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THE WAR: A Ken Burns Film
Explore the history, hopes and horror of the Second World War by witnessing the firsthand stories of ordinary men and women caught in extraordinary times on THE WAR: A Ken Burns Film. Six years in the making, an encore presentation of this entire epic work airs throughout October, Wednesdays at 9 PM.

Click here to preview THE WAR.

• A Necessary War (December 1941-December 1942)
  Academy-Award winning actor Tom Hank narrates this haunting overview of the SecondWorld War, as residents of Mobile, AL; Sacramento, CA; Waterbury, CT; and Luverne, MN share recollections of how Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor shattered their tranquil lives.
  
• When Things Get Tough (January 1943-December 1943)
  After more than a year at war, American troops, including Charles Mann of Luverne, faceGerman and Italian armies as they learn to view killing as craft and not sin. On the home front, the war effort commandeers nearly all manufacturing, and women take a central role on the assembly line.
  
• A Deadly Calling (November 1943-June 1944)
  After nearly two years of war, see the terrible toll through the eyes of the American public. On tiny Tarawa Atoll, Marines set out to prove that an all-out assault can take out any island, no matter how fiercely defended. And African Americans, fighting for freedom while still segregated, demand equal rights.
  
• Pride of Our Nation (June 1944-August 1944)
  Allied troops embark on one of the greatest invasions in history: the invasion of France—including Dwain Luce of Mobile, who drops behind enemy lines in a glider; Quentin Aanenson of Luverne, who flies his first combat mission over the Normandy coast; and Joseph Vaghi of Waterbury, who manages to survive the disastrous landing on Omaha Beach where German resistance nearly decimates the Allied forces.
  
• FUBAR (September 1944-December 1944)
  September 1944, in Europe, the Allies seems to move steadily toward victory. “Militarily,” General Dwight Eisenhower’s chief of staff tells the press, “this war is over.” In coming months, however, a generation of young men on both sides of the world learn a lesson as old as war itself--generals make plans, plans go wrong and soldiers die.
• The Ghost War (December 1944 - March 1945)
  The Ghost War takes viewers to December 1944, a time when Americans have become weary of the war. In the Pacific, American progress has been slow and costly, with each island more fiercely defended than the last. In Europe, no one is prepared for Hitler’s massive counterattack Hitler launches in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium and Luxemburg. And while soldiers from Mobile, AL, to Sacramento, CA are caught up in the Battle of the Bulge, back at home, residents of these same communities are seen in shock over newspaper headlines showing the Germans on the offensive.
• A World Without War (March 1945 - )
  In the finale, A World Without War opens in spring 1945, a time when the numbers of dead and wounded have more than doubled since D-Day, and when the people of four very different American communities begin to understand all too well that there will be more bad news from the battlefield before this world war can end.

North Carolina People
Friday, October 12, at 9 PM and Sunday, October 14, at 5:30 PM
In an encore presentation surrounding UNC-TV's own North Carolina's WWII Experience, North Carolina People host William Friday speaks with World War II veteran Paul Dallas about his own experiences on the front lines of conflict.