A Day in June

A Day in June is the pilot episode of Combat! It was written by series creator Robert Pirosh and directed by Boris Sagal. It aired on December 18, 1962.

Synopsis
The men of K company, Third Battalion, 361st Infantry Regiment, 21st Division, are antsy, waiting for the long-speculated invasion of the French coast to begin. Doc Walton, a sensitive young medic, confides his anxieties to veteran Sgt. Chip Saunders, who served in North Africa and Italy. Pvt. Braddock, looking to make a quick buck, sets up a betting pool for the invasion and its chances of success. The Day of Days arrives, and our cast sets upon Omaha Beach. Their goal: scaling the cliffs above and launching an initial push into the countryside as the liberation of France begins.

Recon report

 * In 1961, screenwriter Robert Pirosh approached television producer Selig Seligman with an idea for a serial drama about infantrymen in World War II's European theater. Seligman was sufficiently interested to order a pilot.
 * "A Day in June" was filmed over six days in late December 1961, wrapping just before Christmas. Trancas Beach, in Malibu, stood in for Omaha Beach. Interiors and most exteriors were shot at MGM's facilities northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
 * Though this is Combat’s pilot episode and it was produced six months before any other episode of the series, ABC apparently felt it wasn’t strong enough to actually lead off the broadcast season. So the network ran “Forgotten Front” as the premiere episode in October 1962. “A Day in June” was held off until December. The switch required the addition in this episode of a filmed prologue in which the events of D-Day are told by Sgt. Saunders as a flashback.
 * Selmur Productions made some significant changes to Combat! before it went into regular production, so “A Day in June” has a different feel and different character relationships than those seen in subsequent episodes. Saunders is portrayed as a carouser, not the grim sergeant he would become in the series. Hanley is also shown as more carefree and sly than in the series. "Caddy" Cadron becomes "Caje" LeMay with no explanation. And stalwarts Littlejohn and Kirby aren't present at all. Their characters would be added later in the season.
 * As ABC and Selmur evaluated "A Day in June," they screened the episode for test audiences in March 1962. Those focus group viewers felt cool toward the first half of the episode, which is heavy on dialogue and character setup. They much preferred the Omaha Beach sequence and battle scenes.
 * Footage from this episode was re-used in season four’s “Crossfire.”
 * The title of this episode mirrors a line from James Russell Lowell’s poem “The Vision of Sir Launfal”: “And what is so rare as a day in June?” Though Lowell’s next line is ironic, given the violence and tumult of D-Day: “Then, if ever, come perfect days.”