Saving Private Ryan: How to Really Listen to a WWII Veteran

What happens to a World War II veteran when someone finally listens?

Ceo Bauer was wounded inside German lines near Metz on the night of November 8, 1944. In Part 2 he picks up the story from his company's outpost. He lay on the floor of a house at the front, cursing, until an officer helped him down to the cellar. There a sergeant named Burns, from Chicago, offered Ceo his own wound tablets: "You need them more than I do." As shells passed overhead, Ceo remembers telling the stretcher team, "I want to get back to the battalion aid. I want to live." He tells how a lieutenant colonel awarded him the Purple Heart in a field hospital, and how, when his belongings caught up with him after he got back to the United States in January 1945, his clothes, his camera and his invasion money were gone.

In Episode 260, the second of two parts, Christian Taylor shares the rest of her visit with Ceo, then 101, for Rob's Movie Rob Minute podcast on Saving Private Ryan. It opens on the question Part 1 left hanging: did Ceo ever forgive Tony Darin, the sergeant at the outpost who wouldn't help him that night? On one of the trips his rifle company buddies began making to Europe in 1987, he found himself in the cemetery in Luxembourg where General Patton is buried, looking at the cross of Edward Steele, Darin's runner, who caught part of Ceo's cursing that night. He forgave Steele there, he says. Darin is another matter: "I didn't really forgive him."

Then Rob asks how Ceo and Christian met. Ceo remembers Christian arriving with a crew and three hours of filming. Christian remembers it a little differently: the historian and Normandy guide Florent Plana did the interview, and she came along. Flo had studied Ceo's division, regiment and company so closely that he asked questions as if he had served with them, and by the time they left, Ceo was dancing. "Well, it's therapy," Ceo says. That day, Christian says, taught her how civilians can truly show gratitude to veterans, and it became the message of The Girl Who Wore Freedom.

Near the end, Ceo reads the letter a local woman named Elizabeth read aloud to the 95th Division veterans at the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Metz. It was the first time, he says, that they were thanked in a way they could understand. "You appeared like a fabulous sunbeam after a terrible four years long night, like a blessing from God," it reads. He tears up as he begins and has to pause. Ceo also explains why he didn't hear about Pearl Harbor for a full day and why his family has gone back to France with him every five years. Rob talks about his own service in the Israeli army and closes his show with his sign-off from Saving Private Ryan: "Earn this."

WATCH THE FILM

The Girl Who Wore Freedom, with Ceo Bauer, is streaming in the US on Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home and YouTube: https://geni.us/TheGirlWhoWoreFreedom

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How Ceo Bauer came to forgive Edward Steele
• How a sergeant from Chicago shared his wound tablets with Ceo
• How Christian Taylor met Ceo Bauer in 2018
• What Christian learned about listening to veterans from Florent Plana
• Why Ceo didn't hear about Pearl Harbor for a full day
• Why Ceo's family goes back to France every five years

CHAPTERS

0:00 Forgiving Edward Steele

5:05 Sergeant Burns's Wound Tablets

9:24 "I Want to Live"

15:48 His Purple Heart

18:28 What Was Invasion Money?

20:50 How Christian Met Ceo

27:18 Listening to a Veteran

35:48 Dear Liberators

42:06 French Gratitude, Passed Down

47:48 Pearl Harbor and the Camps

52:56 Earn This

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do you get a WWII veteran to tell their story?

Christian Taylor says she learned it in 2018, watching Normandy guide and historian Florent Plana interview World War II veteran Ceo Bauer. Flo came fully prepared. He knew the 95th Infantry Division, the 377th Infantry Regiment and I Company, and where they had been, so he asked questions as if he had served with them. Ceo grew happier as the interview went on. "Well, it's therapy," Ceo says of being listened to.

What was WWII invasion money?

Ceo Bauer says invasion money was the French francs American soldiers carried into France, printed in the United States rather than the usual French notes. He never spent his, because there was no place to spend it, and it was missing when his belongings reached him in the United States. On Documentary First, Rob of the Movie Rob Minute explains how he understands French shopkeepers later traded it in for regular francs.

What did the French letter to the 95th Infantry Division veterans say?

At the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Metz, in a small town near the city, a local woman named Elizabeth read a handwritten letter to the 95th Division veterans. Ceo Bauer, who reads it on Documentary First, says it was the first time they were thanked in a way they could understand. It reads, in part: "You offered us the most wonderful present in the world, liberty. But at what cost? At what price?"

How did Ceo Bauer get his Purple Heart?

Ceo Bauer says that the morning after he was wounded near Metz in November 1944, a lieutenant colonel came down the line of beds in the field hospital awarding Purple Hearts. He told Ceo he couldn't keep the medal with him, so it would go into his effects and reach him later. It did, after Ceo returned to the United States in January 1945.

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Ceo Bauer

World War II Veteran, 95th Infantry Division

Ceo Bauer was born in Carson City, Michigan, and went into the Army at 19. He served as a private first class rifleman in I Company, 377th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division, and was wounded near Metz on November 8, 1944, for which he received the Purple Heart. After the war he spent 31 years as an engineer with Michigan's highway department. France has awarded him the Legion of Honor, and in November 2024 he returned to Metz for the 80th anniversary of its liberation. He appears in The Girl Who Wore Freedom.

Ceo Bauer's Warrior Legacy profile, American Battlefield Trust

ABOUT DOCUMENTARY FIRST

Documentary First is a weekly podcast about the people behind documentaries and how the work changed them. Host Christian Taylor, director of the award-winning The Girl Who Wore Freedom, talks with filmmakers, distributors, entertainment lawyers, actors and more, from Ken Burns and PBS American Masters creator Susan Lacy to first-timers, across nearly 300 conversations. Each week brings one of two formats: a long-form conversation with the people behind films for HBO, Netflix, PBS and independent film, or The Deep Dive, where Christian takes one insight from a recent conversation and follows it wherever it leads. Listen Notes ranks the show in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. New episodes every week.

THE SAVING PRIVATE RYAN EPISODES

• Part 1 of this conversation with Ceo Bauer
• Saving Private Ryan with actor Corey Johnson on the Movie Rob Minute, Part 1
• Saving Private Ryan with actor Corey Johnson on the Movie Rob Minute, Part 2
• Related: Corey Johnson's interview with Christian, Part 1
• Related: Corey Johnson's interview with Christian, Part 2

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Saving Private Ryan (1998) on IMDb
• The Girl Who Wore Freedom, with Ceo Bauer
• Florent Plana, Normandy guide