MILITARY CHANNEL OBSERVES MEMORIAL DAY WITH WORLD PREMIERE SPECIAL, AMERICA
REMEMBERS, AIRING MAY 30, 8 PM (ET/PT)

--Special Tells Compelling Stories of Military Men and Women Who Served
and Sacrificed in America’s Wars --


Silver Spring, MD--Military Channel observes Memorial Day with AMERICA

REMEMBERS, a world premiere special that tells the compelling stories of a

few of the many brave men and women of the armed forces who have fought and

died for their country. The special debuts on Monday, May 30 at 8 PM

(ET/PT).

The people profiled in AMERICA REMEMBERS are men and women from

different eras and different arms of the military. They are ordinary

Americans who were thrust into extraordinary situations on battlefields

ranging from Omaha Beach in Normandy, to the streets of Fallujah in Iraq.

On this Memorial Day, through the voices of family, friends and loved ones,

we hear their heroic stories that are both inspiring and a timely reminder

of the true price of freedom

Each of the five segments in this special profiles a different person

or family:

· The tiny town of Pflugerville, Texas, opens its new war memorial in
honor of Sergeant Byron Norwood, a Marine who served and died in Iraq.
Byron’s mother, Janet, talks about her son’s dedication to the Marines. He
was part of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment out of Camp Pendleton.
His unit successfully completed one tour of duty but stayed in Iraq to
assist with the upcoming elections. He was hit by gunfire on November 12,
2004, as he and his fellow soldiers made their way through Fallujah. He
died instantly. During the most recent State of the Union Address,
President Bush cited Norwood by name as a defender of freedom. In an
emotional moment a grateful Iraqi woman, also honored that night, tearfully
embraced his parents.
· Lakeina Francis, a Navy sailor aboard the USS Cole, died on October
12, 2001 in the waters off Yemen, just two weeks after completing basic
training. Francis was among the first victims in a conflict that hadn’t
yet been named the “War on Terror.” On that fateful day, Francis and one
other shipmate became the first women in U.S. Military history to die in
combat on a ship. Lakeina’s father remembers his daughter at Arlington
National Cemetery.
· Wayne Ryza was one of the 58,000 American soldiers who died in
Vietnam. His friend and squad commander Tom Corey, who was there when
Wayne died, tells Ryza’s emotional story in AMERICA REMEMBERS. Wayne was
just 19 years old when he arrived in Vietnam and forged a special bond with
Tom. In a heavy day of fighting, Wayne was killed by enemy fire. Tom, who
left Vietnam as a quadriplegic, remembers his friend at the famous Vietnam
Veterans’ Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
· When it comes to honor, duty and courage, few battles were as daring
as the D-Day invasion—the turning point of World War II, as American GIs
stormed the beaches of France and repelled the Nazis. Three of the
soldiers who stormed Omaha Beach that day were childhood buddies – Bob
Slaughter, George Johnson and Jack Ingram, all from Roanoke, Va. Nazi
machine guns mowed down scores of soldiers, George and Jack among them.
Bob survived and today pays tribute to them at the World War II Memorial in
Washington, D.C.
· The stories of loss and sacrifice made by American families are too
numerous to tell, but one family profiled in AMERICA REMEMBERS has an
unusually proud history of service. Three generations of the Salie family
have fought for the United States in World War II, Vietnam, the Persian
Gulf War and the Iraq War. One Salie who paid the ultimate price was
Sergeant 1st Class David Salie, who died just three days into his
deployment to Iraq. In a moving tribute to David and the thousands of
soldiers like him, his wife listens to the taped message he sent to his
family – to be played only if he never returned home.


AMERICA REMEMBERS airs as part of Military Channel’s special Memorial

Day programming. Other shows airing on Monday, May 30, are:



6 PM – GOIN’ BACK: Bataan and Corregidor – Journey to the
Philippines
with U.S. and Filipino veterans who fought in the bitter Battle of
Bataan, a hopeless struggle that began the day of the attack on Pearl
Harbor and ended with the infamous Bataan Death March.

7 PM – BATTLEFIELD DIARIES: Battle of al Khafji – American air power
dominated the Persian Gulf War early on, but Saddam Hussein was not
about to stay on the defensive. To draw American and Coalition
forces into a ground war, the Iraqi military launched a surprise
invasion of Al Khafji, Saudi Arabia.

9 PM – GOIN’ BACK: Iwo Jima – The iconic image of the flag-raising
on
Iwo Jima is the best known image of World War II. This program brings
living heroes back to the tiny Pacific island of Iwo Jima, where the
costliest battle in Marine Corps history took place in the spring of
1945.


10 PM – BATTLEFIELD DIARIES: Lam Son 719 – In 1971, American
helicopters lifted off from South Vietnam carrying troops to cut
supply lines of a mutual enemy, North Vietnam. Although American
involvement was restricted to support, the operation left an
indelible mark on U.S. Army aviation.