The HISTORY Channel docuseries World War II with Tom Hanks begins today, Memorial Day. It is a 20-episode series premiering this Memorial Day. It was developed in collaboration with the National WWII Museum in New Orleans (an awesome museum – visit it if you ever get the chance!). When asked about his ongoing connection to WWII (Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, The Pacific. Greyhound) and why he returns again to these projects, Hanks commented:

We’re not talking about Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones or the Star Wars universe. We are talking about what, at the core of it all, is flesh and blood and the stasis of years asked of an entire generation—plus some—to say, “Put the present on hold. Your future doesn’t mean anything right now, because there is a moral task before us.”

It is that commitment of the men and women of our nation’s armed forces that remember and on this Memorial Day, we remember those who gave their lives because of the moral task before them.