NPT will air special programming in observance of Veterans Day 2016, the 75th anniversary of the USO and the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Please join us in saluting veterans and their families.
Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 8 p.m. Aside from the antics of the hospital crew on “MASH,” the Korean War may be largely absent from the American historical psyche. But the first major military clash of the Cold War took place during that war. The two-hour Battle of Chosin on American Experience revisits that Thanksgiving Day, 1950, battle through archival footage and interviews with more than 20 veterans.
Monday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. For many people, the USO brings to mind sounds of big bands and black-and-white newsreel images of Bob Hope and his contemporaries. However, the USO continues to play an integral role in the lives of military personnel. USO – For the Troops is a 75th-anniversary salute to the organization via a modern-day tour featuring NFL all-star Charles Tillman of the Carolina Panthers (himself a military brat); country singer and ex-Army member Craig Morgan, Miss America Betty Cantrell and others. The tour travels to seven countries in eight days aboard a C17 transport plane and shows that the current USO addresses the needs of wounded warriors and other veterans as well as military spouses. NPT hosted a preview screening of this documentary in October.
Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 9 p.m. ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff reports on military medical advances through interviews with injured soldiers, active duty personnel, physicians and scientists in Military Medicine: Beyond the Battlefield.
Thursday, Nov. 10, at 11 p.m. In June 2014, a handful of remaining members of the 29th Infantry Division made a final trip back to Normandy for the 70th anniversary of D-Day. Omaha Beach: Honor and Sacrifice shows these aging veterans sharing their stories and visiting Omaha Beach and the Normandy-American cemetery to say their final good-byes to their fallen friends.
Monday, Nov. 11, at 11:30 p.m. Sands of War is about the training center Gen. George Patton established in the Mojave Desert to prepare one million soldiers for World War II combat.
Monday, Nov. 21, at 11 p.m. By the time she died in 2015, Augusta Chiwy had been “re-discovered” by historian and author Martin King. Chiwy was visiting her Belgian village for Christmas in December 1944 when she was asked to help tend to American soldiers during the opening days of the Battle of the Bulge. Her actions earned her the nickname of Angel of Bastogne. Searching for Augusta: The Forgotten Angel of Bastogne is the story of how this nurse – a black woman – became a legend.
Wednesday, Nov. 23, at 7 p.m. PBS is observing the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor with two new documentaries. The first, Pearl Harbor – USS Oklahoma: The Final Story, investigates why this battleship capsized during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack when no others did.
Wednesday, Nov. 23, at 8 p.m. The second documentary, Expedition Pearl Harbor, goes inside the submerged lower decks of USS Arizona for the first time since 1941. Among the survivors interviewed in the program is Donald Stratton, who was 19 when he was assigned to the battleship.
Several of these programs will air more than once; please check http://www.wnpt.org/schedule/ for additional airtimes.