RADIOJuly 19, 2022

Former White House Doctor CONFIRMS: ‘Biden is UNFIT for office’

Rep. Ronny Jackson knows what level of health is needed for the president to safely conduct his duties. In fact, Jackson was the White House physician for Bush, Obama, and Trump. He joins Glenn, confirming what most Americans fear: President Biden is UNFIT for office: ‘He doesn't know where he's at, what he's doing. He's confused. He looks frail. He shuffles when he walks. He slurs his speech…all signs and symptoms of age-related cognitive decline of some sort. And he does not need to be our Commander-In-Chief and head of state, if he's not 100 percent.’ Jackson, author of the new book ‘Holding The Line,’ tells Glenn about the severe backlash he received from ‘friends’ — including President Obama — in 2020, when he warned the country that Biden’s health should be a concern for us all…

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: We have Congressman Ronny Jackson on with us.

I read something that he has said. And he's got a new book coming out in a couple of weeks. But I read something that he was talking about on President Biden. And, you know, is he mentally stable. And I hate people who play doctor. Except, he actually is a doctor. In fact, he was the -- the White House doctor. The president's doctor for three presidents. And I wanted to get him on the phone. Hi, Ronny, how are you, sir?

PAT: I think we're working to get him back, Glenn. He just dropped off. And we're trying to get him back on.

GLENN: Oh, shoot.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: Okay. Well, you can just pretend to be him. Hey, Ronny, how are you?

PAT: I'm really good. Thanks for asking. Okay. He's back. He can actually ask him.

GLENN: Oh, he's back.

PAT: Yeah, he's back.

GLENN: Congressman. Congressman, welcome.

RONNY: Thank you, guys. I appreciate you having me.

GLENN: Okay. I can't hear him now. But I can hear him through a speaker of some sort.

So, Ronny, I wanted to talk to you about President Biden. Because you have been somebody who has been a presidential doctor for three presidents. You just left.

And do you know Joe Biden? Have you interacted with Joe Biden?

RONNY: Yeah. Absolutely. I know Joe Biden. I was in the White House for eight years. So I was around him on a regular basis.

I wasn't his physician. I wasn't clinically responsible for him, but I did oversee the medical team that took care of him.

You know, I was a director of the White House unit. And said the doctors and the nurses that provided care for the VP side of the house, reported to me.

But, yeah. I was around him a lot. Events in the White House and the West Wing. So I do know him.

GLENN: Okay. And, you know, I don't take it lightly, I didn't like it when people were saying that, you know, Donald Trump was, you know, mentally unfit. You may have disagreed with him, and you may have thought he was erratic. But there was a method to his, quote, unquote, madness. But he wasn't -- he wasn't somebody, who was looking for it, in my opinion.

I just talked to him recently, he is extremely sharp. But Joe Biden, you can see the decline in him.

And I -- I don't know -- I mean, we are in such a precarious position.

Is this guy fit for office?

RONNY: No. He's not fit for office, Glenn.

I'll tell you, I was saying that when he was candidate Joe Biden. And you're right, there's a big difference.

The far left. The elites in academic medicine, the mainstream media were just coming after me relentlessly about President Trump. It's because they didn't like the nature of his tweets. They didn't like his style.

They didn't -- it was his personalities that they didn't like. He did nothing to -- to demonstrate or to brave any concerns that he had any cognitive exam. But we did a physical exam. We did a cognitive test as well.

As far as I'm concerned, we set the standard now. That's the precedent.

But Joe Biden is a different story. Joe Biden.

You can go back. And I've said this before. You can look at 40 years of tapes of this man. He's always been prone to gaffes.

But these aren't gaffes anymore.

Something seriously wrong with him now, from a cognitive standpoint. He doesn't know where he's at. What he's doing. He's confused. He looks frail. He shuffles when he walks. He slurs his speech. All signs and symptoms of age-related cognitive decline of some sort. And he does is not need to be our commander-in-chief and head of state, if he's not 100 percent.

GLENN: So I know that, for instance, the Secret Service actually controls the president's body and presence. If the president says, I want to go. And I'm going to stand right here. And they disagree with him because of security. They can say, Mr. President, I'm sorry, we've got to move. Because he belongs to the -- to the people. And the state. And constitutionally, they can -- they have to protect him.

And so he can be overridden at times. Is there anything like this, with -- with medical care? Is there anybody that is in a position, that should say, excuse me.

The -- this guy is not capable. Or is it only his cabinet?

RONNY: There's a variety of people. A lot of people around him have a responsibility, to make sure that they're serving their country the way they sworn to do so.

First and foremost would be his position.

I know his position well. The guy worked for me for 8 years.

Kevin O'Conner. I would say, he's not a great physician. He stayed with Biden for the eight years, because he and Biden -- you know, became close friends.

And I think that's the reason why he's there now, his position, because he's willing to cover up anything going on. And help push this forward. A lot of the people should have stopped him from becoming the nominee. First and foremost was Jill Biden.

So I would say Jill Biden, the president's personal physician Kevin O'Connor. The president's cabinet. Even the vice president.

You know, we have the 25th Amendment, which allows the vice president, along with the majority of the president's cabinet, to come to Congress and remove him from office.

I mean, I know they've considered that. You know, I'm sure they have. But I don't know they'll go down that path.

But they're all looking for a way to get rid of him now. But they should have never put him in this position. The people were consumed. They were consumed with going to the White House, and working in the West Wing.

And that includes Joe Biden being First Lady. It includes all the Obama folks. Obama had responsibility in my mind, to stop this. But I think they were looking at the opportunity to put a whole bunch of Obama people, back into the West Wing. And they had done just that.

So I think there were a lot of other people, that were looking after their own interests, and ignoring the disaster that we have now.

GLENN: I know that president Obama has -- has written you a letter, and said, you know, shame on you. I considered you a friend. And everything else.

And shame on you, for -- for talking about Joe Biden this way.

RONNY: Yeah. He did. You know, it happened a couple years ago, back in February 20. I'm here.

He wrote me a letter. A couple years ago, back in February of 2020, and it's out now. Because I wrote a book called Holding the Line. And I wrote about it, in the book. But I just -- I retweeted something that Ronna McDaniel had sent out. Where she was -- tweeted out a clip of the candidate Joe Biden when he was confused about what office he was running for and what state he was in.

And I was just frustrated with the hypocrisy, and the double standard. And so I retweeted that. It was a pretty benign tweet I thought on my part. I just said, A, does anybody remember, the Communist Chess I gave @realDonaldTrump. The one that he ate.

Looks like somebody else needs a test. Scary.

That wasn't that big a deal. But within 30 minutes, twenty to 30 minutes, I -- my phone is like ding.

And I get this email from President Obama, just completely reading me the Riot Act.

Just scolding me, pretty harshly. He started talking about how he thought of me as a friend. And I was a great physician, yada, yada.

And then he basically -- he just broke down to this, I can't believe the cheap shot you took at Joe Biden. This is beneath you as a Navy admiral. This is beneath you as a physician to the president.

This is a direct assault on me and my family and the people that you served, in my White House. And I hope you use better judgment in the future expect, and I'm just really disappointed in you. It was pretty interesting.

GLENN: Wow. Please tell me you have that framed like over your fireplace or something. I would wear that as a badge of honor.

RONNY: No. I do. And I put it in the book as well. So everybody could see it as well.

I didn't know what to do with it. I kind of tell people. It kind of had a weird effect on me. It was kind of a combination between being a little upset and angry about receiving it. And also having my feelings hurt just a little bit. You know, I had a pretty close relationship with all three the presidents I served with. Bush, Obama, and Trump

And it just -- it kind of hurt my feelings a little bit. But I thought about it. And I was going to reply. And then I decided I was going to pick the phone up and call him. But I was late to the fundraiser. Went to the fundraiser. Came out of the fundraiser.

And I was going to make the phone call. And I said, before I make this phone call, so I don't say something I'll regret. I'll come someone who might understand the position I'm in.

So I called Dan Bongino, because Dan and I have been good friends, with the Secret Service. During the Obama administration, and I knew he would kind of understand the weird situation I was in.

I called him, and he said, Ronny, he said, you don't owe this man a damn thing.

You don't owe him anything. He goes -- did he lift a single finger to help you, when you were getting butchered by the left and by Jon Tester. And all these the people with the made-up garbage during your nomination for the BA secretary. One phone call from him. And he knew it was all garbage. He knew that it was all false.

He could have picked the phone up, and made one phone call and put all that to bed. But he didn't bother to help me. You don't owe him anything.

And I thought about it. And I said, you know what, he's absolutely right. I don't owe this guy anything.

And I just let it go. I didn't reply to the email, and I didn't say a word about it until it was leaked out of my book, which is coming out, a week from today.

GLENN: And the name of your book again?

RONNY: It's called Holding the Line.

GLENN: All right. And I would love to have you back after -- give me a chance to read it, and have you back. Because I'm fascinated the -- you know, somebody who has been with three different presidents. And worked in the White House.

And you used to see, you were the first person. Was this with all presidents, or just Donald Trump?

RONNY: I was --

GLENN: First person --

RONNY: Yeah. Yeah. That was -- that was with Trump and Obama. During the Bush administration, I was around President Bush a lot. I traveled with him. I went to the ranch with him a lot. I got to know him very well. He was from Texas. So I was part of that West Texas crowd in the White House. But I was the junior position, during the Bush administration. During the Obama administration and the Trump administration. I was the appointed physician to the president. Which means that my office was on the ground floor of the White House, directly below the president's bedroom. So every morning, when the president, whether it was Obama or Trump, came down. I was a lot of times, the first person they would see in the morning. The last person they would see in the evening. In particular, with President Trump, I would meet him down there in the morning because I didn't know him very well. When he first came on board, I was trying to get to know him a little bit.

So that first week, you know, I would hear the Secret Service call out on the radio. Because I have an earpiece, listening to him all the time. I would hear him call out. That he's coming down the elevator. I would go to the door. Stand there. When he would come down, I would say, good morning, Mr. President.

And, you know, he's up for about three hours, before anybody else shows up at the White House. Watching TV. Tweeting. And talking on the phone.

And believe me, by the time he's dropping down that elevator, he's looking for somebody to talk to. So he sees me standing there. Did you see this? Did you see that? It would be nothing to do with medical. It could be whatever it could have been. You know, it could have been Iran. It could have been Stormy Daniels.

It's just whatever, you know. So I would say, yes, sir. We would start a conversation. He would go, walk with me. So I would walk him to work. I would walk him down the West promenade, down the Oval promenade, right into the back of the Oval Office. You know, the national security adviser. The CIA briefer. The chief of staff, whoever is in the outer Oval would come in. And when I would finish up, I would walk out and they would walk in, as they would start. But I developed a really close personal relationship with Trump because of that interaction I had with him on a regular basis.

GLENN: We're talking to Congressman Ronny Jackson. He's from Texas.

He was the White House physician for three presidents. Bush, Obama, and President Trump.

And has a new book out called holding the line. Where you could read the letter that President Obama sent to Ronny saying, how dare you say this about Joe Biden.

But it is concerning, I think, not just to Republicans. I think it concerns all Americans. Any American that is honest can see, that there are times, that this president has completely checked out.

And the only real solution is the 25th Amendment. But that has to be done by the vice president, and I think it's -- did you say two-thirds of the cabinet?

RONNY: I believe the 25th Amendment says a majority of the cabinet, and the vice president.

GLENN: Okay. Good. All right. Ronny, thank you so much. We'll talk again. God bless you.

RONNY: Thank you. Thank you, again. I appreciate it.

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.