It's Not What They Saw, It's What They Missed: Soldiers in Operation Iraqi Freedom Reunite With Their Families in TLC's New Series OPERATION HOMECOMING

It's Not What They Saw, It's What They Missed: Soldiers in Operation Iraqi Freedom Reunite With Their Families in TLC's New Series OPERATION HOMECOMING

- Series Premieres With Two-Hour Special on Memorial Day -

SILVER SPRING, May 16 /PRNewswire/ -- These are the stories you haven't heard. A pair of identical twin soldiers reunite on and off the battlefield. A wife surprises her returning husband with a dramatic weight loss. A soldier's family in the U.S. provides safe haven for a young Iraqi boy in need of a life-saving operation. Go behind the headlines from Operation Iraqi Freedom for incredible stories of suspense, surprise and sacrifice in TLC's new five-episode special series OPERATION HOMECOMING.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030530/TLCLOGO )

Premiering on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30 from 9 to 11 PM (ET/PT), OPERATION HOMECOMING features soldiers' emotional first moments with family and friends as they return home from assignments abroad, including Operation Iraqi Freedom. TLC worked in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Defense to gain access to these intimate, personal stories that shed light on the sacrifices made not only by the men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces, but also by their loved ones and communities back home. Each hour-long episode will include three stories that highlight the soldiers and their families.

Other stories featured in OPERATION HOMECOMING include a real-life "Daddy Day Care" who's cared for his young children (along with many other children on base) while his wife served in Iraq; an injured soldier who flew from Walter Reed Army Medical Center to personally welcome his troop on the homecoming field and to thank the friend who saved his life; two military wives who moved their families to live together while their husbands served overseas and more.

In OPERATION HOMECOMING, viewers will be there for the reunion as families welcome home loved ones from military service abroad: their emotional letters and e-mails, the seemingly interminable days waiting for the phone to ring and the final rush of preparations as the families receive notice their sons, daughters, husbands and wives are to return. They are stories of courage against all odds, optimism in the face of anxiety, and the overwhelming sacrifices made by families with loved ones serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Online at TLC.com, viewers can read more about the soldiers and families profiled in OPERATION HOMECOMING, view family photos, read their letters home and learn ways that they can get involved in supporting U.S. troops serving abroad.

OPERATION HOMECOMING is produced for TLC by True Entertainment in conjunction with A-III Productions, Inc. The executive producer for A-III is Alexandra Jewett; for True Entertainment, Glenda Hersh; and for TLC, Kathy Davidov.

TLC is dedicated to high-quality, intelligent and relatable nonfiction entertainment: authentic personal stories that inspire, engage, inform and unite our audience in the spirit of life's possibilities. TLC intimately connects more than 94 million homes in North America to the human experience through its "Life Unscripted" approach to storytelling. Discovery Networks, U.S., a unit of Discovery Communications, Inc., operates and manages Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery HD Theater, Discovery Kids Channel, Discovery Times Channel, The Science Channel, Discovery Home Channel, Military Channel, Discovery en Espanol and FitTV. The unit also distributes BBC AMERICA in the United States. Visit TLC on the web by going to http://www.tlc.com/.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030530/TLCLOGO
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Source: TLC

CONTACT: Don Halcombe of TLC, +1-240-662-2952,
Don_Halcombe@discovery.com, or Rachel Saunders, +1-323-866-0880,
RSaunders@js2comm.com, for TLC

Web site: http://www.tlc.com/
http://www.discovery.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: For high-resolution photography, please go to www.press.discovery.com.

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