00:09My name is Steve Gonzales, retired Navy Master Chief and Special Projects and Events Director
00:14for Force Blue. Last summer, to honor the 80th anniversary of D-Day, World of Warships invited
00:21myself and three of my Navy SEAL brothers to take part in a very special trip to Normandy, France.
00:28There, with the help of the Navy SEAL Museum and a production team from Force Blue, we traced the
00:33footsteps and told the stories of our forefathers, the Naval Combat Demolition Units, who helped clear
00:40the way for the Allied invasion. Here, from the National World War II Museum in my hometown of New
00:48Orleans, I'm proud to announce that World of Warships will soon be sending our team on another mission,
00:54this time to the island of Okinawa, where from April 1st to June 22nd, 1945, 183,000 Americans, 100,000
01:05Japanese, and 300,000 Okinawa civilians suffered through the Pacific Theater's bloodiest campaign.
01:13The Japanese had a level of discipline, dedication, and zealotry that no one had ever seen. Our enemy
01:22knows the score, so do we, and we're going to go head to head. War is man's common enemy. For
01:29some
01:29reason, we just refuse to learn that lesson. The price that was paid for the lives that we live today,
01:34if we don't carry it forward, we're doing those veterans such a huge disservice. When we're down
01:41rebuilding a reef in the same spot almost 80 years prior that a frogman was down there
01:48laying demo, I think that'll be a really surreal moment. We look forward to having you with us
01:54as we pay homage to the fallen and continue to celebrate the service and sacrifice of America's
02:00greatest generation.
