November 25, 1943 in the South Pacific during World War 2. Two P-38s of the 13th Army Air Force photographed in formation from a third airplane. Cumulus clouds in the background.The two P-38s peel off and dive. In another sequence, the P-38s join in close formation, peel off and maneuver at high speed in the distance, over water. Includes closeup views of individual P-38 aircraft and of multiple P-38 aircraft in formation.
General Douglas MacArthur is appointed Chief of Staff, with rank of full General, in 1930. United States troops marching with the American flag. General MacArthur with two French military officers, during a tour of Europe. He is decorated by French Officials. MacArthur visits Germany and inspects German troops. U.S. President Roosevelt reappoints MacArthur as Chief of the Staff. MacArthur speaking to an audience in Washington DC. Scenes of MacArthur's headquarters in the Philippines. Filipinos walking outside MacArthur’s office. MacArthur at his office in the Philippines with Eisenhower at his side. MacArthur talks on the telephone. Flags of the United States and the Philippines. Filipino troops marching at Fort Santiago inside the walled city of Intramuros in Manila. MacArthur supervises the creation of a Philippine Army. Philippine Army cadets perform outdoor calisthenics and attend a meeting. Philippine Army cadets train in knife fighting. Japanese planes drop bombs over the Pearl Harbor. Japanese bombardment of the Philippines during World War II. View of Corregidor Island. Soldiers on Corregidor load and fire artillery at the Japanese. U.S. soldiers in the Bataan peninsula. Face of MacArthur superimposed over a montage of American factory workers manufacturing ammunition and military vehicles. Start of the Bataan Death March. PT boat carrying MacArthur leaves Corregidor. War equipment prepared in factories. A battleship underway to Australia. MacArthur in Australia. U.S. convoy moves towards Japanese held islands in the Pacific. Allied soldiers land on the islands. A soldier lands on a beach and raises the American Flag. MacArthur points to the Philippines on a map and discuss war strategy. In accordance with the plan key positions in the Pacific are attacked. MacArthur looks on as United States soldiers land on the islands. MacArthur while smoking a pipe inspects the landing of Allied soldiers on islands behind heavy bombardment. Amphibious tractors land on the beach of Palo, Leyte. Allied paratroops make a landing. United States troops sail on rubber boats towards the beach of Palo, Leyte. Paratroopers on parachutes landing in Leyte. MacArthur confers with Allied Commanders. Allied troops walk past a destroyed Bahay Kubo nipa hut. Japanese soldiers are taken as prisoners in the Philippines.
Opening slate reads: "Cairo and Teheran." A view of the world turning, accompanied by voice of President Franklin Roosevelt broadcasting a Christmas messeage to the Armed Forces in 1943, during World War 2. Glimpses of families and people abroad listening to the President on radio. Views of Moscow and the Kremlin in the Soviet Union. British, American, and Soviet flags on a desktop at the Moscow conference in October, 1942. Camera shows Foreign Ministers Vyacheslav Molotov, Anthony Eden and Cordell Hull signing documents and then shaking hands. View of great pyramid of Cheops and the Sphinx. Closeup of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek at the Cairo Conference. Wider view of them with their respective military Commanders standing behind them. A view showing Madam Chian Kai-Shek seated near and conversing with Winston Churchill. Animated map of China. Illustration of a book entitled: "The Tanaka Memorial." Warships firing their guns. U.S. Marines in Landing Vehicles Tracked on amphibious assault of a Pacific island. Marines ashore in combat. More views of U.S. Navy ships bombarding Japanese-held islands and of U.S. forces in amphious assaults. Glimpses of fighting in jungles. A U.S. Navy Consolidated PB4Y-2S Privateer aircraft in flight. Bombs dropping from aircraft. Australian and New Zealand forces firing artillery in jungles. Dutch soldiers in a landing ship. British soldiers in a landing craft. Australian soldiers moving onto an island. At TC:03:38, a flight of three Flying Tiger P-40 airplanes are seen flying in fornation. Geralissimo Chiang Kai-Shek walks among Chinese soldiers. American Flying Tiger pilots walk toward their P-40 airplanes parked in line on a ramp. One taxiis out for takeoff. A B-17 bomber taking off from a foreign airfield. Closeup of General George Marshall with General Douglas MacArthur. Admiral Nimitz conversing with U.S. officers on a captured Japanese Island.
Historic scenes of early aircraft carrier development. Biplanes taking off and landing on the USS langley (CV-1). The launching of the USS Lexington (CV-2). View on flight deck of the Lexington. The carrier underway. Antiaircraft guns on the ship. View, from a ship, of the USS Lexington and a battleship in the distance. Closeup of the USS Langley (CV-1). Crew boarding the USS Hornet prior to her commissioning just before World War 2. View from Hornet's forward elevator as it rises from hangar deck up to flight deck. Entire ship's company, officers, sailors, and marine detachment, on deck in dress uniforms on flight deck during Hornet's commissioning ceremony in October, 1941. Sailors on shore wave as the USS Hornet leaves the harbor. Brief view of American carriers Lexington, Ranger, Yorktown, and Enterprise in line ahead in 1940, followed by view of Lexington.
Views in semi-darkness of U.S. Navy sailor survivors in life boats, from the USS Wasp (CV-7), approaching the Cruiser, USS Helena (CL-50) during World War 2. Smoke rising from the USS Wasp (CV-7) as viewed from the Helena. As night falls, the fires aboard the USS Wasp are all that is visible.
A U.S. Navy PBY of the 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron transfers soldiers from Motorai Island in New Guinea to Mindanao in Philippines during World War II. Two aircraft on an airstrip. The whole airstrip in view. The PBY Catalina in flight among the clouds. Soldiers aboard the aircraft. An officer in the cockpit gazing outside. Two soldiers talking. An office smoking a cigar and checking an equipment in the back compartment of the aircraft.