Local Programs
32 Congressional Medal of Honor winners came from Pennsylvania, more than from any other state.
I
think World War II has to be signified by basically by what happened to people
when they came home. They carried on just like they would of, if they’d
been no war. Except they had seen the world. ~Jack
MacMillan
From the attack on Pearl Harbor, to the Battle of the Bulge, to the celebratory shouts when the end of the war was announced, "Pennsylvania War Stories: The Lucky Ones" recounts the stories of Pennsylvanians who experienced WWII firsthand.
The documentary weaves World War II era films and stills with personal accounts of life both on the home front and in the trenches. A veteran describes how young boys in his patriotic small town wanted to sign up and get into the fight, influenced by movie stars like John Wayne, and by government-produced newsreels. An airman remembers what it was like to be shot down, captured and imprisoned in a German prison camp. One Navy man survived the Battle of Midway with only rope burns on his hands, while another dive bomber pilot watched the raging inferno caused by a kamikaze attack on his aircraft carrier.
For a war that took the lives of more than 400,000 Americans, including over 26,000 Pennsylvanians, these remaining veterans remember the epic event.
The Pennsylvania Military Museum provided photographs and 8mm movies of Pennsylvania's own 28th Infantry Division as well as information. Special Collections at the Pennsylvania State University Libraries also provided home movies and a collection of 16mm newsreel films from the 8th Air Force Archives.
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