Home Away From Home: The Yanks in Ireland

Overview

Music, myth, and memory mix as one of the last great untold World War II stories unfolds against an Irish landscape. Three hundred thousand American servicemen and women served in Northern Ireland from 1942 to 1945. Soldiers trained for the invasion of North Africa and Normandy, sailors fought the Battle of the Atlantic and U.S. airmen flew coastal patrols from Northern Ireland ports and bases. History has forgotten much of this, but the people still remember. And now GIs themselves return to Northern Ireland to complete the tale. Introduced by Walter Cronkite, who was himself a "Yank in Ireland," the program follows World War II veterans back to their "Home Away From Home." Secrets are revealed and old loves renewed in these moving stories. Rare photographs and archival film help tell the stories.