Training program aboard USS Gloucester (PF-22) in Saigon, French IndoChina. Trainees getting checked out on 40mm gun. Trainees firing 40mm gun. Trainees on 3" /50 caliber gun. Sea in the background.
French paratroops jump in two waves from C-47 aircraft over Indochina. Their parachutes float slowly to earth. A medic treats one trooper injured during the drop. The French troopers move from the landing area towards a region where smoke and fire are visible. They set up machine guns and fire. The French troopers destroy and burn a Viet Minh jungle camp.
French Forces fight the Communist forces in Vietnam, French Indo-China. Aircraft in flight. French soldiers descend on land through parachutes. A soldier watches them. Other soldiers erect bunkers on the land. Some of them stand along the barbed wire entanglements. An aircraft in flight. Bombarding on the field causes the smoke to rise. Soldiers look at the rifles and other ammunitions. Smoke from fire in the background as forces from Communist Vietnam and France battle.
Film opens showing French sign pointing to Orly airport entrance. French Army trucks are seen arriving at the field, carrying young men in civilian clothes. A U.S.Air force C-47 transport plane is parked in the background. The men wave cheerfully from the open backs of the trucks. French tricolor and American flags are seen in the breeze. Near the entrance of the base, a French Army major is overseeing the arrival of the trucks. View of sign identifying the American area of Headquarters of the U.S. Air Force 7415th Air Base Group at at Orly Field. Occupants of the trucks jump down after their tailgates are lowered. They remove their duffel bags and footlockers from the trucks, and stand nearby. View of the paratroopers (in civilian clothes) standing in loose formation near their belongings. Close-ups of many. Some use their own cameras to take pictures. One clowns around with a toy stuffed monkey, eliciting smiles from the others. More close-ups of the men. View from behind the loosely assembled men. One carries a bugle in his personal gear. Close-up of the bugle. Wide view of the men killing time as they wait around. A French Foreign Legion officer in a leather jacket and kepi, alongside a paratrooper officer (in civilian clothes, but wearing a foulard) walks with group of the paratroopers. The entire group of men is seen assembling near a hangar building. Men hand out passports to individual men. Some are handed out by a French paratrooper, in uniform, with beret. U.S. Air Force and civilian photographers are in the background. Several paratroopers show their passports for the camera. The paratroopers break out some of their rations and eat. Some pose around a sign prohibiting public access due to construction. Paratroopers saying farewell to women (some tearful). Close-up of one saying goodbye to wife and child. A group all waving goodbye.
A U.S. Air Force trooper carrier Douglas C-124 Globemaster aircraft is seen parked at the Orly Airfield, in France, with some men standing beneath it. Close-up of two U.S. Air Force officers conversing with a French Paratroop officer (in civilian clothes, but wearing a foulard) and a French military officer, in trench coat and overseas cap. View shifts to French paratroopers, carrying their gear and entering the C-124 aircraft by way of its ramps lowered from the open clamshell door. Glimpse from inside the aircraft cabin of the troopers approaching in a long line. View, from below and behind the open doors, of troopers walking up the ramps. Close-up of troopers with duffle bags passing the camera. Interior of the C-124 seen from the ramp entrance, as aircraft crew members walk to the ladder leading to the upper crew compartment. More views of French troopers, with gear, boarding the aircraft. View of cabin where troopers are seated, and the Air Force crew's loadmaster is securing some of the cargo with tie down straps. The American aircraft commander, dressed in flight suit, shakes hands with French officers, and signs something, before departing. People standing nearby as the aircraft clamshell door is closed. View of engines being started and the C-124 taxiing out. "Troop Carrier, United States Air Force," written on the aircraft fuselage. The aircraft number shown on nosewheel door is "094." Another C-124 (Number "263") is seen taxiing. Slight out-of -sequence scene shows a fireguard standing with fire bottle beside aircraft "263,"as it starts engine number three, and then walks to engine four, for its start. Next shot is of aircraft "094," with engines running and some last minute item being loaded through the front hatch. French military waving goodbye. One of the C-124s taking off and breaking ground. followed later, by the second. The two U.S. Air Force officers with French Paratroop officer in civilian clothes and a uniformed officer in overseas cap (seen at beginning of film) watch the departing aircraft.
Emperor Bao Dai visits the fighting front along the Black river in Vietnam, French Indo China. He decorates a soldier. An airplane parked on the field. Airplanes from the United States bomb Red positions, amid reports that Red China plans to invade Indo China.