HBO brings WWII veterans to memorial

WASHINGTON (AP) - Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Elizabeth Dole are joining 250 veterans at the World War II memorial in Washington to honor their service.

HBO brought the veterans to the memorial Thursday to mark the premiere of a 10-part series called "The Pacific." The series focuses on the lives of U.S. Marines fighting the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor begins Sunday.

After the "Band of Brothers" project, which focused on the war in Europe, Spielberg says he and Hanks wanted to tell the story of the Pacific theater too. Spielberg tells the veterans they did it because they are "the greatest stories ever told."

Eighty-seven-year-old Fred Rose of Barberton, Ohio, served in an amphibious tank battalion in the Marshall Islands and Saipan. Rose says he nearly cried hearing accolades from Spielberg, Hanks and others.