Memorial Ceremony (including Roman Catholic Mass) for fallen U.S. troops, held on June 10, 1944 during World War 2. The location is Omaha Beach, St. Laurent sur Mer, Normandy France, where the U.S. 1st Army established the first American military cemetery in France, during World War II. U.S. troops line the area. An altar is set up on the hood of a jeep parked in the sand. An Army Colonel standing in rear of the jeep reads from a notebook. Soldiers all stand with heads bowed. Among them are African American soldiers of the 320th Battalion. A Chaplain's assistant sits at a keyboard instrument next to the jeep. A Roman Catholic Army Chaplain in white clerical robes conducts a mass. Numerous grave markers can be seen in the distant background marking graves of soldiers who died in the invasion of Normandy. Several French civilians stand with the soldiers, who bow heads in prayer. The Chaplain administers holy communion to kneeling soldiers. A French civilian woman places flowers near recent temporary grave markers of U.S. fallen (stakes bearing their dog tags). A color guard stands with American flag, as squad of riflemen fire gun salutes. Three French civilians stand by the flowers. U.S. Army bugler blows taps. All present salute the fallen. Some individual soldiers walk to the markers of their friends.
Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower visits American troops in Normandy, France on 3rd July, 1944 during World War II. U.S. Army Lieutenant General Omar Bradley walks with Eisenhower. They tour units and division commands. Eisenhower meets U.S. Army General Joseph Lawton Collins on a field. U.S. soldiers load shells and fire artillery on 4th of July. U.S. Independence Day is celebrated in a French town and children sing 'America'.
Activities of the U.S. Army Military Police. (Introductory scenes, from 1950 : A U.S. Army truck collides with a VW Beetle automobile in Europe. Local onlookers speak with the man and woman from the car. Local police arrive on scene. U.S. Army Military Police arrive and help resolve the matter with local police. ) U.S. Army Military Police insignia of two crossed flintlock pistols. A Military Policeman at attention. Military Police (MP) directing trucks and amphibious vehicles at a beachhead in Normandy, France, in 1944. U.S. Landing Craft at the beachhead. MPs directing military traffic in Town of Canisy, France.
Former U.S. war correspondents in Normandy, France to mark the 25th anniversary of Allied invasion of France during World War II. Correspondents outside a cafe near Normandy as they prepare to leave a luncheon. Retired General J. Lawton Collins is escorted by a uniformed U.S. Army officer to a waiting car. View of the Normandy coastline from a moving car. American flag on the bonnet of a car as it drives along the road. Graves at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Wife of a correspondent walks amidst graves at the cemetery. Grave of Wesley J. Rubenstein with a Star of David Jewish headstone. An F-4E Phantom aircraft in flight overhead. American and French flags hoisted at the cemetery. Correspondents tour the cemetery. View of a plaque ad time capsule unveiled by the correspondents and presented that day. It says, "In memory of General Dwight D. Eisenhower and the forces under his command, this sealed capsule containing news reports of the June 6, 1944 Normandy Landings is placed here - by the newsmen who were there. June 6, 1969." A man with a baby tied to his back. Correspondents speak during the ceremony. A photographer clicks pictures.
A ceremony at a military cemetery near the site of the Allied invasion of Normandy, France(6th June 1944) to mark the 30th anniversary of the D-Day. British and French Army units parade. Gravestones and memorials in the foreground. Spectators stand holding flags. The troops salute. French President Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing lights a flame with others.
A ceremony at a military cemetery near the site of the Allied invasion of Normandy, France(6th June 1944) to mark the 30th anniversary of the D-Day. A band of the United States Air Forces in Europe(USAFE) marches. Girls bring wreaths. U.S. Army General Omar Nelson Bradley and other Allied officers lay wreaths at a memorial. The officers salute.