rallies, and takes some of the oxygen out. But I'm not President Trump.

I wasn't just shot. And that has got to change people. So we're looking to see what he's going to decide. And how he's handling things, including Christopher Wray coming up, and testifying in front of Congress and saying, you know, we're not sure he was actually shot. We're not sure that was a bullet. Might have been glass, I guess from Kamala's glass ceiling that she broke. Or, you know, maybe it was shrapnel. No. Read the New York Times. It was a bullet. It is so insane how these conspiracy theories come from the left, and they just expand and expand and expand on them.

Caroline Sunshine is with us. She's the 2024 Deputy Communications Director for Donald Trump.

First of all, Caroline, how are you, the staff, and the president?

CAROLINE: Well, we are always better than Joe Biden, outside the hours of 10:00 and 4:00 p.m. I can tell you that.
(laughter)
Always.

But I guess it looks like the Democratic Party is trying to be unburdened by what has been, and have Joe step down. And would be the -- the selected, but not elected Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket.

GLENN: Yes. Yeah. Crazy.

CAROLINE: No, I laugh. Yeah. It is.

It's crazy. It's undemocratic is what it is. Like I said, selected, but not elected. It is crazy.

But you come on here in good spirits and laughing, because I have the honor of working for Donald J. Trump who is a man who after, you know, mere seconds after an assassin's bullet.

And it was a bullet, Glenn. As you just said, came within a millimeter of his life. This man then got to his seat and said, fight, fight, fight. And then went on to have a phenomenal week in Milwaukee, unifying the complete Republican Party behind him.

You just saw some clips released from the great phenomenal Bryson Dechambeau. I think getting to see some of President Trump's, you know, humorous side. So everybody is in very high spirits.

President Trump, I call him the great American warrior because I think Ronald Reagan was the great communicator, another US president, great US president, who had a brush with the assassin's bullet. But President Trump is the great American warrior. And as he said, you know, I'm going to talk about this once. I'm going to share it. Share it with candor as he did on the stage in Milwaukee, and then I will move on. And then I will get back to work. And that's exactly what he's done. And it's really inspiring to work for somebody. Such a remarkable leader. There's just few like him. Yeah.

GLENN: So everybody that I talked to, that at all liked Donald Trump, or thought that, you know, I'm thinking about voting for him. Everybody that I know, that talked to him. They saw him at the convention and said, he is a changed man. He is a different man.

And not in -- just I guess in his seriousness. The gravitas of it. Did the bullet change him?

CAROLINE: I've been asked this question a lot, again. It's a great question. I've been asked it a lot. I think the bullet that grazed him may have changed the country more.

And the reason I say that, is because I think when that bullet came within a millimeter of President Trump's life, the country realized, it's not him, then who? You know, if President Trump isn't in this arena, who is there to actually fight for a secure border and an economy where, I mean, people can actually have a chance at the American dream, let alone be able to go to the grocery store, and you buy three items, and all of a sudden you go, how is this $100?

And then more generally, I think, for the forgotten men and women of this country. Who prior to President Trump's arrival on the political scene, really had no authentic champion, and certainly not one of the caliber of Donald J. Trump.

So I think that is really what changed. I think it was a watershed moment for the country. I think it's one of those moments where everybody is going to look back and they will remember where they were standing and who they were with, when it happens.

But I also look as I said, the more remarkable, what President Trump survived is his reaction.

Who has that reaction? Within seconds of having a bullet come within a millimeter of your life, you're up on your feet with blood still on your face, very much still in clear and present danger.

And you get up and you say, fight, fight, fight! And I do think that President Trump is now in this unique category of people who I'm sure you know people like this, Glenn. Who have had a brush with death, there is a unique category of people, who have come right to that edge, of the thing that I think most of us fear, deep down. In a way. Which is death.

We believe in a life after this one. But death is a scary thing. And you watch this man, come within a millimeter of his life. Building face-to-face with death. Within seconds back on his feet. And also, back to work.

And I have a lot of reverence to the men and women in our military. And our veterans. And like a long history in our country, of, you know, I look at the stories of Medal of Honor recipients. Past and present.

You know, you just see the valor. The fight. You're in awe of an act like that. And I just think that this country is deserving of someone like President Trump, who had a brush with the assassin's bullet like he said. He's the man who took a bullet for democracy. And then ten days later, this man does not need to go retreat to Camp David for a week. Or take a nap for two years. Or whatever it is. This man is like, I'm ready to get back to work for you. You know.

GLENN: Caroline, so is he going to listen to the Secret Service?

Caroline.

CAROLINE: Yeah. We're really grateful for the Secret Service. And I want to say there's a distinction, right? Between the Secret Service leadership in Washington, DC. And, you know, the rank-and-file Secret Service agents, who do a phenomenal job protecting President Trump. Who give their -- who are quite willing to give their lives to President Trump. As you saw in Pennsylvania.

And, you know, there's been a lot of talk on outside, versus inside. Rallies. I would say this, it's the job of the Secret Service to protect president whether a rally is inside or outside. And President Trump in the past has held many rallies that are in your arena. He held many rallies that are outdoors. He just goes where the people go.

So we -- you know, we want these investigations to play out at the deep sea level.

Because, of course, the American people deserve answers.

We don't have time to be wasting, hearing Christopher Wray go through the semantics, of was it shrapnel? Was it a bullet?

It was an assassination attempt on a former US president's life. He's been examined by esteemed physician, Ronny Jackson. Great physician with President Trump's physician during his time in the White House. Excellent physician. He has examined it.

He's seen the reports. Seriously, I don't know why we're wasting time on that. When, by the way, it wasn't just an assassin's bullet that grazed President Trump. Corey Comperatore is dead.

His wife is left without a husband. His children are left without a father. We had multiple people injured.

And we're wasting time on shrapnel versus bullet? And, Glenn, I got to tell you. I can't believe I'm going to say this.

This is the first time in a long time I've heard AOC ask a question more intelligent than Christopher Wray, when she asked the question: Hey, you know, if you know that the standard AR-15 has a range of, you know, 500 yards, why isn't that factored into your perimeter calculations? But I was shocked.

GLENN: I know.

CAROLINE: The first time there's bipartisan consensus in Washington, DC, for the first time in a long time, as there should be. But anyway, like I said, President Trump, he just gets right back to work. And he's going to be headed back on the road. He's headed to Minnesota. He will be headed to Pennsylvania. He's back on the road. You know, it's sort of a rain or shine, indoor or outdoor type thing.

We're very grateful and confident for the men and women who served President Trump in the Secret Service.

And as President Trump has said, he's getting back to work. And so are the people. Because that's the other thing too, right? Glenn. Nobody should be afraid to attend a peaceful political rally in the United States of America.
Nobody should be afraid to do that.

Nobody should be afraid to lose their life at a peaceful political rally. And I know you've seen our rallies. Our rallies are extraordinary. There's just something special about them. There's something special about the energy.

GLENN: There is.

CAROLINE: There's something special about thousands of people who love our country coming together in one place. And I think, again, what was remarkable about president Trump's reaction, if you remember watching that thing back, when it happens in those first moments, the crowd understandably, terrified, ducking, afraid. That is a normal human reaction to have.

But the second President Trump gets back to his feet and says, fight, fight, fight, within five seconds of that bullet grazing -- coming within a millimeter of his life, that crowd was calm.

He actually -- likely, President Trump saved lives that day, with that reaction. It's likely that that reaction stopped, you know, a stampede.

GLENN: I will tell you. I will tell you that when I watched it. I saw it live.

And when -- when he went down, I mean, a lump went to my throat immediately. And -- because I knew what was happening. And I thought, oh, my God, man. They've hit the president.

And I had that lump in my throat. And when he stood up, and I could hear him say, wait. Wait. Wait.

And he stood up, and then he looked over the shoulder of one of the agents and puts his arm out. I was crying for an entirely different reason.

That fast, it turned around in me. And it went from horror and shock, to mainstream pride and admiration. It was -- it was remarkable.

Caroline, tell me, how is he going to switch gears with Kamala? I'm sure he's not concerned about it. And does he believe that she's actually going to be the nominee?

CAROLINE: Well, as I said, you watch the Democratic Party, trying to be unburdened by what has been, and thinking that if they just do a little switcheroo here, you know, having Joe step down and putting Kamala up at the top of the ticket, that that somehow changes thing. But it doesn't. Because Joe Biden's record is Kamala Harris' record, and it's the Democrat Party's record. Look at her first few speeches. What is she saying?

How much she loves Joe. Joe has been so great. I mean, she's owning this, full force, and as I expect her to.

Nobody has had more of a front row seat to both Joe Biden's cognitive decline, and concealing that from the American people, than her, Kamala Harris.

But then look at her own words when she said, she was the last person in the room, when Joe Biden was executing his abysmal withdrawal of Afghanistan, that resulted in the lives of 13 US service members losing their lives. Joe Biden of course couldn't remember or acknowledge those on the debate stage.

The point is, she was -- she was the last person in the situation room. She's likely been the last person in the room for many of those positions.

But here's the thing, as much as Joe Biden's record is Kamala Harris' record. She's also dangerously liberal. You know this. She comes from the failed State of California. So this is a women, who if given the chance, would turn this country into California. She is the border czar, who has never been to the border.

We heard those reports. You have just seen, right? Of her current Border Patrol chief and former border patrol chief, both saying, yeah. We never got a phone call from her.

You know, she's never called. No. She's never called. Again, well, you know what has happened. Since she never called. We had almost 20 hill. Maybe more. Illegal immigrants come across our Southern border. We've had 30 tons of fentanyl. We've had 360 names off the terror watchlist come across our Southern border on her watch. That's enough fentanyl, by the way, to kill every American citizen multiple times over.

And she's not changing. She was just in Houston yesterday. That is a one hour flight. One hour commercial flight from the US border. Forty-five minutes if you fly private like her. Didn't go.

And that's not because of incompetence. That's because of negligence. She doesn't want to secure the border. If we don't have a border, we don't have a country. She doesn't want to secure the border. She wants to defund ICE. She's at the Border Patrol -- invokes scenes of slavery. This is not a woman who cares about law and order.

It's actually part of her worldview. She's far more left than Joe Biden on a lot of issues. She's dangerously liberal. She really more closely resembles Barack Obama than Joe Biden in many ways, in terms of policy and worldview.

GLENN: Caroline Sunshine, thank you so much. And my best to everybody on the team. We have been praying not only for the president and his family. But also everybody on the team. Stay safe. Thank you, Caroline.

CAROLINE: Thank you. Thank you.

GLENN: You bet. Thank you.

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.