In an effort to reduce the stress of frequent relocations endured by military families, the National Military Family Association (NMFA) and Qcorps Residential Inc. have created the online NMFA Moving Center at http://www.nmfa.org/.

Using this service, military families can purchase and set up many services at any time of the day— not just when the utility companies are open. Users can comparison shop from providers such as local and long-distance telephone services, cable and satellite television, high-speed Internet providers, newspapers and magazines, moving companies, storage facilities, and furniture and appliance renters.

“We are constantly looking at innovative ways to support our membership, and we are proud of our accomplishments in this area,” says NMFA President Barbara Lee Williams. “The stress of frequent relocations on military families is well documented and something as simple as arriving to find a working telephone can really help to make unfamiliar surroundings feel like home.”

A Book of Heroes

Veterans Day honors all U.S. military members for their courage and service. Fittingly, the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation, in collaboration with Artisan (a division of Workman Publishing), is releasing Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty on Nov. 11.

The book features portraits and stories of 116 living (or recently deceased) recipients of the Medal of Honor as captured by the author, Peter Collier, and photographer Nick Del Calzo. The 117th portrait is of the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. Former President George H.W. Bush wrote the foreword and journalist Tom Brokaw and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) both have provided powerful essays about the medal and its recipients. 

Medal of Honor (ISBN 1-57965-240-9) will be available at bookstores nationwide.

Bridge Over the River Kwai

Thirteen/WNET New York will release the latest program in its series “Secrets of the Dead” with a documentary that takes a scientific look at the rise and fall of the bridge over the River Kwai.

In 1942, the Japanese army put thousands of American POWs and Asian laborers to work building a bridge over the River Kwai. The POWs battled exhaustion, malnourishment, and disease to build the 250-mile railroad linking Thailand and Burma. Under backbreaking conditions, they finished the daunting project in 14 months. Twenty-one months after its completion, a barrage of incredible new weapons—including a “smart bomb” whose flight could be controlled upon its release from a bomber —turned the bridge to a pile of rubble. Today, remnants of the bridge and railroad still stand, although much of it has been consumed by the Thai jungle. Construction records and documents are scarce; many have been lost or destroyed. 

So just how did these tortured American POWs manage to build such a large railroad? And how did their Allied brethren successfully demolish it? “Secrets of the Dead: Bridge on the River Kwai” answers these and other lingering questions when it airs nationally on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 8 p.m. (Eastern time) on the Public Broadcasting Service. Check local listings for details.