Tom Hanks on Remembering D-Day 80 Years Later

WHEN WE THINK OF D-DAY, PERHAPS THE MOST VIVID IMAGERY COMES NOT FROM THE NEWS REELS OF THE TIME, BUT FROM CINEMA.

FOR EXAMPLE, THE VISCERAL, HAUNTING SCENES OF "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN."

THAT MOVIE STARRED TOM HANKS, AN AMATEUR HISTORY BUFF.

HE CALLS HIMSELF A LAY HISTORIAN, AND HE TAKES IT REALLY SERIOUSLY.

SINCE THAT FILM HE HAS PRODUCED WITH STEVEN SPIELBERG THE ACCLAIMED TV SERIES "BAND OF BROTHERS," "THE PACIFIC," AND MOST RECENTLY "MASTERS OF THE AIR."

HE CAME TO NORMANDY THIS TIME NOW TO PAY HIS RESPECTS TO THE VETERANS, AND I SPOKE WITH HIM ABOUT WHY THIS ANNIVERSARY MEANS TO MUCH, AND ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF STORYTELLING AND REMEMBERING.

TOM HANKS, WELCOME.

>> CHRISTIANE, HOW NICE TO SEE YOU.

>> AND -- >> WHAT A DAY, WHAT A DAY.

>> THIS IS YOUR HOME AS WELL.

YOU'VE DONE SO MUCH ON WORLD WAR II.

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE HERE ON THE 80th.

IT MAY BE THE LAST OF THESE REUNIONS.

>> I DON'T -- IF YOU DO THE MATH, IF YOU WERE -- SAY YOU WERE 17 YEARS OLD AND YOU WERE MAKING YOUR FIRST TRIP INTO COMBAT ON JUNE 6th OF 1944, DO THE MATH, YOU'RE NOW 97 YEARS OLD.

THE FIRST THING I SAY TO ANY OF THE VETERANS THAT I HAPPEN TO MEET IS DON'T GET UP, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE THEY'RE MORE OR LESS WHEELCHAIR-BOUND.

BUT THERE THEY ARE RESPLENDENT IN THEIR PATCHES AND THEIR CAPS AND THE MEMORIES.

AND I PONDER WHAT THESE LAST 80 YEARS HAVE BEEN FOR THEM.

I WANT TO ASK THEM, WHAT'S THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY THING YOU'VE WITNESSED.

>> YEP.

>> SINCE THAT DAY.

AND THERE IS AN AWFUL LOT TO TAKE NOTE OF.

BUT WOULD ANY OF IT HAVE HAPPENED IF THIS DAY HAD NOT BEEN.

>> I WONDER SINCE YOU LEAD ME STRAIGHT INTO THAT QUESTION, IT'S PROBABLY, BAR THE COLD WAR, WHEN THERE WASN'T A RAGING WAR IN EUROPE, IT'S PROBABLY THE MOST DIFFICULT, MOST EXISTENTIAL CRISIS FOR EVERYBODY SINCE THAT SACRIFICE, WITH RUSSIA HAVING INVADED UKRAINE, WITH A LITERAL WAR IN EUROPE.

>> I NEVER THOUGHT THERE WOULD BE A LAND WAR IN EUROPE IN MY LIFETIME ONCE AGAIN, BECAUSE IT HAD PROVEN TO BE SO DISASTROUS FOREALL OF HUMANITY THE LAST TIME SOMEBODY TRIED THAT.

AND FUNNY HOW OFTEN IT COMES OUT OF THE EGO OF ONE HUMAN BEING.

ONE GUY BACK IN THE 1930s SAYS NO, I'M GOING SOLVE ALL THESE PROBLEMS BECAUSE I KNOW WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOES NOT WORK.

I -- I THINK, LOOK, I'M A LAY HISTORIAN, AND I'M AS OPINIONATED AS ANY KNOTHEAD THAT YOU'RE EVER GOING TO COME ACROSS, BUT THERE WAS THIS THOUGHT THAT AMERICA, PARTICULARLY AMERICA WAS LAZY, WAS DIVIDED, WAS UNDISCIPLINED, THEY COULDN'T GET ITS ACT TOGETHER, THAT WOULD NEVER BAND TOGETHER IN ORDER TO JUST DO THE RIGHT THING.

BY CHOICE.

AND WHEN I'M HERE, I THINK OF A BUNCH OF KIDS.

IT WAS YOUNG FORCE THAT CAME HERE.

THEY WERE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN -- IF YOU WERE 25 YEARS OLD, THEY CALLED YOU POPS, OR THEY CALLED YOU THE OLD MAN.

AND THEY WERE -- THEY LEFT ALL OF THE COMFORTS OF A VERY COMFORTABLE AMERICA, A SAFE AMERICA ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE OCEAN.

AND THEY PUT THEMSELVES HERE.

FOR WHAT?

BECAUSE IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO, AND THEY WERE NOT DEFENDING A STATUS QUO.

THEY WERE NOT GAINING TERRITORY.

THEY WERE NOT HERE FOR RICHES.

THEY WERE NOT HERE TO CONQUER ANYTHING.

THEY WERE REALLY HERE IN ORDER TO MEND THE FUTURE, IF I CAN COIN A WORD THAT HAS JUST COME OUT IN A BOOK THAT I READ NOT TOO LONG AGO.

THERE WAS AN ARTICLE I WANT TO SAY IN THE BEDFORD NEWSPAPER IN WHICH -- ON THE 6th OF JUNE, BECAUSE OF THE TIME LAG, MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR THE 6th OF JUNE TO HAVE THIS BE THE HEADLINES IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

AND IT SAID "THE NEXT 50 YEARS OF EUROPEAN HISTORY IS BEING DECIDED RIGHT NOW IN THE FIELDS AND BEACHES OF NORMANDY."

IT WAS NOT ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT HAD HAPPENED PRIOR TO 1944.

IT WAS ACTUALLY ABOUT WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN IN 1954 AND '64.

I WAS BORN IN 1956.

HAD D-DAY NOT HAPPENED, AND THAT'S NOT HARD TO IMAGINE HERE.

YOU CAN LOOK AROUND AND WE CAN SEE THE EVASION IN OUR MINDS.

WE CAN SEE THAT DAY.

WE CAN ALSO IMAGINE WITH A LITTLE TURN OF PHRASE, WHAT IF IT HAD NOT HAPPENED, IF IT STAYED AS IT HAD BEEN, A CONQUERED TERRITORY BY ONE OF THE MOST MURDEROUS REGIMES THERE WE GO.

A FED EX IS DELIVERING MY UBER LUNCH RIGHT NOW.

WHAT HAD BEEN LIKE IF ALL THOSE, THAT YOUNG FORCES AND THE CANADIANS AND THE ENGLISH AND ALL THE FREE HAD NOT COME ALONG AND SAID THOSE PEOPLE ARE WRONG.