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CNN Live Today

Celebrating Veterans Day Across the Country

Aired November 11, 2005 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Young people are stepping up and volunteering for military service. The U.S. Army reports exceeding its October recruiting goal of 4,700 by 5 percent. A total of 4,925 men and women signed up. That marks the fifth straight month the Army has met its goal. The Army National Guard attracted another 4,560 and the Navy, Air Force and Marines also exceed recruitment goals. Military officials credit new advertising campaigns.
Across the country, war veterans are marking Veterans Day and this holiday with parades and ceremonies. But one group of vets in New Orleans is busy. They're salvaging memories associated with wars that go back as far as the revolution, and they're trying to reclaim artifacts at the Jackson Barracks Military Museum from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.

CNN's Daniel Sieberg has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four horses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is the rest of them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a group of men who served as pilots, crew chiefs, gunners, mechanics.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reporter: Like clockwork every week, a tight-knit group of veterans get together at the Jackson Barracks Military Museum in the New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Bret Whitney R-2800.

SIEBERG: They've been restoring engines and aircraft here for more than a decade.

CHARLES MONSTED, RESTORATION UNIT: They say everybody is retired, and they're wives may be anxious to let get them out of house once a week. So every Wednesday, we come down here and fix equipment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nasty looking goo coming out of this thing.

SIEBERG: Brackish water now drains from their labors of their love. Aging warbirds they work to restore, like this Cobra helicopter, were wrecked again when the levees broke.

PHIL VON DULLEN, RESTORATION UNIT: We got this about a year and a half ago, and we cleaned it all up, replaced a lot of rusty screws and stuff. Wednesday before the storm, we started painting the tail back there and worked our way up to this point here.

TOM ISBELL, RESTORATION UNIT: Everything here is start from scratch again, you know, went three steps forward, one step backwards and start over again.

SIEBERG: Museum curator Stan Amerski is happy to have help from the veterans.

STAN AMERSKI, JACKSON BARRACKS INTL. MUSEUM There is only three people here. That's a director, me and a desk sergeant, and that's it. It's a 10-acre site. It's got seven buildings, including a library.

SIEBERG: Nearly 9,000 military artifacts, dating from colonial times to today, are strewn about the museum. Many are laid out on drying pads like wounded troops. The mannequin of a buffalo soldier, mud-soaked epilets (ph), a priceless pre-Civil War knapsack.

(on camera): From tea cups to field radios, the items in this room date throughout Louisiana's history in battle. When the levees broke, the water rose up over my hand. Everything in here was submerged and floating in water, along with the identifying tags on each item. So now for people like Stan, the trick is to reidentify everything.

HARMON FISCHER, RESTORATION UNIT: It's very tedious, but very worthwhile once you get through with the process. When I look at all of it, I look at it as history with a little more history tacked onto it. Still going to be the same item. Just a little more history. It went through Katrina.

SIEBERG (voice-over): The same could be said for the men of the 122nd.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a setback, but we're hardheaded. We'll make it right one way or the other. Everything won't be exactly like it was, but we'll have a museum again and we'll have a restoration shop again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Try the other end of this thing.

SIEBERG: Come rain or shine, or even Katrina, if it's Wednesday, they'll be here.

Daniel Sieberg, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: So history books outline battles, dates and general. Our veterans day guest reveals wars through the eyes of those who fought them. He is the prolific author of a number of a number of military books, including the just-published "Semper Fi in the Sky."

Gerald Astor is a World War II veteran, journalist and military historian, and he joins me now from New York City.

Mr. Astor, good morning.

GERALD ASTOR, MILITARY HISTORIAN: Good morning.

KAGAN: And a happy Veterans Day to you. Thanks for spending it with us here.

Let's talk about your form of historical gathering and that is oral history. Why do you think that's the best way at least for you to get the stories of the men and women who served?

ASTOR: I think the best way to understand the experience of being in the service and being in combat is through the eyewitness accounts of what happened. Those people who are there know what it sounded like, what they saw, what they thought and what actually happened, as opposed to some of the official accounts, which at times are self-serving and not wholly accurate.

KAGAN: So how do you do it when you want to interview a veteran? What's your set-up?

ASTOR: Well, over the years, I've developed a network of people who gave me references to other individuals. There are some military history organizations around the country, which have files. There are also alumni associations for various units, such as a parachute regiment or infantry divisions. And you can contact people through these. And I have either personally talked to them, exchanged correspondence or obtained from them journals or accounts that they wrote in order to set the record straight.

KAGAN: When I look at the statistics, I understand that right now there are about 4.3 million living veterans of World War II, but getting of an age where a number of dying off. Do you think enough is being done to capture this history, especially the history that can only be had while they're still alive?

ASTOR: Well, I think there has been an ongoing massive effort by -- certainly by the services themselves, which have collected oral histories as much as they can. And I do think there are a number of authors such as myself who have been minding the material and trying to reach people, some of whom have been reluctant to talk until they're reaching their senior years and they feel they have nothing more to conceal. They want to get on the record and make it straight.

KAGAN: And you're there to be there and help them do that. I understand you are especially interested in naval air history.

ASTOR: Well, the last two books that I've done have involved a naval air history, wings of gold, which was the Navy's role -- aviation in World War II, and the Marines which are "Semper Fi in the Sky," their experience. The Marines is part of the Navy and so that will make it sound as if I was focusing on that area. But I've done infantry, Army, Air Force, Navy ships. I've run the gamut for World War II.

KAGAN: And what's next for you?

ASTOR: Well, I've got a book coming in August, which is going to be "Presidents at War," which deals with how the original provisions of the Constitution have changed from when the president was supposed to be the commander-in-chief running the war, but only Congress had the right to declare war. That's been eroded.

KAGAN: Joe, do you have a monitor there where you are? You can see what we're looking at on the air?

ASTOR: Yes, I can. I can see it, too.

KAGAN: Let me describe to our viewers at home -- this is at the tomb of the unknowns. It's the beginning of the ceremony. And Vice President Cheney will be doing those honors of laying the wreath on this Veterans Day, because President Bush is on his way too Pennsylvania right now to give a speech. Gerald, let me ask you, when you watch these live pictures, what does it mean to you?

ASTOR: Well, I think of several quotations such as one from Samuel Johnson, the British SAS of 300 years ago, who said, "Every man thinks meanly of himself if he has not been a soldier." And the other quote I remember is Winston Churchill, saying, "There is nothing so exhilarating as being shot at and missed."

Combat is a terrible experience. At the same time, it's very exciting, and the life that one leads in the military builds bonds that last a lifetime.

KAGAN: Mr. Astor, thank you for your time on this Veterans Day. So well said.

ASTOR: Thank you very much.

KAGAN: Thanks for being with us. Gerald Astor.

As we go to break watching the pictures from the Tomb of the Unknowns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're watching live pictures from Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns. Vice President Dick Cheney will be doing the honors of laying the wreath at the tomb in just a little bit, and then making remarks. We'll see more of that as the ceremony goes on.

All right, presenting of the colors at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery. We'll be back with more of that ceremony in just a minute.

(MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: And with that, we want to get back to more live pictures from Arlington National Cemetery the Tomb of the Unknowns. The Veterans Day ceremony taking place. Vice President Dick Cheney will be laying the wreath at the tomb very shortly.

Right now, we take a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: On this Veterans Day, the 11th day of the 11th month of the year, we're watching a number of ceremonies taking place with a number of people paying their respects. This is Washington D.C., the Vietnam War Memorial. A number of people are there, as well as not to far away in Arlington, in Arlington National Cemetery, the ceremony for the Tomb of the Unknowns goes on, and any minute we expect Vice President Dick Cheney to be laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. President Bush not doing that honor this year. He is on his way to Pennsylvania to give a speech on the war on terror, and you'll see that later today.

(NEWSBREAK)

KAGAN: To other news now, former "New York Times" reporter Judith Miller says she was saddened by the position her ex-employer took after she revealed her source in the CIA leak case. Today she's taking part in a panel on confidentiality and the press. Miller was jailed for 85 days for refusing to give the name of ex-White House aide Lewis Scooter Libby as her source.

We're looking at a live picture of that panel right now. That's obviously not Judith Miller. In her staff memo, after her release, "New York Times" executive editor Bill Keller wrote that miller had, quote, "misled the paper about her role in the case." Last night in an exclusive interview, Miller told CNN's Larry King she has no regrets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, HOST: As you look back on all of this -- and we'll get into a lot of it -- what would you change? What would you do differently?

JUDITH MILLER, JOURNALIST: You know, not really much, Larry. I keep asking myself that question, is there anything I would have done, or could have done or should have done, but I was -- I think I was left with no choice but to go to jail, and I was very pleased with my decision to come out of jail after I got what I thought was a -- the terms that I had set when I went in to jail.

I really don't know what kind of brought about this 40-day tsunami on me, these attacks after I came out of jail. But I'm very comfortable with the decisions that I made and my conscience is clear and I guess I wouldn't change much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Join CNN's Larry King live tonight. He'll be talking with country singer Mindy McCready, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 p.m. Pacific. President Bush's chief adviser Karl Rove was back in the limelight, speaking to the Federalist Society in Washington last night. He didn't talk about the ongoing CIA leak investigation, but Rove did get a standing ovation for defying his critics in the Senate and suggesting Democrats met their match in the conservative booth's agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARL ROVE, SR. WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: In America, conservatives are winning the battle of ideas on almost every front, and few are more important than the battle over our judiciary. The outcome of that debate will shape the course of human events.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Rove has kept a low-profile since testifying in the CIA leak investigation. He remains part of the continuing probe.

Former president Bill Clinton is trying to play down his impeachment. Clinton spoke at the opening of a three-day conference at Hofstra University, examining his presidency. He said he doubts his impeachment will tarnish his place in history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can say you think I was not a great president, nevermind impeachment or you can agree with this statement, but only if you think the impeachment was justified. Otherwise it was an egregious abuse of the Constitution in law and history of this country, and I should get credit for standing up to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Clinton was challenging a statement by historian Douglas Brinkley, the panel's moderator. Brinkley said Clinton would have been a great president except for his impeachment.

Live pictures now once again. Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. Vice President Dick Cheney will lay a wreath at the tombs just minutes from now, as a salute to veterans. Live coverage when it happens, ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Live pictures once again from Arlington National Cemetery. The ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns on this Veterans Day well under way. You see the wreath has now been placed, and we expect to see Vice President Dick Cheney at any moment. By the way, the vice president is at ceremony this year and will be giving remarks after laying the wreath.

President Bush, who we're used to seeing do the ceremony, is on Air Force One right now, heading to Pennsylvania, where he'll be giving a speech in about an hour, a speech that's to be on the war on terror. You'll see that speech live here on CNN.

The Tomb of the Unknowns that we're looking holds the remains of unidentified U.S. dead from three wars. Remains from servicemen from World War II and Korea were added on Memorial Day, 1958, and in 1984, there were remains from the Vietnam War, in which 59,000 Americans died. Those remains since have been identified and returned to the family. And there will be no more additions because now soldiers, with the use of DNA, they are able to identify the remains.

We'll go back to Arlington National Cemetery when we do see Vice President Dick Cheney.

Meanwhile, I want to tell you about a memorial for other fallen comrades. Mile after mile, 15 days around the clock, marines have taken part in this tribute to the fallen. That's at Georgia's Fort Gordon. In all, they have covered more than 1,800 miles, each runner logging three miles in honor of the more than 600 marines and naval corpsmen who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So if you check the calendar, you'll see it is November 11, Veterans Day. But not always the case that Veterans Day has been marked on this day. Here, now, are the facts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN (voice-over): It was on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 that an armistice effectively ended World War i. One year later, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first commemoration of Armistice Day, and that became a federal holiday in 1938.

After World War II and the Korean War, Congress amended the 1938 law to change the word "Armistice" to "Veterans" and the nation's first Veterans Day was observed November 11, 1954. It stayed that way until 1968, when an act of Congress led to a decade of confusion. The idea: extend weekends and give the economy a boost by shifting four national holidays to Mondays.

The new law went into effect for Veterans Day in 1971, officially recognized on October 25th. But veterans groups in many states didn't like that change. They saw November 11 as a date of historic and patriotic significance and continued their commemorations on that day. President Ford signed the law restoring the original date in 1975, but it was another three years before the law went into effect, ending a period of dual observances.

Since 1978, Americans have been able to mark November 11 on the calendar for Veterans Day, regardless of the day of the week. Today America honors its 24.4 million living veterans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And as we go back to Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknowns, we're awaiting Vice President Dick Cheney. And it looks like -- there we go, right on cue. There's the vice president, making his way. The wreath has already been put in position. The vice president in a silent gesture will take that wreath and place it at the tomb. And as the vice president does that, we, of course, will be silent as well and just watch the ceremony take place.

The vice president, once again, doing the honors this year as President Bush is on his way to Pennsylvania to deliver a speech on the war on terror. Let's listen.

(MUSIC)

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