War Documentary hosted by James Wallace and Nat Fuller, published by PBS in 1991 - English narration
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Produced by an independent film production company four World War II documentaries, "Peleliu 1944: Horror in the Pacific," "Pistol Packin' Mama: Missions of a B-17," "Fighting 17: The Jolly Rogers," and "17th Airborne: The Bulge to the Rhine," have received 11 prestigious film awards, including two Telly Awards, two Columbus International Film Festival Awards, and two New York International Film Festival citations.
In 1989 Kenwood Productions began producing WWII documentaries as part of a series of films titled The American Hero. The original objective of the company was to produce a series of 13 films (The American Hero Series) documenting, through the use of interviews and archival materials, the combat experience America's World War II soldiers. Ultimately only four films were finished and the interview portions of two additional films were shot, but due to a lack of ongoing funding the remainder of the identified stories were not completed.
While disappointed that circumstances prevented the completion of the series, the opportunity to work in each film with five veterans who served and fought together was the experience of a lifetime. From five crew members of a B-17 from the 8th Air Force, to five Navy fighter pilots of the Jolly Rogers squadron, to five members of the 17th Airborne, to five battle-tested Marines of the 1st Marine division, they were to a man remarkable individuals who openly shared their personal stories of combat and service.
In recent years with Ken Burns' series "The War" and the Tom Hanks/Stephen Spielberg series "The Pacific" more attention has been brought to what has been called the Greatest Generation. When series was being produced in the late 1980's and early 1990's, there was little public awareness of the WWII vet and their stories. Now that their stories are coming to light production team is proud to have played a small part in capturing some of these stories for posterity.
2) 17th Airborne: The Bulge to the Rhine
This is the story of an obscure battalion -- the 681st Glider Field Artillery of the . It chronicles five green, young soldiers who thought the war might end before they would see action. Instead, they enter combat on Christmas Day 1944 at the Battle of the Bulge and four months later glide over the Rhine to push forward the inevitable Allied advance. Hear Jack Fisher and four of his buddies as they describe first combat, the bone-chilling cold of a European winter, the constant fear, and the ferocious enemy. This is the personal account of five young men from the 17th Airborne Division, 681st Glider Field Artillery Battalion., B Battery, who went to war on Christmas Day 1944, fighting their way from the Bulge to the Rhine.
Desperate to halt the Allied advance toward the Rhine, Hitler had ordered a massive counterattack through the Ardennes Forest on December 16th, and four German army groups attempted to split the Allied command. As they drove swiftly toward the Belgian port of Antwerp, the Battle of the Bulge began, changing the lives of Sgt. Jack Fisher, Cpl. Carl Arend, Cpl. Stanley Polniak, Sgt. Walter Byrd, and Capt. Robert Harrsch forever. Ordered by Gen. Eisenhower to link up with embattled Allied units and drive the Germans from Belgium, the 17th Airborne was the first entire division flown into combat, and these survivors recount their dramatic story.
Director: Howard Dallin ; 1990 Kenwood Productions, Inc., The American Hero Series
