On the eve of D-Day's 20th anniversary, "CBS Reports" presents former President of the United States, & General, Dwight D. Eisenhower's remembering on-the-spot recollections of the invasion, its planning and its execution. News films of the actual fighting at the various locations are interwoven into each segment. The former President is accompanied on his tour of the battle sites by Walter Cronkite.
The tour starts at his former head-quarters at Southwick House, near Portsmouth, England, where the General stands before the original war map and explains the strategy of the invasion. Then, recreating his D-Day-plus-one cross-channel voyage of June 7, 1944, Eisenhower boards the HMS Ghurka.
During stops a Pointe du Hoc, where U.S Rangers knocked out German gun emplacements, and Omaha Beach, Eisenhower pays tribute to the courage and ingenuity of the men in the Allied command. He also vists the area of the Ste. Mere Eglise air drop...the artificial ports created at Arromanches and the interminable hedgrows. The tour also includes a visit to St. Laurent Cemetery, where many of the participants are buried.
