In the News

Things to do this Weekend - First Line of Defense

DAILY BREEZE

Added Monday 10 December 2012 at 4.08 pm

Special Dec. 7 Events

Catalina`s Role in World War II:  Catalina Island Museum details the island`s participation in World War II in an exhibition that opens Friday on Avalon. It will continue to April 28. "First Line of Defense: Catalina Island and World War II" will explore how Catalina was transformed from a carefree paradise into a Federal Military Zone (and designated the San Pedro Channel a controlled area for vessels) used for training, coastal defense and covert operations. Derived from the Catalina Island Museum`s own extensive archive, the exhibt will feature letters,  photographs, rare film footage of training exercises, top-secret weapons and recently declassified military documents. The museum, its digital theater and store are on the ground floor of Avalon`s historic Casino and open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $10. For more information, call 310-510-2414 or visit Catalina Museum .

USS Iowa: Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony:  The battleship will be the setting for a Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony, beginning at 9:45 a.m. Friday. The memorial service will include a bell ringing for those ships lost or damaged during the Dec. 7, 1941 attack, a wreath ceremony, and comments by Robert Kent, president of Pacific Battleship Center. The ceremony is free; 250 S. Harbor Blvd, San Pedro.

`Honor Flight` Film:At 3 p.m. Friday, the Pacific Battleship Center - caretakers of the Port of Los Angeles-based USS Iowa battleship - will sponsor a screening of the Guinness world record-breaking "Honor Flight" film at the Laemmle Playhouse 7 in Pasadena, followed by a Q&A with the producer and editor of the film. World War II veterans will be in attendance, including Pearl Harbor survivors. The special screening (check website for ticket prices) kicks off a weeklong run of the film in L.A. and NY.

"Honor Flight" features four WW II veterans and a Midwest community coming together to give them the trip of a lifetime. It chronicles the Wisconsin-based Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, as they race against the clock to fly thousands of WWII veterans to Washington, DC, to see the memorial constructed for them in 2005, nearly 60 years after the War.

The initial screening for "Honor Flight" broke the Guinness World Record for the largest film screening in history with over 28,400 people in attendance at the Milwaukee Brewers` stadium. For more film information and to purchase tickets for any of the December 7-14 screenings in L.A., visit Honor Flight the Movie.