and ford >> stahl: it's rare for anyone to get this close to a minuteman iii nuclear missile, one of the most powerful weapons on the planet. but "60 minutes" was invited deep below ground to meet the missileers... where is the button? >> stahl: ...who are responsible for safeguarding them... >> ma'am, there is no button. >> stahl: there's no button? >> there's no button. >> that's it right there. >> stahl: ...and would ultimately launch the deadliest option in time of war. if, by accident or deliberate act, one of those missiles was launched, is there a way to bring it back? >> we can only launch with direction from the president of the united states. there's no way to recall it or disarm the warhead that's on the missile. once they're gone, they're gone. >> simon: it's one of the greatest humanitarian stories you've probably never heard.

in 1938, a young londoner used his vacation to go to czechoslovakia as the nazis were clamping down on the country's jews. he ended up saving the lives of 669 children. how did he do it? you'll hear all about it tonight from the man himself, who is now 104 years old. >> i work on the motto that if something's not impossible, there must be a way of doing it. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes". e financial noise financial noise

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>> stahl: the last time many of us thought about our nation's big land-based nuclear missiles was probably during the cold war. but today, there are nearly 450 of these giant minuteman iiis, as they're called, tucked away in underground silos, ready to launch on the president's command. they're part of a so-called "nuclear triad" that includes submarines and bombers. but it's the land-based leg of the triad that's been getting all the attention lately, and it's not the kind of attention the top brass wants. the entire air force chain of command of a missile base responsible for one-third of our land-based missiles was removed a few weeks ago because of a scandal involving drugs and cheating on tests. we wanted to know what was going on-- why so much turmoil in the

missile corps? who's minding the nukes? and where are these weapons of mass destruction? flying over the plains of wyoming in an old huey helicopter, we came upon a small fenced-in lot. it didn't look like much. >> carl jones: so that's it right there. >> stahl: air force colonel carl jones told us that, underneath the concrete near that white pole, there's a minuteman iii missile. it's one of the deadliest and most powerful weapons on the planet. so, is that particular missile armed right now with a nuclear warhead? >> jones: it is. >> stahl: the warhead on each of these land-based missiles is 20 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on hiroshima and could kill millions if dropped on a major city. the air force still keeps nearly all 450 of them on constant alert, ready to go. we thought the missiles would be hidden away on some vast tract

of federal land. my goodness, is this a farm right here? >> jones: it is. >> stahl: we were surprised the missiles were close to rural communities. we saw bales of hay and herds of grazing cattle. >> jones: it's a safe weapon. i mean, it's not going to... it's not going to do anything here on the ground. >> stahl: if by accident or a deliberate act, one of those missiles was launched, is there a way to disarm it or bring it back? >> jones: no, we can only launch with direction from the president of the united states. now, once that missile has gone, there's no way to recall it or disarm the warhead that's on the missile. once they're gone, they're gone. >> stahl: the missiles are spread out over a wide area surrounding three air force bases in five different states. a web of underground hardened and pressurized cables connect the missiles to buildings like this, where the missiles are monitored remotely miles away in capsules 70 feet underground.

the control rooms hang on shock absorbers within a protective shell of concrete and steel. the system was designed in another era, the 1960s, to survive a nuclear blast. we went down by elevator and were escorted to a door that weighs eight tons. >> chaz demerath: ma'am and sir, i would like to welcome you to... >> stahl: we were allowed to go inside, provided we use an old air force camera and let security officials vet this footage. the so-called "missileers" who watch over and control the missiles work in teams of two on 24-hour shifts known as "alerts." they have everything down here they need to survive. we expected to find pot-bellied veterans at the controls. instead, we found chaz demerath, who's 25, just three years out of the air force academy, and his deputy, dana meyers, 23. this was only her fifth time on

duty. when they started this 24-hour shift, they took custody of ten nuclear weapons. so i guess i have to ask you the inevitable question-- where is the button? >> demerath: where is the big button? ma'am, there is no button. >> stahl: there is no button? >> demerath: there is no button. >> stahl: there are three switches and a key, which is kept in this strongbox with two locks on it. demerath has one combination, meyers has the other. it's one of many layers of safeguards built into the system. >> demerath: even though we trust each other, we don't trust each other. >> stahl: aha. we thought the work would be tedious, just waiting for something that'll probably never happen to happen. but from nearly the moment we asked the question... is this just boring beyond belief? >> demerath: it is never boring because we have so many actions we do every day. ( alarm beeping ) >> stahl: alarms started beeping and the phones kept ringing.

>> demerath: ma'am, i need to ask all of you to remove all yourselves from the capsule at this point. >> stahl: so, is there anything wrong? >> demerath: nothing wrong at this point. >> stahl: we were politely asked to leave at least eight times, so they could decode messages or deal with other classified information. okay, i'm back. the officers may be young... >> demerath: if you can imagine that as being your computer... >> stahl: ...but the equipment is ancient. this, for example, is one of the computers that would receive a launch order from the president. it uses floppy disks, the really old, big ones. before you got down here, you probably had never seen one of these? >> dana meyers: i had never seen one of these until i got down in missiles. >> stahl: the reason the air force allowed us to visit the missile fields surrounding warren air force base is because it wanted to counter all the bad press it's been getting lately at the two other bases that also guard our land-based missiles. last year, 17 missileers at minot air force base in north dakota were removed from duty after performing poorly on an

inspection. at malmstrom air force base in montana, three missileers are under investigation for drug possession, and 91 have been implicated in a scandal involving cheating on routine tests. >> jack weinstein: i am flying back. >> stahl: major general jack weinstein took control of all three nuclear bases in december, with a mandate to find out what ails the missile corps and fix it. let me ask you a question-- whether there's, i guess you'd call it an identity crisis with the mission as a whole. you have these nuclear weapons that no one believes we'll ever use, so do you find that that's an issue-- the question of "what's the mission?" >> weinstein: no, because we use these weapons every single day protecting our nation. deterrence has a value. it has a value for our nation; it has a value for our allies. >> stahl: general weinstein commands a force of 9,600, including maintenance technicians who keep the

missiles in working order, security forces that guard the weapons and provide a heavily armed escort any time the warheads are being moved, and about 500 missileers who man 45 control centers around the clock. the vast majority, the general says, have not cheated on tests. >> weinstein: we're talking about 1% of the 9,600 people that work for me that did violate our core values. >> stahl: but when you say 1%, it's not 1% of the missileers, right? you're talking about everybody? >> weinstein: right. >> stahl: it's a much larger percent of the missileers? >> weinstein: right. it's about 20% of the missileers. >> stahl: well, that's huge. >> weinstein: it is huge, and that's why we've taken accountability for those people. >> general weinstein also removed the directors of operation... >> stahl: on general weinstein's recommendation, the air force brass announced that the montana base commander would resign and that nine other officers under him would be removed. weinstein told us investigators found no evidence of cheating at

the two other missile bases. but that's not what our reporting found. you know. it's interesting because we spoke to a lot of former missileers, and they just say cheating goes on everywhere and it's been going on for quite a long time. >> weinstein: what we did was we look at the evidence. whenever we saw a cell phone, whether it was a text message or an email, we investigated that. >> stahl: one of the people who told us about this cheating being endemic was an instructor at this base who left last year. >> weinstein: well, i will tell you that, as a commander, if i have any indication that people aren't following our core values, i immediately attack the problem. and we have not seen this problem at the other two bases. >> hands on keys and switches... >> stahl: the former missileers told us that the missile corps has long been treated like the stepchild of the air force-- pilots get all the glory. >> i agree. >> stahl: missileers have fewer chances for advancement. >> we're going to review the monthly lesson plan, and then we're going to take a test. >> stahl: it's said that the reason for the cheating is a "culture of perfection" where

missileers have felt they had to get 100% on the tests they take three times a month or face no chance of promotion. we spoke to a group of current missileers at warren air force base, including 26-year-old daniel sharpe from tennessee. why did people feel they had to score 100%? >> daniel sharpe: when i first came here, leadership that was in place told me that the minimum passing score for my test was a 90%, but if i was making 90s, i was a "d" student and i would be treated that way. >> stahl: but you actually were here under that 100% pressure yourself. >> sharpe: i was. >> stahl: and you felt the pressure and that caused stress, i'm sure of it. >> sharpe: absolutely. but it also caused a great deal of studying and a great deal of proficiency. ( laughter ) >> weinstein: no one cheated because they had to, they didn't know the material. they cheated in order to get 100%. >> stahl: is that gone? >> weinstein: that's gone. >> stahl: so what replaces that? >> weinstein: well, right now, it's pass/fail. as long as they get, you know,

above the 90%, which is the standard... >> stahl: wait, wait, wait-- pass... it's still pass? you fail at 90%? >> weinstein: yeah, it's still at 90% right now. >> stahl: wow. how is that improving things? >> weinstein: when you take away the pressure of getting 100% on a test, you have people focused on what they need to know. i think it changes things. >> stahl: it's one of a number of things the general's doing to boost morale, which, by most accounts, has been low for a long time, even at the top. last year, weinstein's predecessor, major general michael carey, was relieved of command for drunken and inappropriate behavior during an official trip to moscow. according to an inspector general's report, carey complained that his troops had "the worst morale of any airmen in the air force". how many of you chose to be a missileer as your first choice for your military career? two of you. truth be told, the vast majority

don't choose this job. this group was impressive-- they majored in physics, engineering, and english, and many are working on their advanced degrees. we've obviously heard a lot about the morale problems. so i wonder what the morale problems come from. >> clair reynolds: well, it fluctuates. and there are times where it just becomes a grind, because you're doing so much in a short period of time a lot of times. and you just have to adapt and work with the schedule you're given. >> stahl: so it can be more than 24 hours? >> jennifer leute: of course, weather does impact how long we might be downstairs. if we have poor weather, especially during the winter-- we do get that a lot in these northern bases-- you might be down there for 48 hours at a time, or possibly 72. >> stahl: anybody been down for 72? no? 48? >> yes. >> yes. >> yeah. >> stahl: 48-- a lot of you. they told us they feel things are improving, and they also assured us there are many safeguards built into the systems of the launch control centers, or l.c.c.s, to prevent an unauthorized launch.

>> launch key inserted. inserted. >> stahl: are any of you partners? >> sharpe: yes, ma'am. lieutenant matuu and i. >> stahl: you're partners. okay, just for the sake of this discussion, let's say both of you go bonkers. and you get the key out and you do... you switch it on. will it go off? >> sharpe: no, ma'am. >> melissa matuu: no. >> stahl: it won't go off? why not? >> matuu: because there are enable codes that we need in order to get the missile ready for launching. >> only the president of the united states could authorize a launch of nuclear weapons. >> sharpe: and one capsule by themselves can't do it alone. >> right. >> stahl: you would have to receive the codes to put them in? you... you don't have them when you go into the l.c.c? >> sharpe: no, ma'am. >> stahl: okay, well, that's reassuring. an important part of their job is monitoring the condition of the missiles. if they get a signal that something's wrong, they ask for a maintenance crew to fix it.

oh, wow. the maintenance crews train on this missile that is virtually identical to the real thing, minus the rocket fuel and warhead. the systems are so complex, the technicians work off detailed checklists. they're constantly shouting "two-two"... >> two-two, two-two. >> stahl: ...because the rules require there always be two people keeping an eye on one another when they work on a nuclear missile. >> two-two, two-two. >> stahl: the idea is to ensure safety and prevent sabotage. >> two-two, two-two. >> stahl: sometimes, these minutemen iiis have to be removed from their silos for repairs, or for random test launches-- without the warhead, of course-- to make sure the missiles still work. these missiles were designed and built during the cold war, when there was always the fear of a nuclear attack from the soviet

union. but the second-in-command of all u.s. nuclear forces said recently that he's more concerned about an accident or human error than a russian attack. when we come back, we'll tell you about some mishaps in the past that nearly led to accidental nuclear detonations on u.s. soil. >> cbs money watch update sponsored by: glor good evening. the french government today threatened to block ge's planned purchase of energy giant allston. new sanctions will target businessmen close to putin. and the pentagon is buying $180 million worth of sneakers from new balance. i'm jeff glor, cbs news. ♪

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>> stahl: for more than 50 years, land-based nuclear missiles and long-range bombers have played a key role in america's strategy to deter other nations from using their nuclear weapons against us. but the age of the equipment is a problem, and human error is always a concern. small mistarlike a dropped socket, can mean the difference between routine maintenance and a major accident. we were not aware until we started researching this story how many close calls there have been involving nuclear weapons-- fires, plane crashes, fuel explosions, even a bomb that was accidentally dropped on u.s. soil. the seriousness of many of these incidents was not disclosed at the time. but based on witness accounts and declassified government

documents, we have a much better understanding today of how close we have come to a nuclear disaster. >> eric schlosser: we came close on numerous occasions during the cold war to having our own weapons detonate accidentally on american soil. >> stahl: eric schlosser spent six years investigating nuclear weapons mishaps during the cold war. his book, "command and control," describes a number of hair- raising incidents... >> clear! >> stahl: ...like a rocket fuel explosion in 1980 in damascus, arkansas, that forced the evacuation of people living near a titan ii missile complex. >> schlosser: someone dropped a socket in the silo, and the socket fell about 70 feet, pierced the missile, caused a fuel leak. and then there was a huge explosion. >> stahl: if that exploded, how come no... you say there was no detonation? >> schlosser: they put safety mechanisms in the warheads to

make sure they only detonate over the target where they're supposed to. and that's a testament to the engineering skill of the warhead designers and to good luck. >> stahl: schlosser says that's not the only time we were lucky. a few days after john kennedy's inauguration in 1961, an air force b-52 like this one had mechanical problems and accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb over goldsboro, north carolina. >> schlosser: when it hit the ground, the firing signal was sent. but one safety switch prevented a full-scale detonation of a powerful hydrogen bomb in north carolina. >> stahl: okay, i'm kind of shocked, because i didn't hear that story ever, did i, until you revealed it? >> schlosser: well... >> stahl: was that made public? >> schlosser: there was a real effort throughout the cold war to deny that there was any possibility that a nuclear weapon could detonate by accident. >> stahl: today's minuteman iii missiles use rocket fuel that's more stable and less likely to

explode. and they've upgraded some key components, too, like the guidance systems that direct the missiles toward their target. >> schlosser: the nuclear weapons themselves, the warhead, the bombs, are much safer than they were 30 years ago. there's no question about that. but the infrastructure, the equipment, what carries those weapons... >> stahl: the minuteman itself goes back... >> schlosser: ...to the nixon administration. >> stahl: the nixon administration? >> schlosser: look at it this way-- if you got a beautiful sports car from the 1960s, it would drive really fast and it would be fun to drive. but a modern car is going to have so many more safety mechanisms that are so much more sophisticated. and the architecture, the command and control architecture is complicated and aging. >> stahl: how would you evaluate the risk of an accident happening, a human error kind of thing?

>> weinstein: the probability is as close to zero as you can get. >> stahl: major general jack weistein's first job as a young airman was manning one of those launch control centers. today, he's in charge of all 450 land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles in the u.s. you have said that you sleep well at night. >> weinstein: that's a direct quote. >> stahl: some people would say you shouldn't be sleeping well at night. you should be constantly worried, because you have a very complex system here, and there are a lot of things that could go wrong. >> weinstein: the people that designed this weapon system in the 1960s, even though we've made upgrades, are actually brilliant. and there's a lot of safety mechanisms built into the system. >> stahl: but during our visit to the underground control center with colonel carl jones, we got a glimpse of what the missile corps is up against. take this enormous outer door designed to protect the corridor leading to the capsule. they can't close it because of a broken part, so it's propped

open with a crow-bar and marked with a danger tag. we were told the door has been disabled like this for years. >> jones: many things in the capsule, in the equipment building, aren't manufactured anymore, so we have to figure out a way to manufacture that piece, and see if the new piece will work. >> stahl: at a missile silo we visited, time and frigid weather had clearly taken their toll. the missile was being pulled from the silo for repairs because water had seeped in. >> it's probably the worst case of loose nukes in u.s. military history. >> stahl: some nuclear weapons snafus have happened fairly recently. in 2007, six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles were loaded onto a b-52 by mistake, flown across the country, and left unguarded on the tarmac. no one noticed for 36 hours. that led then-defense secretary robert gates to ask the air force secretary and chief of

staff to resign. in 2010, because of a technical glitch, a missile squadron at the base we visited in wyoming stopped receiving electronic messages from the missiles it was charged with monitoring. >> weinstein: what happened was we lost status monitoring of 50 missiles. what we... >> stahl: 50 missiles? >> weinstein: 50, it was a squadron. what we... >> stahl: for an hour? >> weinstein: a little under an hour but... an hour. >> stahl: what word would you use to describe that? is it "serious"? was it "dangerous"? >> weinstein: i don't view it as dangerous at all, because of the safety of the weapon system. i would call it serious when you lose status monitoring for that period of time. ( phone ringing ) >> stahl: being able to communicate with the missiles and with others on the base is essential to a missileer's job. so we were surprised to learn they were having trouble hearing what was being said on their phones. >> meyers: can you repeat that? >> stahl: what about the phones? >> leute: they're awful.

>> reynolds: yeah, they're... they're not so great. ( laughter ) >> stahl: what... what isn't great about them? the... is it... what... >> matuu: just the connection. >> stahl: the hearing, or is it that you can't connect when you make a call or..? >> leute: it's both. i mean, you can't hear the other person on the other end of the line. sometimes, you can't dial out, which makes it very difficult if you're trying to do your job. >> stahl: just to be clear-- the president will not be calling them on the phone with his launch orders. they have other more secure systems for that. but still... >> weinstein: it is an analog system, and when you have an analog system, there are problems. we're looking at upgrading that in the next few years. >> stahl: years. >> weinstein: next few years. >> stahl: not months? >> weinstein: no, years. >> stahl: and they're using really, really, really old computers. i saw a floppy disc, and not a floppy disc that size. it was gigantic. >> weinstein: i'll tell you, those older systems provide us some... i will say huge safety when it comes to some cyber issues that we currently have in the world. >> stahl: now, explain that. >> weinstein: a few years ago, we did a complete analysis of

our entire network. cyber engineers found out that the system is extremely safe and extremely secure on the way it's developed. >> stahl: meaning that you're not up on the internet, that kind of thing? >> weinstein: we're not up on the internet. >> stahl: so, did the cyber people recommend you keep it the way it is? >> weinstein: for right now, yes. >> stahl: a terrorist attack is also a major concern. this tactical security team... >> move! >> stahl: ...trains constantly to take back a missile silo from the bad guys if they ever get in. once the team enters the compound... >> go! go! go! >> stahl: ...and secures the site, they go down into the silo, fast-roping and drawing their guns quicker than most of us can tie a shoelace. >> lets go! lets go! lets go! >> stahl: the land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, the icbms, that we saw are just one part of the nuclear triad that includes missiles on submarines and bombers.

the congressional budget office estimates that operating and upgrading all three legs of the triad is going to cost at least $355 billion over the next ten years. do we need all three legs of the triad? >> schlosser: i think that the one leg of the triad that may be the least useful are our missiles. >> stahl: the land-based... >> schlosser: the land-based missiles are targets. the russians know exactly where they are. it puts the states where they are based at risk, whereas with submarines, they're hidden. one of the things about a bomber is if the bomber takes off with nuclear weapons and you change your mind, you can have the bomber come back to the base. and you can't do that with a land-based missile. >> stahl: the land-based leg of the triad, do we need to have that? >> weinstein: i think it's extremely important to have an on-alert, 24/7 nuclear capability to protect our nation. when... i think we need to look

at the problem set sometimes in the eyes of other nations. when other nations are upgrading their icbm force, they're modernizing their icbm force, i think it's extremely important that we provide the american public with that day-to-day deterrent value that the icbm provides. >> stahl: and that's the mission. >> weinstein: and that's the mission. >> hands on keys and switches. >> stahl: we were watching the missileers practicing their procedures in a simulator... >> mark! >> would you like to do a key turn? >> stahl: ...when one of the instructors offered us a chance to do a practice launch. it was simple enough to turn the switches. >> and in three, two, one-- turn. >> stahl: how many missiles did i actually launch, one or ten? >> you launched 50. >> stahl: i launched 50? >> 50. >> sharpe: i would say everybody here would remember their first alert. you ride the elevator down, you go through those first two

massive blast doors, and you're looking at the same console you've been training on for so long. but this one is tethered directly to ten nuclear weapons with status monitoring for an additional 40. and that weighs on you, absolutely weighs on you. >> stahl: we left the base more aware of the pressures these young officers are under, and hoping their superiors will get around to fixing those phones and broken doors. recently, the air force announced it would spend $19 million this year to upgrade the launch control centers and silos, and it's asking for over $600 million next year to make further improvements. customizable charts, powerful screening tools, and guaranteed one-second trades. and at the center of it all is a surprisingly low price --

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>> simon: now, an extraordinary story from the second world war, a humanitarian story that didn't come to light for decades. it concerns a young londoner named nicholas winton who went to prague, and ended up saving the lives of 669 children, mostly jews, from almost certain death. his story begins at the end of 1938, with europe on the brink of war. in germany, violence against jews was escalating, and the infamous munich agreement paved the way for hitler's armies to march unopposed into czechoslovakia. in london, nicholas winton had been following events and knew that refugees fleeing the nazis were in dire straits. he went to czechoslovakia to see if there was anything he could do to help. what's strange is that, for almost 50 years, he hardly told anyone about what he had

accomplished, and for 50 years, the children knew nothing about who had saved them or how. we begin on october 1, 1938. nazi troops marched into the sudetenland, the german-speaking region of czechoslovakia. prague, the czech capital, was flooded with desperate people trying to escape. a fortunate few were able to send their children abroad. these parents, mostly czech jews, sensed war was coming and wanted to get their children out. by chance, a cameraman filmed a man holding a boy, a 29 year-old londoner. his name-- nicholas winton. >> nicholas winton: all i knew was that the people that i met couldn't get out. and they were looking of ways of

at least getting their children out. >> simon: nicholas winton is one of the few people who can bear witness to those days because he's 104 years old. he told us he went to prague to see if he might be able to save some people. but what made you think you could do it? >> winton: i work on the motto that if something's not impossible, there must be a way of doing it. >> simon: back in london, winton was a successful stockbroker, living the good life with a passion for sports. but he was deeply concerned about news reports from czechoslovakia of german persecution. >> winton: i went out into the camps where the people who had been displaced were put, and it was winter and it was cold. >> simon: emigration wasn't an option. the world's doors were closed to the refugees. conditions in the camps were brutal for the 150,000 people trapped there, especially for

the children. and no one focused on them, until nicholas winton. but what did he do? we went to jerusalem, to yad vashem, israel's memorial to the victims of the holocaust, and asked dr. david silberklang, a senior historian there. >> david silberklang: winton went, set up shop in a hotel in the center of the old city in prague and began looking into, "how can i organize getting some of these refugees, particularly the children, out of here?" >> simon: what kind of experience did he have to qualify him for this immense bureaucratic task? >> silberklang: none! >> simon: winton set up a small organization with one aim-- to get as many kids out as fast as possible. >> silberklang: people started coming to him in increasing numbers. he didn't have time in the day to meet them all. he'd work till 2:00 in the morning, get up early in the morning to meet the next people as more and more were coming saying, "take my child. take my child." >> simon: by the time he returned to london, he had a list of hundreds of children and

set out to convince british authorities to take him seriously. he did it by taking stationary from an established refugee organization, adding "children's section, " and making himself chairman. >> winton: so that, eventually, they had to adopt me. >> simon: so, in fact, you managed to do what you did through a little deception, a little smoke and mirrors? >> winton: yes, to a certain extent, yes. >> simon: it required quite a bit of ingenuity. >> winton: no, it just required a printing press to get the... the notepaper printed. >> simon: the "children's section" operated from a tiny office in central london. winton's mother was in charge. the staff were all volunteers. during the day, winton worked as a stockbroker. evenings, he wrestled with the british bureaucracy. did you approach any other countries to take some of the children? >> winton: the americans.

but the americans wouldn't take any, which was a pity. we could've got a lot more out. >> simon: winton had written president roosevelt, asking the u.s. to take in more children. a minor official at the u.s. embassy in london wrote back-- the u.s. was "unable" to help. britain agreed to accept the children, but only if winton found families willing to take them in. so he circulated the children's pictures to advertise them. but even after a family chose a child, british authorities were slow in issuing travel documents. so winton started having them forged. he also spread some money around. >> winton: took a bit of blackmail on my part. >> simon: you were indulging in blackmail and forgery to get the children out? >> winton: i've never heard it put like that before. ( laughter ) >> simon: but you seem to be enjoying it. >> winton: it worked, that's the main thing. >> simon: the first 20 children

left prague on march 14, 1939. the next day, german troops occupied prague and the rest of czechoslovakia. hitler rode through the streets triumphant. hugo meisl was ten years old. do you remember the germans coming into czechoslovakia? >> hugo meisl: not only do i remember, i personally saw hitler standing up in the car. and the children were expected to say "heil hitler" and so forth. i remember as if yesterday. >> simon: it wasn't long before violence against jews, property confiscations and forced labor that began in the sudetenland spread throughout czechoslovakia. but the nazis allowed winton's trains to leave in keeping with their policy to "cleanse" europe of jews. hugo meisl's parents decided it was time to put him and his brother on one of the trains. >> meisl: i remember that they told us that we were going to

england, maybe two or three months. it would be a holiday for us. and that they would join us very shortly thereafter. >> simon: and you believed them. >> meisl: absolutely. >> simon: were your parents emotional when they said goodbye to you? >> meisl: no, i re... i've asked myself that question many times, how my parents... had the strength? ( chokes up ) i'm sorry. it never occurred to me that what they were saying to us was not true. in other words, that they realized that they... they would not be joining us within a short period of time. >> simon: over the spring and summer of 1939, seven trains carried over 600 children through the heart of nazi

germany to holland, where they took a ferry to the english coast. from there, they caught a train to london. an eighth train carrying 250 more was scheduled to leave prague on september 1. but that's the day the war began. >> winton: they were all at the station, even on the train, waiting to go, and war was declared. so the train never left. never heard really what happened to all those children. >> simon: but there's reason to suspect that not many of them survived? >> winton: i think that's true, yes. >> simon: two years after that last train, the nazis began implementing the "final solution," their plan to slaughter all the jews of europe. czech jews were rounded up and shipped to theresienstadt, an old military garrison town about an hour north of prague, their first stop on the road to annihilation. these tracks were the exit from

theresienstadt, the only exit. the tracks led east. the trains were called "polish transports"-- destination: auschwitz. some 90,000 people took that one-way ride, among them, almost all the children sir nicholas wasn't able to get out in time, their parents, and the parents of the children already in england. after the war, you went back to czechoslovakia. was there one instant where you accepted the fact that your parents were dead? >> meisl: for three years, we used to visit when trains came from siberia, especially when the communists moved in in 1948. a lot of people started coming back from siberia. so, i would go to a station hoping. and when films were being shown of people walking in concentration camps, auschwitz and so forth, there were so many

shots being taken by the germans and... and so forth-- never stopped looking. >> simon: the name of every czech jew murdered in the holocaust is painted on the walls of prague's pinkas synagogue. over 77,300 names, including arnostka and pavel meisl, hugo's parents. and nicholas winton? during the war, he volunteered for an ambulance unit for the red cross, then trained pilots for the royal air force. he got married, raised a family, earned a comfortable living.

for 50 years, he told hardly anyone what he had done. a question which i know intrigues everyone who hears your story is why did you keep it secret for so long? >> winton: i didn't really keep it secret; i just didn't talk about it. >> simon: all this time, you're in england, and then you go back to czechoslovakia. then you go to israel. you still had no idea how your departure from czechoslovakia had been organized? >> meisl: absolutely no idea. >> simon: and you learned that by seeing it on television? >> meisl: that's right. >> simon: in 1988, the bbc learned about winton's story and invited him to be part of a program. he had no idea that the people sitting around him were people he had saved. >> can i ask, is there anyone in our audience tonight who owes their life to nicholas winton? if so, could you stand up

please? mr. winton, would you like to turn around? on behalf of all of them, thank you very much indeed. ( applause ) >> winton: i suppose it was the most emotional moment of my life, suddenly being confronted with all these children who weren't, by any means, children anymore. >> simon: no, they weren't. and for the first time, they looked at you and knew that you were the reason that they were alive. >> winton: yeah. true. >> milena grenfell-baines: i wore this around my neck, and this is the actual pass that we were given to come to england.

and i am another of the children that you saved. >> simon: lady milena grenfell- baines describes winton as one of the most modest people she's ever met. why do you think he didn't say anything for 50 years? >> grenfell-baines: i think it was in his nature. he really felt that he'd done all he could, and having got those children settled, he felt, "been there, done that. my job's done. i've got other things to do." >> simon: "other things." for the last 50 years, winton's been helping mentally handicapped people and building homes for the elderly. >> winton: we've just opened our second old people's home, and it's full. and it's doing very well. and there are plenty of old people like me to go in. >> simon: yes, but you're not there, you're at home. >> winton: oh, i'd hate to go into one of my own homes. ( laughter ) don't print that. >> sir nicholas winton.

>> simon: in 2003, winton was knighted and became sir nicholas winton. in the czech republic, he's become a national hero. he was celebrated in a documentary called "nicky's family," but he isn't really comfortable with all the adulation. >> winton: i'm not interested in the past. i think there's too much emphasis nowadays on the past and what has happened, and nobody is concentrated on the present and the future. >> simon: in 1939, nicholas winton used a two-week vacation to go to prague and ended up saving the lives of 669 children. in the decades since, of course, the children had children, who then had children and so on, and the numbers multiplied. if you want to summarize it in one sentence-- guy takes a two- week vacation... >> grenfell-baines: and ends up with 15,000 children? yes. >> simon: it's a pretty good

story. >> grenfell-baines: it's a great story. ( laughter ) >> winton: they've got children and grandchildren and great grandchildren. >> simon: and none of them would be here if it hadn't been for sir nick. >> winton: that's right. yeah, yeah. terrible responsibility, isn't it? >> one family's final gift to the daughter they'd never see again. go to 60minutesovertime.com. sponsored by lyrica. i was living with pain -- all over. the intense ache made it hard to do the things that i wanted. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia -- thought to be the result of over-active nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. so now, i can do more of the things i enjoy. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these,

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phil: previously on "amazing race: all-stars" -- six teams continued raising through italy. at the detour, brendon and rachel hung on for dear life. then used their u-turn to hang on to their lead. >> dave and con ire. we havto phil: dave and connor were forced to use their u-turn. >> we need to u-turn somebody. leo and jamal. phil: but quickly apologized. >> we're really sorry. phil: and offered help. the father and son continued to fume -- >> i hate them! phil: and finally confronted their foes at the roadblock. >> thank you. phil: brendon and rachel won the battle -- >> whoo! phil: but dave and