Memorial Day 2023
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Veterans of America—Our Heroes in Uniform: They Served Too
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Sunday, May 28, at noon
The story of female veterans is as varied as the story of females from all walks of life. This 30-minute local production highlights many of the challenges and successes of area women in uniform. Examples include a young mother who now serves in the Army Reserve, a young couple who are both veterans, a female general and a nurse who is in the reserves.
Watch VETERANS OF AMERICA—OUR HEROES IN UNIFORM: THEY SERVED TOO online.
Homecoming: Sgt. Hamilton's Long Journey
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Sunday, May 28, at 12:30 PM
Sgt. Vernon Hamilton was a 19-year-old Army Air Corps engineer-gunner from Monongahela, Penn., whose plane was shot down over Germany during World War II. This documentary follows the modern-day excavation team who recovered his 1943 Monongahela High School class ring in Reken, Germany, in 2016, as well as the DNA scientists in Nebraska who were able to identify the sergeant’s remains.
Journey Home to the USS Arizona
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Sunday, May 28, at 1 PM
Follow the family of Raymond Haerry Sr. as they travel 5,000 miles from New Jersey to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, to place his ashes aboard the sunken battleship. After the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7, 1941, 19-year-old Haerry was blown into the water and swam through oil and fire to Ford Island, an islet in the center of Pearl Harbor. There he found a rifle and opened fire on Japanese planes. Ray Haerry Sr. passed away at the age of 94 on Sept. 27, 2016.
Heroes on Deck: World War II on Lake Michigan
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Sunday, May 28, at 2 PM
During World War II, just off Chicago’s shoreline, the U.S. Navy trained more than 15,000 pilots and 40,000 deck crews on two makeshift “flattops”—both former coal-fired, side-wheel passenger steamers. Not every pilot landed on the pitching decks of the USS Wolverine and USS Sable, and many aircraft crashed to the lake bottom. This is the story of the recovery of these rare warbirds.
The Tuskegee Airmen: Return to Ramitelli
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Sunday, May 28, at 3 PM
Learn the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of Black military pilots who broke stereotypes and helped win World War II with their daring fighter escorts of American bombers. The film returns to Ramitelli Airfield in Italy to share the history of the air squadron that helped shift the tides of the war.
Grandpa's War Story Goes Viral
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Sunday, May 28, at 4 PM
Learn the remarkable account of James (Jim) Schmidt’s World War II service and military career, and his grandson Henry De Hoop’s efforts to generate interest in his grandfather’s war journey with the help of social media. Schmidt responded to the national call to duty following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. The twist: Schmidt enlisted at the age of 14 and left home without telling his parents.
Omaha Beach: Honor and Sacrifice
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Sunday, May 28, at 5 PM
On D-Day, a roughly 7,000-yard stretch of beach in Normandy, France proved to be the Allies’ biggest obstacle to the success of Operation Overlord. The assignment to take Omaha Beach, establish a beachhead and move inland into France was given to two American divisions.
Seven decades after the “Boys of Omaha Beach” landed, many veterans returned to this part of the Normandy coast for the last time.
National Memorial Day Concert
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Sunday, May 28, at 8 PM & 9:30 PM
Monday, May 29, at 2 AM & 3:30 AM
The 34th annual broadcast of the NATIONAL MEMORIAL DAY CONCERT returns live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.
The program is co-hosted by acclaimed actors Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise, joined by Mary McCormack and an all-star lineup with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of top pops conductor Jack Everly. The deeply moving and reverential night brings us together as one family of Americans to honor the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform.
The Seabees on Iwo Jima
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Sunday, May 28, at 11 PM
Narrator Jim Nantz focuses on the story of the United States Naval Construction Battalions of World War II. The “Seabees,” some of whom were in their 60s, were recruited from the construction trades to join special battalions that built the airfields and bases needed to stage a successful war effort.
Best known for their work building runways out of jungles on the coral islands in the Pacific, these construction battalions helped the United States take the war to Japan’s doorstep in 1945. The “Seabees” also often had to put down their shovels to pick up rifles and fend off enemy attacks.