Remember the passionate outcry here and throughout America over the dearth of Latino voices in Ken Burns’ epic PBS series about World War II, “The War”?

A new documentary feature, companion book and DVD that are in the works for PBS should finally provide some real satisfaction and bring deserved attention to an often under-represented group.

After all, Hector Galán, the producer and director of the upcoming project, “The War Within,” was responsible for the eventual additions to “The War” featuring the colorful stories of two Mexican Americans who fought in World War II.

However, Galán — an independent filmmaker who lives in Austin — and his partner on the project, writer Carlos Guerra (yes, the columnist for the San Antonio Express-News), stressed this is not being done as a reaction to “The War” and its controversy.

It’s actually something individual and different.

For starters, these two hours not only will cover Latinos’ participation in the Second World War, but also in wars before and after — from the Revolutionary War and the Civil War to the present war in Iraq. (Because of the availability of film footage, Galán said, the documentary will concentrate mostly on the period from World War II to Iraq.)

Moreover, it won’t just be about Latinos’ role in battles, “but our role in American society and how it has evolved with each war,” Galán said. “It’s going to be very rich. It will show how the Latino experience in this country has been shaped by America’s wars.”

The filmmakers are shooting for a September 2010 air date.

PBS, which has granted the project funding for research and development, concurred that the controversy surrounding “The War” wasn’t a motivating factor.

“Hector has done so many good things for us in the past,” said John Wilson, senior vice president of programming for PBS.

Among those 40-plus hours was Galán’s recent film about San Antonio’s now-Archbishop Emeritus Patrick Flores, and one coming up in September about Texas rockers Los Lonely Boys.

Just from Galán’s proposal for “The War Within,” Wilson said he could see it had potential as an intriguing and different story.

Not that “The War” didn’t have an effect on PBS in general. What it did do, he added, was bring to “our attention the fact that there are many more stories we can tell.”

Way before his work on “The War,” Galán said, he has had a strong interest in the subject of Latinos and the military. Guerra, too, has been immersed in the topic for much of his life and career, particularly after seeing so many pictures in Latino homes of someone in uniform.

“It’s like it’s a way to say, hey, that’s how American I am!” Guerra said.

Galán also revealed an intensely personal impetus behind his decision. His father, Raul S. Galán, who fought in World War II, died March 7. While at the funeral service, he watched the honor guards play taps and the moving ritual of the folding of the American flag.

“I looked around at the faces and I saw a sense of accomplishment, a feeling of being proud,” he said. “At that moment, I thought, ‘I have to do this.’ I only wish my father was alive to see it.”

Galán recalled all the stories his dad told him about how joining the war changed his life. Before, as a poor Latino in San Angelo, he was denied an education and a decent-paying job. When he came home, however, he was a proud American, was able to go to school under the GI Bill and improve the living circumstances for his family.

Don’t get the idea that this will be a nostalgic reminiscence, however. Galán said the documentary would chronicle many stories about many war situations. In fact, he said he hopes to begin it with the “green card” soldiers in Iraq, immigrants who join the military and risk their lives in hopes of being granted U.S. citizenship.

He said the first U.S. fatality in Iraq was such a soldier, a native of Guatemala who was made an American citizen posthumously.

“It will be an unflinching look,” Galán said, at the two sides of the Latino war experience. Sure, the military was a great opportunity to break out of the poverty trap for many. But the film also will take a hard look at the much more intensive recruitment efforts in poorer neighborhoods and schools and the way fighting in the war is portrayed as an opportunity to be put on a faster track to a better life.

Though it will encompass the diversity of Latinos who have settled in this country — from South America, Latin America, Puerto Rico and Cuba — there likely will be more of an emphasis on Mexican American soldiers, because this ethnic group is the largest within America’s Latino population.

Galán, whose many films reflect a fevered interest in music, also said the soundtrack will be an experience to treasure. Music will range from the Spanish big band sound of World War II to music associated with Vietnam — Little Joe y La Familia (“He’s our hero,” he said) and the Latin rock of Santana.

As mentioned before, a coffee-table book filled with photos also is being planned. That will be written by Guerra, who’s also working on an extensive “War Within” Web site.

In fact, that should be up and running within a week or so, he said.

Stay tuned for details.