The Nation Remembers on TV One

TV ONE’s comprehensive Anzac Day coverage begins at 5.55am with a LIVE broadcast of the Dawn Service from Mt Maunganui, presented by Miriama Kamo.

At 6.45am, Kiwis At War recounts the story of Jack Rae, an ace fighter pilot who survived crashes and heavy bombing to land in a notorious German prison camp. But he was soon planning an escape bid of his own.

The Reluctant Hero, at 7.10am, profiles Special Air Service soldier Willie Apiata, re-enacts the feat for which he received the Victoria Cross, and looks at how this reserved Kiwi soldier has coped with public exposure.

Nobody’s Heroes at 9.30am is the story of Colin McRae, one of nearly 2,000 New Zealand soldiers captured on Crete in May 1941, told through the eyes of his grandson, Tom McRae.

The national Wreath-Laying Ceremony will be broadcast LIVE from the National War Memorial in Wellington at 10.30am.

At 12.05pm is the first of two new local documentaries, specially commissioned for Anzac Day 2009. Saving Face tells the story of four Kiwi surgeons who pioneered plastic surgery techniques whilst treating war casualties.

Then at 1pm, Lost In Libya follows four amateur historians as they trace the footsteps of their wartime heroes, a Kiwi unit of the elite Long Range Desert Group, 4000km into the Sahara Desert.

A ONE News Special at 2.30 brings LIVE coverage of the ANZAC ceremony at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli.