Weekend TV : In Retrospect: World War II and the A-Bomb

Television looks back at World War II this weekend with recollections of the bombing of Hiroshima and a retrospective of Bob Hope’s USO tours.

“Bob Hope: Memories of World War II” (NBC, tonight at 10) features footage of Hope entertaining troops at several of the war’s fronts. Appearing are Frances Langford, dancer Patty Thomas and Hope’s wife, Dolores, on Channels 4, 36 and 39.

On Sunday at 8 p.m., Showtime’s two-part “Hiroshima” chronicles the events that led to the atomic bomb attack on the Japanese city on Aug. 6, 1945. The story, told through archival footage and re-enactments, is followed at 11 p.m. by “Hiroshima: The Decision That Changed the World.”

Also, “Rain of Ruin” examines what happened at Nagasaki, Sunday at 5 and 9 p.m. on cable’s A&E.;

“The 1995 Hiroshima Peace Concert,” shown in letter-box format, presents the Pacific Music Festival Foundation Orchestra performing Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the world premiere of Michael Tilson Thomas’ “Showa-Shoah,” Sunday at 4 p.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28.

Finally, TBS’ “National Geographic Explorer” asks “If Hitler Had the Bomb,” at 6 p.m. on Sunday.