The first and last weeks of May include two big tributes to the men and women of the armed forces: May 8 is international Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day), which commemorates the 1945 surrender of Nazi Germany that ended World War II in Europe; and May 25 brings our own national Memorial Day, recognizing the ultimate sacrifice of our American soldiers who gave everything while defending our country.
In their honor, both Family Movie Classics (FMC) and Family Entertainment Television (FETV) are running monthlong movie blocks of wartime classics under the banner “Salute to Service.”
FMC kicked things off on May 1 with the first of five John Wayne Friday night features (airing at 8/7c every Friday of the month). The film The Fighting Seabees (1944) finds Wayne leading construction crews building airstrips in the Pacific theater for the Navy during WWII. Then there is the all-star classic The Longest Day (1962) on May 8, chronicling the D-Day landings in Normandy, France.
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Wayne’s finest war movie, Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), aired May 15. He plays a hard-as-nails Marine sergeant whose platoon comes to appreciate his tough lessons once they leave basic training to fight in the Pacific and eventually at Iwo Jima. In addition to the Wayne features, there are military movies each night in primetime in May!
FETV begins their “Salute to Service” programming on May 3 with the first of five Sunday movie matinees at 3/2c. First up is The Dirty Dozen (1967), with Lee Marvin leading a unit of convicts on what is sure to be a suicide mission behind enemy lines just before D-Day. On May 17, Gregory Peck refuses to give up flying dangerous bomber raids in Twelve O’Clock High (1949), and then on May 24, Clint Eastwood takes charge in the war/heist film Kelly’s Heroes (1970), about a ragtag group of soldiers attempting to steal a cache of Nazi gold.
Other movies to keep an eye out for include one of the most awarded war movies ever, seven-time Oscar winner The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), focusing on veterans struggling to fit in on the homefront, and William Holden‘s Academy Award–winning role as a POW airman one-upping the enemy in Stalag 17 (1953).
There are daylong marathons too, for both V-E Day and Memorial Day on FMC: V-E Day boasts Burt Lancaster in the excellent actioner The Train (1964) and Robert Mitchum in Anzio (1968). For the full schedule and where to watch, visit fmc.tv and fetv.tv.
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