This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

Stephen Ambrose of New Orleans has assumed an air of military authority since his new book, 'D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II,? hit the stores. But Ambrose, who is in Europe for D-Day commemorative festivities, said, 'When I go to Normandy, I'll swim in the surf, charge the beach, climb the cliffs. But I don't pretend that I was there on D-Day.'	staff	file	photo
I Historian Stephen Ambrose "joins notables at Normandy
%, ByLYNNE JENSEN and SUSAN LARSON
-Staff writers
r-?
'?$?
; Back in the 1970s, Stephen Ambrose strolled the University of New Orleans campus sporting fringed buckskin and long hair. ;c His students chalked the look up to research for his book ??Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors.?
Years later, friends chuckled at ?the uncanny Richard Nixon imitations that accompanied Ambrose?s work on his three-volume biography of the former president.
These days, they say Ambrose has assumed an air of military might since his new book, ?D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II,? hit the stores.
But Ambrose is wise to the limits of such affectation.
?When I go to Normandy, I?ll swim in the surf, charge the beach, climb the cliffs,? he said. ?But I don?t pretend that I was there on D-Day.?
Ambrose, director of The Eisenhower Center for Leadership Studies and head of the National D-Day Museum project at UNO, will be among the notables at Normandy for ceremonies honoring the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. His commentary will be heard on NBC?s ?Today Show? Monday morning.
Ambrose is at the pinnacle of a distinguished career, marked by biographies of presidents Eisenhower and Nixon, the bestselling ?Rise to Globalism,? and works of military history such as ?Pegasus Bridge? and ?Band of Brothers.?
Recent events have served to bring him to the nation?s forefront as a commentator on such historical moments as the deaths and funerals of Nixon for ABC
and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for NBC. The bestselling diaries of H.R. Haldeman feature a foreword and afterword by Ambrose.
Meanwhile, Ambrose?s book about D-Day is being touted as the definitive account. Reviews
?	including a cover story on the New York Times Book Review
?	have ranged from wildly enthusiastic to deeply respectful. On June 12, the book will debut at No. 9 on the New York Times bestseller list.
He obviously is enjoying his role as D-Day?s official historian.
?I think that on June 6th, people will be deeply involved,? Ambrose said. ?I?ve been interviewed by everyone, even Russians and Japanese. The whole goddamn world will be there on Monday.?
Last week, Ambrose and fellow historians Paul Fussell and John Keegan were summoned to the White House to give President Clinton a private tutorial about D-Day in preparation for Clinton?s trip to Europe and a commemorative address Monday morning.
?I talked for 15 minutes and I looked right into his eyes and his eyes never left mine,? Ambrose said. ?He wanted to know how did they keep it secret? How did they get that alliance to work? How did they get that deception to work? He kept flipping back and forth to pages he had marked in my book ... It was any writer?s dream.
?It was all in the nature of advice,? Ambrose said. ?I told him he should stress the themes of teamwork and democracy and what the individual can accomplish. The evening ended most graciously with him saying, ?If I do a good job of representing our country, it will be thanks to you gentlemen, and if I screw up, it will be all my fault.? ?
The nation?s fascination with D-Day shows ?how much we
yearn for national heroes and unity,? Ambrose said.
And the passion for recognition of these historical events will continue, Ambrose said.
?I think there?s going to be a lasting impression made and in a lot of ways it will be heightened,? he said. ?Just wait until we get to the Battle of the Bulge. There were one million soldiers in the Battle of the Bulge, and about a quarter of them are still alive.?
But he expects the atmosphere surrounding the 50th anniversary of the VJ-Day to be different.
?There?s a moral certainty to D-Day that won?t be there,? he said. ?The celebration will be clouded with international debate over the tactics used.?
Writing about D-Day was a deeply satisfying experience, he said.
?It certainly deepened my already high respect for the soldiers of World War II. I was 10 years old when they came home, and I thought they were giants then. But I didn?t know the half of it.?
It is the story of these giants that has propelled him into the public eye.
But as much as he?s enjoying this moment in the spotlight, he is looking forward to his next work. He will retire from the Eisenhower Center this summer to devote more time to teaching and writing.
?I?ll be glad when all this over,? Ambrose said. ?I?ll be glad to be through with all these TV people and reporters.?
After returning from Europe June 20, he will spend the summer in Montana at a house in ?Meriwether Lewis country,? he said. Frontiersman and explorer Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition is Ambrose?s current subject. ?I?m 16 chapters into that biography. That?s really what I do best ? writing.:?