The Medal of Honor is unlike any other accolade in the United States Armed Forces. It’s not something that you “win.” It’s something bestowed only to those who have shown the highest level of valor and sacrifice in the face of the enemy to save their brothers- and sisters-in-arms.
The story written onto each Medal of Honor’s citation tells of the moment a service member risked everything without hesitation. Not all recipients come away from those moments with their life and, oftentimes, it’s their brothers that carry the story onward for the world to hear.
Now, Robert Zemeckis, Academy Award winning director of Forrest Gump, and James Moll, director of the Academy Award-winning documentary, The Last Days, are showcasing these valorous tales on Netflix with the upcoming docuseries, Medal of Honor.
Medal of Honor will be an eight-part anthology series told through a mixture of interviews, reenactments, and real, live-action footage. In order to authentically capture what transpired in those fateful moments, the series will make use of archival footage and commentary from historians, veterans who were present, and family members who know these heroes best.
Creating a series about an award as prestigious as the Medal of Honor comes with a certain gravity, that producer James Moll recognizes. He said,
“There’s a huge responsibility that comes with telling stories of the Medal of Honor. We’re depicting actions that exemplify the greatest, most selfless qualities that any person can embody. We never took that fact lightly. We constantly questioned ourselves, demanding that these stories be handled with tremendous integrity at every step.”
“We were fortunate to have quite a few veterans working with us on the production, and we had quite a few crew members whose close family members had served or were currently serving.”
Mike Dowling, a Marine Corps veteran, co-founder of the Veterans in Film Television, and a former member of the We Are The Mighty team is on staff as the series’ military advisor/associate producer.
The series is set to premiere on Netflix on November 9th, 2018 — the Friday of Veteran’s Day weekend.
Catch the trailer below:
Each featured Medal of Honor recipient will have an episode devoted to their story. The recipients to be featured in the first season of the series include:
- Sergeant Sylvester Antolak (United States Army) — World War II
- Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha (United States Army) — Global War on Terrorism
- Staff Sergeant Ty Carter (United States Army) — Global War on Terrorism
- Staff Sergeant Edward Carter (United States Army) — World War II
- Corporal Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura (United States Army) — Korean War
- Master Sergeant Vito Bertoldo (United States Army) — World War II
- Corporal Joseph Vittori (United States Marine Corps) — Korean War
- Chief Master Sergeant Richard L. “Dick” Etcherberger (United States Air Force) — Vietnam War