Pegasus Bridge

But-

In, in the taking of Pegasus Bridge, there's a film actually about the, uh ... covers the Pegasus Bridge in the, in the, in the sort of, uh, the Normandy invasion, the Normandy landings.

There's a wonderful public schoolboy officer who, while everybody else is sh- hiding behind hedges and in the holes in the ground, is walking along the middle of the road with a walking stick.

[laughs] Nothing else.

And I, I decided I wasn't gonna let that go, so I leaned back and said, "Well, here's a Yank who appreciates what the Brits did in World War II." And I said to them, "I admit we would be speaking German right now were it not for the fact that you good people won the Battle of Britain.

And by the way, you were first in on D-Day." The Brits landed at Pegasus Bridge just after midnight on the morning of June 6th, and, uh, we owe a lot to our British friends in World War II.

They withstood tyranny all alone before the Americans even got involved.

So I, I will salute them on that.

Going through, checking all of them, getting some repair.

I, uh, finally broke out the Pegasus Bridge table, um, spoiler alert.

That will be, that was something that happened in June of 1944.

Hmm.

Just looks like a piece of random insulation.

Yeah.

Uh, even though the other ones had, you know, Pegasus Bridge- A listed on it and-

Mm

Because they dropped commandos, they dropped paratroopers.

Obviously, I went to Pegasus Bridge, and just all of the logistics were just ridiculous.

We were at Pegasus Bridge by Stephen Ambrose.

No, I bought it for my granddad, and I need to borrow it off him.

It's very good.

I really enjoyed that one.

The landing gliders near Pegasus Bridge, and it's like,

wow.

And, uh, we stopped there for a coffee.

Then we made our way onto, um, another World War II site, Pegasus Bridge, also from that film, if you've seen it, a black and white film.

Definitely worth, uh, watching, uh, if you're into history.

Um-

That's that joke, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

So, uh, but at the end, your Guzzi got m-- at the Pegasus Bridge, Pegasus Bridge, your man, uh, liked your Guzzi, didn't he?

He did, he did.

did.

Was it on Pegasus Bridge? Yes.

And no one else has ever done that as far as I know.

I'm sure there have been other similar things.

And, and I think that set up in a sense of me like that kind of looking for those stories in other conflicts.

So when I did the D-Day book, there would be interviews with, let's say, let's say somebody taking part in the, the, the capture of Pegasus Bridge.

they might have a five, six hour interview.

And I will caveat this as well by saying the archive of the Imperial War Museum, I do think is probably the greatest national treasure that this country has.

You always look back around and go, God damn, I wish I'd asked this.

I wish I'd asked that.

But the nature of these interviews would be a lot of the time, A load of detail about Pegasus Bridge, and then 10 minutes on the Rhine crossing, Operation Varsity.

Now, two oxen bucks, and obviously D Company, two oxen bucks, you know, on Pegasus Bridge.

My question is more about interests.

Are there any Brits who fought that you have read about that piqued your interest and got you to read more? And also, what British battles or operations are your favorite to read about that are not Pegasus Bridge or Arnhem? Thanks very much for all you do.

Your friend from across the pond, Ewan.

Um, yeah, I would say, uh, Patty main, who was a commando, uh, during, he was SAS and everything.