Communist-backed North Korea at war with South Korea. Views of U.S. Navy warships firing on North Korean targets, U.S. Army tanks moving through a city in Korea, and U.S. soldiers scrambling in a fire fight. A U.S. Army chaplain hugs a dying American soldier and pats his face. The chaplain closely prays over the dying soldier. A U.S. Army officer lifts a shocked Korean child into a truck. Young Korean children, possibly orphans, eating food at a table. Korean civilians including women and children fleeing the war. UN council in a meeting regarding the Korean War. Soldiers from multiple nations mobilizing for the effort in Korea. View of Kremlin in Soviet Union. Scene of Stalin dead, lying in state surrounded by flowers around his casket. Other Soviet political leaders look on. Citizens pass by site where Stalin is memorialized. East German leader Walter Ulbricht speaking at a podium. Laborers in East Germany struggling as they work longer hours for less pay. Workers construct buildings. East German construction workers sitting idle on the scaffolds of a building under construction as they begin their strike in June 1953, initiating the Uprising of 1953 in East Germany.
Operation Little Switch in which released POW are taken from Panmunjom, Korea to Tachikawa, Tokyo, and then on to the United States during repatriation of former prisoners late in the Korean War. The released POW (Prisoners Of War) eating food that will probably be the last meal there before leaving Korea. Food items kept in a shelf and on a table. A cook severs food in bowls to U.S. soldiers. Injured or former POW seated on a bed eating a bite of chicken is A/2C Robert L. Weinbrandt of El Cajon, California, a B-29 Super Fortress tail gunner captured after his plane was shot down the night of January 28-29, 1953. A wounded POW drinks soup and eats food kept on his bed. Liberated former prisoners drinking. Another former prisoner eating food. (Alarger Operation Big Switch followed in August.)
Focuses on Korean War (1950-1953). U.S. 11th Airborne units arrive at Ashiya Air Base to carry out Seoul operations in Korea. Soldiers unload equipment from truck at air base. Sign on building reads 'Ashiya Air Base, Base Operations'. Paratroopers board planes. Plane takes off from runway. Road sign reads 'Kimpo Airdrome Stop Military Police Check Point'. Plane taxis at Kimpo air base in Korea. Men disembark from plane. Wounded soldiers on stretcher taken into plane. Boats are carried out of cargo planes at air base. Air University Commanding General George C Kenney, and Commanding General of Far East Forces (former commander of U.S. forces) Carl Spaatz, arrive at Kimpo air base for inspection. Captured IL-10 plane parked in the background in hangar. Men manning Grumman F7F Tigercat aircraft. F7Fs in flight line.
Major events of 1953. Field ambulances arrive at Freedom village bringing repatriated prisoners at the end of hostilities during the Korean War. General William Harrison of United States and General Nam II of North Korea sign the armistice agreement in Panmunjon bringing the war to a halt. War weary American soldiers return home and receive a warm welcome. Soldiers hug their family and friends as they reunite with them. The Statue of Liberty in New York, United States. (Note: Among those repatriated, seconds 18-21 and 26-28 of the clip show Rifleman George Hobson from Fazakerley, Liverpool, of the Royal Ulster Rifles, who was shot and captured at the Battle of the Imjin River in 1951.)
Operation Little Switch (first phase of Operation Big Switch) in which released U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force POW (Prisoners Of War) are taken from Panmunjom, Korea to Tachikawa, Tokyo as part of repatriation effort late in the Korean War. Medical staff carry a number of sick or injured US military personnel (former prisoners) on stretcher. The first one seen is A/2C Robert L. Weinbrandt of El Cajon, California, a B-29 "Super Fortress tail gunner captured after his plane was shot down the night of January 28-29, 1953. He is seen being transported with his luggage out of annex ward. Several views of the released, former POW including several taken on stretchers out of the ward, and others that walk out on foot, smiling. Soldiers grab packs of Lucky Strike cigarettes from a basket. A car parked in the background. Officers and nurses in the hospital. General Shambora shakes hands with a released U.S. Army soldier.
Group of senior officers at Camp Munsan-Ni in Korea. A sign on a tent reads 'Welcome gate to freedom'. Korean, British and United States officers. A British officer, U.S. Army officer and U.S. Marine officer in discussion. U.S. flag on the left side and UN flag on the right side of the tent. Two Marine officers assist a wounded, liberated prisoner of war on a stretcher. Liberated soldiers who were prisoners of war get out of ambulance truck. (This is during Operation Little Switch, the first phase of a reciprocal repatriation effort that was followed by Operation Big Switch in August 1953.)