Call to Glory

Season 11984

Family melodrama set at Loughlin AFB in Texas, Edwards AFB in California and Vietnam from the early 1960s thru 1973. Col. Raynor Sarnac (Nelson) commands the 4080th Reconnaissance Wing flying U-2 aircraft and later a test pilot school and undertakes factfinding missions in Vietnam for Pres. Kennedy.

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22 Episodes

    E01 Pilot

    During the darkest days of the Cuban missile crisis, Raynor is ordered to fly over Cuba to obtain proof that the Russians are installing nuclear warheads.

    August 13, 1984

    E02 The Move

    Raynor asks his family to help him decide between an Air Force command post or a lucrative civilian job in the aviation industry. (Lifetime) The entire Sarnac family is thrown into turmoil when Raynor receives a lucrative job offer in the private sector. (ABC)

    August 20, 1984

    E03 Blackbird

    Patrick runs away to an Alaska-bound fishing ship; Raynor must stop a bitter ex-pilot from selling secrets to an aviation magazine. (Lifetime) Raynor faces one of his toughest missions as he tries to prevent a bitter ex-pilot from exposing the details of a top secret mission. (ABC)

    August 27, 1984

    E04 A Nation Divided

    The Sarnacs get involved in the civil rights fight when Wesley and a friend protest a local cafe's segregation policy. (Lifetime) The violence spawned by the Civil Rights Movement hits home when Wesley and a black friend are beaten by teenage racists. (ABC)

    September 3, 1984

    E05 Paper Tiger

    Col. Raynor Sarnac flies a reconnaissance mission to evaluate the development of nuclear weapons in the People's Republic of China. (Lifetime) A dangerous top-secret mission takes Raynor over Red China to see if the Chinese have developed an Atomic Bomb. (ABC)

    September 17, 1984

    E06 Go / No Go

    At President Kennedy's request, Raynor flies to Vietnam to check on the increasing political problems plaguing the region. (Lifetime) Pres. Kennedy sends Sarnac to Vietnam to meet Pres. Diem, evaluate the situation and investigate charges that Buddhists are being persecuted by the ruling Catholics. His driver in Saigon, a woman named Quan (Sun), tries to explain how the Vietnamese feel about hundreds of years of foreign control and a repressive government. She later disappears and is suspected of being a Viet Cong. (unattributed)

    September 24, 1984

    E07 Call It Courage

    Wesley marches in Washington, D.C.; Raynor testifies before Congress about a friend's faulty aircraft. (Lifetime) Raynor's involvement in a bitter political controversy could cost him a valued friendship...and ruin his military career. (ABC)

    October 1, 1984

    E08 A Wind from the East

    Sarnac and a Japanese pilot rally when engine failure forces them to bail out over mountain terrain. (Lifetime) Forced to bail out of a crippled plane, Raynor and a Japanese Air Force officer struggle to survive in a dangerous wilderness. (ABC)

    October 8, 1984

    E09 A Moment in the Sun

    Raynor helps a comrade complete a dangerous phase of test-piloting; Jackie sees a change in her relationships with men. (Lifetime) Raynor is torn between duty and friendship when an Air Force buddy suddenly develops a crippling fear of flying. (ABC)

    October 22, 1984

    E10 Cover Story

    A reporter tails Raynor during the testing of a new flight system in hopes of gaining access to government defense-spending data. (Lifetime) While testing a new flight system, Sarnac is hounded by an investigative reporter probing for revelations about defense spending. (ABC)

    October 29, 1984

    E11 Realities

    Vanessa and Raynor use their own experience to keep a pilot-friend and his wife from separating; Carl learns he is seriously ill. (Lifetime) Raynor and Vanessa are so involved in their friends' marital problems, they don't notice Carl is facing a crisis of his own. (ABC)

    November 12, 1984

    E12 The Wake

    As Vanessa consoles the widow of a test pilot killed during an X-15 test, she confronts the possibility of losing her own husband. (Lifetime) Tension mounts in the Sarnac household as Raynor prepares for a mission that has already claimed the life of one of his best test pilots. (ABC)

    November 19, 1984

    E13 Medals All of Brass

    The U.S. government asks Raynor to organize a sting operation to catch an Edwards Air Force Base visitor suspected of espionage. (Lifetime) Raynor is forced to face the harsh truth that an old friend is really a spy for the KGB. (ABC)

    November 26, 1984

    E14 A Wind of Change

    Vanessa resents Raynor's trip to Vietnam; the North Vietnamese capture Raynor; Jackie and Patrick's relationship turns to romance. (Lifetime) Col. Sarnac is sent on a second fact-finding mission to Vietnam. His helicopter is shot down in enemy territory. Along with Clayton Jones (Shaw), a black enlisted man, Raynor is captured and tortured for information by the Viet Cong but escapes. (ABC)

    December 3, 1984

    E15 Give Unto Caesar

    Jackie makes her first solo flight; Sarnac presides over the trial of a pilot who aided a Soviet defector in defiance of orders. (Lifetime) Stiff penalties await a pilot who disobeys orders and brings a Russian defector back to America. (ABC)

    December 17, 1984

    E16 Moonchild

    Vanessa's joy over a job with an electronics firm palls when she learns she's pregnant; Sarnac works with NASA's astronaut program. (Lifetime) The news that a child is on the way puts a wedge in the Sarnacs' marriage as they both try to cope with feelings of doubt and guilt. (ABC)

    January 15, 1985

    E17 Images

    Vanessa insists on spending time away and visits her old friend Elly (Kathleen Lloyd); Carl advises Raynor on matters of marriage. (Lifetime) The Sarnac family faces an uncertain future when Vanessa decides she needs a break from her husband and children. (ABC)

    January 22, 1985

    E18 Fathers and Sons

    Sarnac endures emotional upheaval when he learns his father is suffering from cancer; Jackie's date with a flyer lasts all night. (Lifetime) Raynor finds himself on an emotional roller coaster when he discovers the truth about Carl's illness...and about his daughter's relationship with a new boyfriend. (ABC)

    January 29, 1985

    E19 Just in Time

    While on special assignment in Vietnam, Sarnac discovers that the orphan he plans to adopt was kidnapped by North Vietnamese. (Lifetime) Col. Sarnac is sent to Vietnam a third time with the knowledge that a coup is planned that will end the rule of Pres. Diem and his family. He hopes to adopt the orphan son of Quan and spends a night on the town in Saigon with Clayton Jones. His adoption plans are thwarted when the boy is kidnapped by the Viet Cong. (unattributed)

    February 12, 1985

    E20 JFK

    Raynor and his family face difficult personal challenges in the days leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. (ABC Sunday Night Movie) President Kennedy summons an Air Force colonel (Craig T. Nelson) to 1963 Dallas to report findings on Vietnam. (source?)

    June 30, 1985

    E21 Fathers and Daughters

    Jackie is left to consider her future upon learning that she is unable to enter the Air Force Academy. (Lifetime) (AIRED ONLY IN SYNDICATION)

    February 26, 1987

    E22 The End, the Beginning

    Raynor returns to the United States after three years in a Vietnamese prison camp. (Lifetime) In Feb. 1973, the North Vietnamese release all their American POWs, including Raynor Sarnac who has been a captive for three years. He is accused by the Air Force of having murdered two CIA agents while in captivity. He also finds America and his family have changed much in his absence. His oldest daughter Jackie (Shue) is now a college student and single mother. Son Wesley (Hollander) has gone to Canada to avoid the draft. Jackie’s former boyfriend Patrick is now an Air Force officer, but lost a leg in Vietnam. (unattributed) (AIRED ONLY IN SYNDICATION)

    February 27, 1987
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