2013 Memorial Day Specials on WSIU-TV
Overview
In honor of Memorial Day, WSIU-TV will air special programming for the month of May. Some of your favorite programs will appear during this time, including Aviators, The Tragedy of Bataan, and new episodes of WSIU InFocus. Memorial Day Specials will air from May 1-30. Check out our list of programs below. Scroll to the bottom to download a PDF copy of our Memorial Day Specials poster!
Memorial Day Specials • May 1-30
Wed, May 1
9pm • Secrets of the Dead: Bugging Hitler’s Soldiers (repeats 5/2, 2am)
Spied upon by MI19 in a bugging operation of unprecedented scale and cunning, 4,000 German POW’s revealed their inner thoughts about the Third Reich and let slip military secrets that helped the Allies win WWII. Based on groundbreaking research conducted by a German historian, the film tells the story of how those conversations were recorded and how they can now reveal, in more shocking detail than ever before, the hearts and minds of the German fighter.
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Sun, May 5
10:30pm • Searchlight Serenade: Big Bands in the WWII Japanese Incarceration Camp
More than 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to live in incarceration camps during World War II. As people endeavored to create a sense of normalcy during their incarceration, many detainees still enjoyed the popular music of the day - swing. This program tells the stories of 9 detainees - big band trumpet players, saxophonists, and singers - who created a soulful escape for themselves and their fellow prisoners. Their accounts are accompanied by an evocative animation created from woodcuts and drawings.
11:30pm • Aviators: T-6 Warbird (Segment 3)
Host Kurtis Arnold, a pilot and air traffic controller, earns his wings in a T-6 warbird in the final segment of this first episode of season three.
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Tuesdays, May 7-28
8pm • Constitution USA with Peter Sagal (repeats Wednesdays 1am, 5/8, 5/15, 5/22 & 5/29; Monday 4am, 5/20; Thursdays 4am, 5/9, 5/16, 5/23 & 5/30; Fridays 2am, 5/17, 5/24 & 5/31)
5/7, A More Perfect Union. Peter Sagal explores the Constitution’s resilient brand of federalism, which created a strong national government while preserving much of the power and independence of the states.
5/14, It’s a Free Country. Sagal explores the history of the Bill of Rights and addresses stories involving freedom of speech.
5/21, Created Equal. Sagal examines the history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which established new notions of citizenship, equal protection, duce process, and personal liberty.
5/28, Built to Last? Sagal travels to Iceland, where after the country’s economic collapse, leaders decide to create a new constitution inspired by the U.S. Constitution.
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Mon, May 13
11:30pm • Aviators: P-51 Mustang (Segment 2)
Host Kurtis Arnold takes you back in time to see what it was like for young WWII pilots to fly in the legendary fighter, the P-51 Mustang.
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Tue, May 21
7pm • Ghost Army (repeats 5/22, 12am; 5/23 & 5/25, 3am; 5/24, 1am)
In June 1944, a secret U.S. Army unit went into action in Normandy. The weapons they deployed were decidedly unusual: hundreds of inflatable tanks and a one-of-a-kind collection of sound effects records. Their mission was to use bluff, deception, and trickery to save lives. Many were artists, some of who would become famous, including a budding fashion designer named Bill Blass. They painted and sketched their way across Europe, creating a unique visual record of their journey. The Pentagon hushed up the story of what these men accomplished for more than 40 years. After seven years of effort, and interviews with more than 20 veterans, this documentary finally tells their story.
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Wed, May 22
9pm • Secrets of the Dead: Airmen and the Headhunters (repeats 5/23, 2am)
This spectacular long-lost story of heroism, perseverance, and ingenuity follows the tale of lost WWII soldiers, their unlikely rescue and companionship with the Dayak tribe in Borneo, and their eventual rescue conceived by an eccentric British Major — an airway built out of bamboo in the middle of the jungle.
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Thu, May 23
9:30pm • WSIU InFocus: B-29 Bomber Fi Fi; Monique Gaston (repeats 5/26, 11:30am, 5/31, 5pm)
SIU alumnus David Oliver flies the commemorative Air Force’s B-29 bomber Fi-Fi to is alma mater. French native Monique Gaston recounts her family’s experiences in Nazi-occupied France during World War II.
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Sun, May 26
1:30pm • Bataan: A 70th Anniversary Commemoration
In this interview, Bataan Veterans Pedro “Pete” Gonzalez and William Overmier tell their stories of capture and imprisonment for the years they served as prisoners of war (POW). Gonzalez and Overmier recalled how they were “The battling bastards of Bataan—[they had] no momma, no papa, no Uncle Sam!” Help did not come to the POWs of Bataan until 1945. Overmier solemnly states, “I hope that something like Bataan will never happen again. I have no regrets—I was doing my duty as a soldier.”
2:30pm • The Tragedy of Bataan
The Tragedy of Bataan is a 30-minute television documentary that chronicles the fall of the Philippines and the Bataan Death March in the early months of World War II. This story is narrated by actor Alec Baldwin and contains first-account interviews with twenty-two former survivors of the conflict. This poignant story is also told by an unpublished diary and never–before–seen propaganda footage.
3pm • World War II: Saving the Reality
Over the course of five decades, Kenneth W. Rendell amassed the largest and most comprehensive private collection of original World War II memorabilia in the world. Narrated by Dan Aykroyd, WORLD WAR II: SAVING THE REALITY opens the doors to this private museum located outside Boston. Rendell provides a guided tour of the museum's 30 exhibits, which chronicle the end of World War I and the rise of Nazism to the start of World War II and the fight in Europe and the Pacific.
4pm • Black Jack Logan
SIU alumnus Chris Yoars produced this film about the life of John A. “Black Jack” Logan, a Civil War general whose position on slavery evolved from enforcer of fugitive slaves laws to support of civil rights for former slaves.
5pm • WSIU InFocus: Quiet Acres: Mound City National Cemetery (repeats 5/27, 5:30pm)
Richard Kuenneke’s documentary examines the Civil War heritage of southern Illinois as seen through the lens of Mound City National Cemetery.
7pm • National Memorial Day Concert (repeats 5/27, 12:30am; 5/28, 1am)
Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise honor our men and women in uniform and their families. Guests include Gen. Colin Powell USA (Ret.), Chris Mann, Alfie Boie, Katherine Jenkins, and the National Symphony Orchestra.
8:30pm • Into Harm’s Way
Into Harm’s Way, a feature documentary and first person chronicle, is an honest and often painful look at the shadow war casts long after the guns have fallen silent, and at how the Vietnam War in particular continues to occupy an unsettled place in the American psyche. The program captures the strong bonds of friendship between Vietnam War survivors who were members of the West Point Class 1967.
10pm • Veterans Day 11.11.11
Director John C.P. Goheen and 40 volunteers produced this “day in the life” film about what it means to be a U.S. military veteran. Each story has elements shot on 11/11/11.
11:30pm • Uncommon Courage: Patriotism and Civil Liberties
This program explores the personal histories of second generation Japanese Americans who served in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Service during World War II as Japanese language specialists in the Pacific, and after the war during the Occupation of Japan. It examines the uncommon courage of these soldiers whose faith in the future of America fueled the desire to prove themselves defending their country while many of their families and friends were imprisoned in isolated incarceration camps, stripped of their civil liberties.
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Mon, May 27
11:30pm • Earth, Stone & Memories: Historic Cemeteries and What They Tell Us
Memories offer insight into the basic questions that surround historic cemeteries as explained through the work and passion of historians, archaeologists, genealogists and many others. The documentary explores the development of the nineteenth century family burial plot to the elaborate cemeteries of the last half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Also featured is a discussion about the types of stone used to make headstones, from local sandstone to elaborate marble designs. Earth, Stone & Memories also takes the viewer on the cultural backroads of southernmost Illinois and features a few unique cemetery stories found along the way.
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Thu, May 30
9pm • War Bonds: The Songs and Letters of World War II
This program celebrates the sacrifices of the "greatest generation" by taking a sentimental journey through the days of blackouts, rationing and Rosie the Riveter. The performance program, taped in front of a live audience, fills the stage at Holly Springs Cultural Center in North Carolina with wartime memories and a nostalgic score of period songs. This multimedia, living-history cabaret weaves together the popular songs of the World War II era with humorous, poignant and often poetic letters from the frontlines and the homefront.