Documentary
War & Politics

The Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color

This four-hour series narrated by Martin Sheen captures America's wartime experience through original color film footage and compelling passages from diaries and letters. Rare color footage-much of it never before publicly screened-presents a vivid and intimate portrait of life on the battlefield and on the U.S. home front.

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Created By

Status

Returning Series

Original Name

The Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color

First Air Date

February 12, 2003

Last Air Date

February 19, 2003

Seasons

1

Episodes

4

Language

English

Production Companies

Networks

PBS

S01E04

Triumph: The Pacific, 1943-1945

The series concludes by covering America's efforts to win the war in the Pacific. Among the many scenes captured by color footage are U.S. troops staging a dawn landing on tiny but strategically important Tarawa; the U.S. attack on Iwo Jima and the raising of the American flag on Mount Surabachi; the desperate fight to save the U.S.S. Franklin after the aircraft carrier is hit and set on fire by armor-piercing bombs 50 miles from Japan; U.S. aircraft carriers under attack by kamikaze pilots during the battle for Okinawa; the funeral procession for President Roosevelt following his sudden death in April 1945; the devastation wrought on Hiroshima by the atomic bomb; the Japanese surrender aboard the U.S.S. Missouri; and celebrations in the streets of New York marking the end of the war.

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