Documentary on World War I, titled 'Flashes of Action - Actualities of the World War'. Commander in chief of the American Expeditionary Forces, General John J. Pershing poses at Lucey in France during World War I. U.S. troops embark upon the U.S. Army transport ship' Leviathan' at Hoboken in New Jersey. Distant ships underway in sea. Troops dance and stage friendly boxing bouts aboard USS Wilhelmina and transport ship Tendores.
The Liberty L-12 engine. Scenes of its manufacture in American war plants. U.S. Air Service crews training in DeHavilland DH-4 aircraft. An airplane falling and crashed, with wreckage seen on ground. Head of the U.S. Army Air Service, General Patrick, and General Billy Mitchell, presenting medals to Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and other fliers of the U.S. Army 94th Aero Squadron, in France, during World War 1.
French Brigadier General Giuseppe Garibaldi II (serving France, but of Italian descent), is presented with the red pavilion of the City of Trieste, Italy, during World War 1. Dignitaries gather at the steps of a building.
A United States Army training film about defense against chemical warfare. Gas masks makes breathing difficult for American Army soldiers and animals training before deploying to France during World War I. Recruits undergo fifteen minute drill with the gas masks. An exhausted U.S. Army soldier relaxes and smokes a cigarette sitting near a tree. Troops run on a field wearing gas masks. They take off their masks and breathe in fresh air.
Eddie Rickenbacker returns from France, to New York at the end of World War I. A large crowd greets him, as he shakes hands with an officer. He shakes hands with a young boy. (World War I; World War 1; WWI; WW1)
Events and end of World War 1. A newspaper headline about the end of World War I after the armistice. Cheering masses of people gather on streets in Europe and in the United States in New York City and other cities to celebrate the end of World War I. French and American soldiers celebrate at the war front in France. Two soldiers exchange their hats.