D-Day being commemorated on TV with special programs, tributes

In addition to A&E’s movie about Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 60th anniversary of D-Day will be commemorated by television in many ways during the week leading up to the event itself next Sunday.

Tonight’s annual National Memorial Day Concert, broadcast from the lawn of the U.S. Capitol (7 p.m. on KSPS-7 in Spokane, 8 p.m. on Idaho Public Television channels), will feature musical tributes by Alison Krauss, Brad Paisley, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Marin Mazzie, Joshua Bell and the National Symphony.

Remembrances will come from actor Charles Durning, who was a young infantryman charging on to the French beach at Normandy on D-Day. Other readings will be given by Tom Hanks, Ossie Davis, Joe Mantegna and Jason Ritter.

“The memories are never lost,” says Durning, 81. “There are still times when I wake up screaming.”

In his remembrance, he wrote: “It was total confusion. Chaos … all around me people were being shot at. I saw bodies all over the place, but I didn’t know if they were alive.”

Afterward, Durning, who describes himself as “always a kind of a happy-go-lucky kid before the war,” kept his memories to himself.

“I’ve never told my son about it,” he says. “He knew more about World War II than I did, but I didn’t talk about this.”

The History Channel will air 14 documentaries between Memorial Day and the D-Day anniversary. New ones include “10 Days to D-Day” on Wednesday at 9 p.m. and “D-Day: The Lost Evidence” next Sunday at 8 p.m.