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A public reunion of Dolittle's Raiders

Monday 8pm DOOLITTLE'S RAIDERS: A FINAL TOAST - History - A detailed look at the Doolittle Raid, and the final official public reunion of the surviving Raiders.  The bottle of 1896 Hennessy Cognac was uncorked in front of hundreds of people. The surviving World War II veterans from one of history's greatest military missions were about to raise their silver goblets one last time ending a decades long tradition. It was time for the veterans to hold this final toast. They could wait no longer. Their numbers had dwindled to just a few.

(L-R): Lt. Col. Dick Cole, engineer gunner David Thatcher, one of Doolittle's Raiders and navigator Tom Griffin were four of the 80 Raiders who bombed Japan in April 1942.
Credit APT
(L-R): Lt. Col. Dick Cole, engineer gunner David Thatcher, one of Doolittle's Raiders and navigator Tom Griffin were four of the 80 Raiders who bombed Japan in April 1942.

Many of the names of the 80 flyers who took part in the April 18, 1942 raid on Japan may not be familiar to most, but collectively they will always be known in history as the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.Long ago these American flyers, aboard 16 B-25 bombers, had accomplished a daring mission that changed the morale of an entire nation. The aviators, led by famed commander Lt. Col. James Harold Doolittle, had taken the fight directly to the enemy for the first time in World War II and delivered payback for Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  9pm THE GREAT WAR: American Experience - Historical Documentary - Discover how WWI transformed America through the stories of those whose participation in the war to "make the world safe for democracy" has been largely forgotten.  

Credit PBS

The Great War tells the rich and complex story of World War I through the voices of nurses, journalists, aviators and the American troops who came to be known as “doughboys.” The series explores the experiences of African-American and Latino soldiers, suffragists, Native American “code talkers” and others whose participation in the war to “make the world safe for democracy” has been largely forgotten. The Great War explores how a brilliant PR man bolstered support for the war in a country hesitant to put lives on the line for a foreign conflict; how President Woodrow Wilson steered the nation through years of neutrality, only to reluctantly lead America into the bloodiest conflict the world had ever seen, thereby transforming the United States into a dominant player on the international stage; and how the ardent patriotism and determination to support America’s crusade for liberty abroad led to one of the most oppressive crackdowns on civil liberties at home in U.S. history. It is a story of heroism and sacrifice that would ultimately claim 15 million lives and profoundly change the world forever.

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Mia Laurenzo is a 30-year veteran of public television in Miami. She began her career learning every aspect of video production. Currently she is a writer, producer, on-air host and promotions coordinator for TV, radio and the web. Her experiences include producing for a series, special events and historical documentaries. As a native Floridian, she is a perfect fit for South Florida's Storyteller Station, WLRN. She has produced award winning, nationally distributed documentaries like Journey to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade where one year she followed a high school band and a clown as they prepared for the big day and the next year, she had the privilege of being a clown herself. Previously, she produced Weird Florida: On the Road Again, a sequel to the highly successful show Weird Florida: Roads Less Traveled, where the cast and crew travel over 1,500 miles searching the Sunshine State’s weirdest and wackiest places. On a more serious note and what she considers to be her most important work, she produced Out of Darkness, Into Light, a documentary on child sexual abuse,which delved into the lives of three adult survivors, a show in which she was awarded her first of two Emmys.