Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The American Road to Victory finds a home Fort Benning, GA



For Immediate Release
National memorial joins forces with  filmmakers
The National Infantry Museum Foundation at Fort Benning, Ga., home of a powerful tribute to U.S. infantrymen through the ages, and Livingbattlefield,  producers of the groundbreaking World War II film trilogy, The American Road to Victory, have partnered to further their shared mission of keeping military history alive.

The museum, located outside one of the Army's major recruit training facilities, has become a sponsor of the World War II film trilogy, which has aired more than 1,200 times on PBS affiliates nationwide.

"We knew, after screening one of the films in our theater on Veterans Day, that we wanted to be a part of this," said foundation president Ben Williams. "The films represent a great example of everything we stand for -- real history for families. "

"This is such an honor for us", said Heidi Lanni, Livingbattlefield’s CEO and wife of series director Richard Lanni. "Receiving support from such an important national institution tells us that our decision to work outside the box of traditional war documentaries -- to look at war from a foxhole level -- was the right one to make.”
Foundation President, Ben Williams & film director Lanni

The films, which will continue to air nationally, take the form of battlefield tours. Shot in real time, in the exact locations, they are underpinned by powerful veterans' testimonies, graphics and re-enactments. Presenting the series is colorful front man, Ellwood von Seibold, one of Europe’s leading battlefield guides and an honorary officer in the U.S. Army.

Series viewers get the opportunity to travel along with Ellwood in his 1943 Dodge command car from the blood-soaked beaches of Normandy, through the killing fields of Holland, to the freezing forests of the Bulge.

Many veterans featured in the series passed through Fort Benning during WWII.

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Media contacts:

Ben Williams: bwilliams@nationalinfantryfoundation.org
Marty Callaghan: marty@livingbattlefield.org

Websites:

National Infantry Museum  http://www.nationalinfantrymuseum.com
The American Road to Victory  http://www.livingbattlefield.org