PRODUCED BY LOU REDA PRODUCTIONS
POST PRODUCTION SUPERVISION BY FREDERIC LUMIERE
HERO SHIPS USS Arizona (Watch) Although the Arizona fought only minutes in the battle in which she died, her afterlife as a tragic symbol epitomizes American naval sacrifice and courage. She is a national cemetery as a well as a national monument, with 900 of her December 7th crew entombed within her. As a special honor, survivors of the Pearl Harbor fleet are entitled to have their ashes buried within Arizona's ruins. Travel back to the ship for a final reunion with the last of her survivors and witness the entombing of a deceased survivor on the ship. Here her valiant story of fighting against insurmountable odds as we also take witness to her heroic past highlights and recent discoveries.
9-10 PM (EST):
HERO SHIPS USS Enterprise (Watch) The original Enterprise, CV-6, gained immortality as "The Fighting Lady" of WWII. A dwarf among modern carrier, the "Big E" was a main target of the Japanese at Pearl Harbor and barely away at sea when the blow fell. Miraculously spared, she became the war-long leader of America's naval counterattack, playing key roles in decisive battles of the war. Despite her glorious past she is sent to the scrap yard, but redemption comes in 1957 with the launching of CVN-65, her great namesake and the world's first nuclear-powered carrier. From then until now Enterprise has been a mainstay of American strength and today she remains on the high seas in the front lines of American's military engagements.
10-11 PM (EST):
HERO SHIPS LST - 325 "Landing Ship Tanks" weren't deemed noble enough even to have names. They were not thought of as warships even though they were always the first floating metal to touch fire-swept beaches from North Africa, to Sicily, to Normandy, and from the Philippines to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The story of these ships is therefore one of an unsung hero, as it reveals not just the considerable war-long battle action of one ship, but exemplifies the collective saga of a design class that had absolutely no military precedent before the first keel was laid in June of 1942. We learn the dire necessity of these ships from crucial roles in D-Day--how the date was postponed to allow for more to be constructed, and how precariously close they came to disaster with the tragic story of Exercise Tiger, the botched D-Day dress rehearsal that claimed the lives of hundreds of LST sailors and put the entire mission in jeopardy.
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