SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
The Dori Monson Show listens to original radio broadcasts from D-Day
Jun 6, 2019, 2:39 PM | Updated: 4:12 pm
The Cimetière américain de Normandie sits above the beaches in Normandy, France, where Allied troops invaded on D-Day, June 6, 1944. (Photo courtesy of Christina Jennings)
(Photo courtesy of Christina Jennings)
In honor of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the Dori Monson Show took listeners on a trip back in time to listen to original CBS radio broadcasts from the early morning hours of June 6, 1944.
When the first reports came in from Berlin at almost 1 a.m. Eastern Standard Time that the Allies had launched the long-expected invasion of the European continent, American news agencies tread cautiously. After all, with the only reports coming from German broadcasters, they could very well be a war tactic to get the Allies to reveal crucial information, or to get spies and Resistance members operating undercover in occupied territory to reveal themselves.
With no TV images, and no social media news feeds to refresh, those Americans who were awake waited with bated breath around the radio to hear any slivers of updates that the invasion could finally be happening.
Eventually, the word came from London — the reports were true, the Allied invasion had begun. At last there was hope that Hitler’s tide of evil could be rolled back and that Europe could be saved from the Nazi menace.
Spot one of Washington state’s own in the D-Day broadcasts, reading General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s message to the Allied troops — CBS London correspondent Edward R. Murrow, who was raised in Burlington, Skagit County, and graduated from Washington State University.
Rare find in Tacoma closet spreads legacy of Medal of Honor vet
Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
