The War | Ken Burns

Photo: Storming the beach at Normandy

For the past two weeks, from 8-10PM, I’ve been glued to my TV to experience the captivating series on The War from the documentary master, Ken Burns. Of course when I say The War, I mean WWII, since it was the last world war where many veterans are still alive. Most of us have family members that were veterans of the war and there are many stories to tell. 16 million Americans have gone through this war and today, the veterans are dying.

These are the reasons Burns took on this 15 hour series that took 4 years to make. The War is told through letters and present-day interviews, highlighting several small towns throughout the series to give us a personal perspective from the home front to the frontline. Add in numerous hours of live footage and thousands of pictures and you gain a real understanding of the war.

Check the PBS website for TV schedules in your area. I think our local PBS will be broadcasting 1 of the 7 episodes each week on Wednesday night.

On a lighter note, these modified military hand signal diagrams are pretty hilarious. Subtle, but brilliant.