At 9PM on Independence Day in 1944 CBS presented an episode of Columbia Presents Corwin called "Home For The Fourth." Written and directed by Norman Corwin and starring Dane Clark. It's a story that could have been about your family or mine, and how World War II affected them.

July 4th, 1944 was less than a month after the Normandy Invasions on D Day. On that Independence Day the millionth allied soldier landed on Normandy and one-thousand one-hundred allied guns fired a Fourth of July salute at German enemy lines.

In the Pacific theater, US Navy Task Force 58 bombards and bombs Iwo Jima, Haha Jima, and Chichi Jima, forcing the Japanese air force to leave the islands.

In this program, a soldier is given a forty-eight-hour Fourth of July home pass. While the family argues the meaning of World War II and the subsequent international pacts, they learn the true meaning of what they're arguing over. It's is incredibly well-written, timeless, and moving.

The cast featured Dane Clark as Ed, Wally Maher as Bill, Betsy Kelly as Rita, Paul McVey as Pa, and Regina Wallace as Ma. Bernard Herrmann composed and conducted the music.