Robert Williams today

Robert Williams

At midnight on June 6, 1944, Robert L. Williams, of Independence, and 12,000 other members of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions parachuted behind enemy lines. "It was very dark, a partly moonlit night," Williams remembers. "You couldn't see where you were going to land, and I had no idea I was going to land in water."

Williams, along with other Kentucky veterans, tells his story in Kentucky WWII Veterans: In Their Own Words , a new KET production, airing Monday, Sept. 24 at 10/9 p.m. CT on KET1 and Saturday, Sept. 29 at 8/7 p.m. CT on KET2. The documentary , narrated by Nick Clooney, is part of KET's programming related to Ken Burns' new film The War , an epic seven-part examination of World War II from an American perspective, premiering Sept. 23.

Other Kentucky veterans who recount their experiences through poignant and insightful interviews include Lee Ebner of Louisville, who was stationed at Pearl Harbor, and Lexington's June Rollins, who served in the war as an MP. Other veterans featured include John Gatton of Louisville, who guided a landing craft on Omaha Beach on D-Day; Owensboro's Jack Darnell, who flew with the Army Air Corps in Italy; Bill Shuffett of Greensburg and Reed Potter of Pikeville, both of whom survived the Battle of the Bulge; and Alan Legear of Berea, who served with the Marines in the Pacific Theater.

Kentucky WWII Veterans: In Their Own Words is a KET production, produced by Tom Bickel.