RADIOJanuary 16, 2025

Female Veteran Says Pete Hegseth is RIGHT About Women in the Military

Congresswoman and Air Force veteran Anna Paulina Luna joins Glenn to clear up one of the Democrats' biggest lies about Trump’s Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth during his confirmation hearing: "Pete never said that he didn't want women to serve in the military. In fact, it's quite the opposite. But I have the same agreement in that there are certain roles that women SHOULD NOT be subjected to in the military." Plus, she discusses why she’s hopeful that the Trump administration will reveal the truth about UFOs and the mysterious New Jersey drones.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna from Florida. Welcome to the program. How are you?

ANNA: Hey, Glenn. Happy to be back on.

GLENN: Yeah, it's very good to talk to you. So you were in the Air Force?

ANNA: I was.

GLENN: And what did you do in the Air Force?
ANNA: I did air field management, and worked with actually my first installation, was the B-2 stealth bombers of flight plans, a lot of inspections, a lot of readings. Did not serve in combat.

However, I definitely have an opinion or two on women in combat.

GLENN: I would like to hear it.

ANNA: First of all, during the confirmation hearings. They were incredible.

And they were trying to walk them into these sound bites. The one thing I kept hearing from the Democrats was, they were taking his comments out of context, in regards to women in the military.

So Pete never said that he never wanted women to serve in the military. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

But I have the same agreement, in that there are certain rules that women should not be subjected to in the military. So in a lot of foreign countries, you will see there will be women-only sniper teams. And/or women-only teams that will see combat. Now, I preface this by saying, that there is a study that has been done. And shows that when women have been placed in harm's way. That the natural instinct for men was to protect that woman. And that's the right thing to do.

That's that, quote, unquote, toxic masculinity that the left tries to mess with all the time --

GLENN: That is human nature. We're born with that, but go ahead.

ANNA: Right?

And so when you have though, a woman that let's say, plays on a Special Forces team. They come under fire.

Hypothetically that woman gets hurt. Instead of focusing on the mission, as it would be, the men then would in turn, go to protect that woman.

And it could ultimately result in, A, more casualties, more people getting hurt, and then also jeopardize the success of the mission.

And so I think when we're looking at military policy as a whole, we need to take these things into consideration. But it's very easy because Pete is a white male. For them to try to demonize him and treat him as this anti-woman, you know, alcoholic womanizer, which is simply not the case.

Other thing, and the reason why I wanted to show my support for him. Was, look, Pete is a Christian. He has the Jerusalem cross tattooed on him.

That does not mean he's a Nazi. That does not mean he's a white nationalist. So what I've been telling reporters. If Pete was so anti-, you know, anti-minority.

Anti-, you know, anything to do what we stand for and value in this country, why would you have the same -- because they don't really have a response to us.

GLENN: Yeah. All right. So do you agree with him? Because I took from him yesterday, something else about the military. I have no problem with women in the military, with an exception of the natural order of things, where I think men -- I have to tell you, if -- if one of the guys was captured by, you know, al-Qaeda. I would do everything I can to make sure that one of the members of my team, you know, were safe. And I would do everything that we should do. However, it's different if I know that the woman member of our team, has just been captured.

I -- it takes on a different meaning to me. Because I know what's going to happen to her, in compared to Tom or Tim.

And I think that is a natural instinct, that you cannot get rid of. And you don't want to.

The second thing, that I think that Pete is talking about. And we saw this in the fire chief, in -- in Los Angeles.

Where she said, you know, I -- you know, I'll talk to people. They'll say, well, you can't lift my husband out of our burning house.

And her response was, well, you know, he got himself into a place he shouldn't be.

So why should I?

Okay. So that's ridiculous. As long as a woman can physically do exactly what is required of the male, then I don't have a problem with that. Do you agree with that?

ANNA: I would say, though, there's this aspect of psychology. And certain situations. Where I don't think women should be placed. So right now, what we're seeing, is -- you know, those are all great points, Glenn.

The military standards, currently. There are different standards for women and for men.

That's just a fact. But there are also different requirements for different jobs. Right?

If you can go in, for example, to be a fire firefighter, you're required to lift X amount, whether or not you're a man or a woman in the military.

But in that sense, I would say that, when you're talking about conditions where you're living in a field. When you're talking about conditions, when you know that there is going to be a psychological aspect and component. It doesn't mean that women aren't as good as men.

I think there's been cases, where women can be better snipers than men are.

Depending on what you're looking for job-wise.

What I will say, as far as my perspective is concerned.

I don't think women should be required to register for the draft.

I know that Senate Democrats were pushing that.

And I also think that women should not be placed in certain combat roles in the military.

GLENN: Agreed. Agreed. Agreed.

Let me switch topics with you.

You were one of the biggest advocates for the UAP. UFO disclosure.

Any updates on -- on that hearing, the updates on the New Jersey drones.

And were you able to get David Grusch into a skiff and get a classified briefing? And if so, what was your takeaway?

ANNA: So I was not able to get Grusch into a skiff. In fact, they were blocking that, by not re-activating his security clearance. And so I'm hopeful with the new incoming administration, especially because as of right now, you know, Marco Rubio led to his confirmation for Secretary of State.

GLENN: Yeah.

ANNA: And they have been in the Senate, one of the big advocates and supporters of looking into UAP's -- a/k/a, UFOs. And then everything else associated with that.

Now, what I will say, is that I've been grossly disappointed and disgusted by how the Biden administration handled what happened with the Chinese spy balloon, which to be clear is different than a UAP.

The fact is, some of these drones are likely tied to not just hobbyists. But probably more nefarious actors.

Even if we had that information, shared in the public. I don't believe that the Biden administration would have done that.

Because of how I saw, how they handled the drones.

In the United States. And collecting intelligence. Nonetheless.

It was a Chinese intelligence operation.

You know, I had one of my colleagues Van Drew, who actually made an admission on television, that it was adversarial drones. And then you saw the Intel community come out. But Van Drew would not just make something like that up.

So you're seeing kind of this rift occur with the intelligence community, and then people that do want the American people to simply know the case.

I think this is probably the topic of longer discussion. In regards to what a UAP is. What's interesting, Glenn. And I know you look at these things through a lens, as do I.

As a Christian, first and foremost. But what's interesting, when I was questioning Grusch.

I actually asked him, well, what would you consider, in so many words -- is this like a physical ST?

And he kept calling things inter-dimensional beings, if we're specifically referencing UAPs, and so I think that that just aligns in perspective, to think about this from.

I think there's a lot. You would have talked about this even ten years ago.

Your political career would have been over. People would have said you're a conspiracy theorist.

I can tell you, this is probably the number one question I get. No matter where I am at in the country, people come up. They appreciate it, because everyone is curious. So I'll leave you with that.

GLENN: So let me just -- let me just follow that here, just a little bit.

The inter-dimensional beings, that could be spiritual. That could be a quantum being. Any idea what he meant by that?

ANNA: You know, I actually tried to pull on his string. And he didn't want to go there.

And I can also tell you, when I was talking to him, with a group of other legislators on the phone, prior to the hearing.

That he did make the omission. That he was actually in fear of his life. And that something happened, where he tried to kill him.

So I don't know if that was associated. But he did not want to go into that any further.

And so based on my investigation. Based on what we're told in the hearing, I would say that it does not seem like it would be a good thing.

He gave me the impression. That this was nefarious.

So take it for what it's worth.

It's inter-dimensional.

I think quantum could be, you know,

GLENN: Right.

ANNA: We're on the same page there.

GLENN: So it is so bizarre that this kind of stuff is happening.

And we're not being told. Donald Trump said that he would talk about the drones. On Tuesday.

He said, give me a day, to get settled on office.

And he said, I'll find iota the drones. And I'll tell the American people.

If that's China. Should we know, the American people?

ANNA: I think it would be well within his wheelhouse.

And I think he wants the American people to start to trust their elected officials.

It goes to so much deeper than just have someone in the White House on your side. Right?

Because we know that -- and from what I've gathered, because remember, there's been bipartisan and bicameral meetings in the Senate, the House. And Democrats and Republicans have all been working on this together, to get some answers and information.

And there is a certain level of stovepiping that we've seen with information. And then also too, the aspect of, I as a sitting member of Congress. Who sits on oversight and foreign affairs, was denied access by a general at the Air Force base, to whom I responded. Who gives you the right and authority to tell a duly elected member and group of Congressmen, that they don't have access to a program that we write the damn checks for?

You have no authority to deny us access.

And so that conversation, probably not comfortable for that general.

GLENN: How did that end?

ANNA: Well, he left.

He actually got up in the middle of our meeting and went on TDY. Which any military member will tell you, never happened. He left the meeting.

He left the state.

He got up and left.

GLENN: Wow! Did you ever get an answer?

No. Representative Gaetz and Representative Burchett were also there to witness this.

I never seen that happen. And remember, I was in the military.

He literally got up and left in the middle of the meeting. Said he had orders in Georgia, and he never came back.

GLENN: Are you -- are you concerned at all about some of the conversations. We just saw another video from James O'Keefe.

Where he's talking to somebody who was -- I think he claimed to be in the FBI.

Said, he and others were meeting with generals. To make sure that they had a control on Donald Trump.

Are you -- are you confident at all, this time around, Donald Trump will be able to route that.

VOICE: Oh, most certainly.

And I will say, that has a lot to do with the confirmation of the Secretary of Defense.

You know, top down.

Last time president Trump was in office. I think there was a lot of trust in people, to do the right thing.

And then he realized that the Deep State was real.

And there were people running, regardless of whether he was a Republican. Or whether they're Republicans or not.

That they were working against his agenda. Because they didn't like what he stood for.

What we're finding, there is going to be a setup to go through these generals. That, A, discharge military members based on vaccinations. And boards.

The fact is, if you're a general and you're pushing wokeness ideologies.

Or you're trying to undermine subjective o the commander in chief, you have no place in the Department of Defense, period.

And so those people conspired, and I look forward to that. Because I can just tell you from a congressional perspective, Glenn. I actually had an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act to remove DEI for military training.

And I have friends still in the military. So someone at Ramstein Air Base actually sent me an email of an officer there, that was directly undermining what we did. Congress has removed DEI.
So we're renaming it. Please, proceed with the training.

Guess what, that person is also going to be fired. And that's really how you're going to be at the DOD --

GLENN: Good. Good.

If you could hold for 60 seconds, I need to take a network break and come back. I want to ask you about Cuba. What the Biden administration just did. And also about Tulsi Gabbard. And how you feel about her and her nomination.

Back in just a second with Anna Paulina Luna, Representative from Florida.

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.