New U.S. army recruits seated at benches in the classification center, taking notes, as an instructor at a blackboard tells them how to fill out their classification questionnaires, during World War 2. View of machines processing the questionnaires. Hollerith 88 column punch cards being sorted by machine. Newspaper article about the Air Force efforts to improve classification and assignments of new airmen. A recruit being counseled. An Airmen in barracks, filling out a post card form to complain about his assignment. Servicemen working with sewing machines and at long cobbler's benches repairing shoes. U.S. soldiers in pith helmets, laying communications cable from a truck. A soldier recording information about a shipment of supplies. Soldiers filling 5-gallon "jerry cans" with fuel from a hose. Others serving at a communications center in woods. A soldier fastening a cable to a tank. Soldier standing on a truck. Large group of soldiers gathered to listen to a lecture about explosives. Army draftsmen at their work tables. Soldiers using information and training materials.(Narrator states these materials are often ignored.) An army newsmap for Monday, August 31, 1942 posted on an Army office wall. A sergeant points to July, 1943, on a current calendar next to it, illustrating that the newsmap is long out-of-date. View of another news map and narrator notes they are produced weekly. An officer speaking to an auditorium of soldiers. A soldier arranging his personal gear. Infantry on field maneuvers, firing rifles as they advance across a field. Soldiers firing a Browning water-cooled machine gun; a mortar; and a 105mm M101A1 howitzer. The sergeant using a newsmap to brief his staff about the progress of the war. Opening frames of a War Department Film Bulletin, and soldiers in a theater, watching the film. Opening frames of the film,"Why We Fight," that goes on to show animated map of the German advance across Europe in World War 2. Scenes of German forces on the move, towing artillery, riding on tanks, and entering towns as they invade countries of Europe. Women and children running in streets under bombardment, and civilians fleeing from their homes during aerial bombing. A Bombed out city and civilian corpses lying on the ground. Women in Poland, identifying their dead and grieving over them. German Heinkel He 111 aircraft dropping bombs. Norwegians evacuating the city in trucks, and other vehicles and on foot, during the German invasion. A squadron of German Messerschmitt Bf-109 aircraft in flight. German Ju-87, Stuka dive bombers diving on targets. Civilians rushing to a bomb shelter, and other refugees boarding a truck to evacuate. More He-111 bombers dropping bombs. A Ju-52 trimotor transport (type used to transport German paratroopers). Buildings ablaze in a town. Large formations of German aircraft of various types flying overhead. Building destroyed and burning from bombing. Ju-87s flying close past the camera.
An interview of United States Air Force Lieutenant General Ira Eaker conducted by Dr. Maurer in the United States. General Eaker talks about major problems in organizing and commanding the 8th Bomber Command in 1942. They landed in England. Getting air bases , missiles, barracks, hospitals, runways and other equipment from the British was the basis for the organization. Different area commanders reported to them and kept no secrets from them. He talks about the development of defensive tactics against the enemy and modifying the equipment according to needs.
A film about achievements of various African American men and women citizens in the United States. A statue of Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee University in Alabama. View of African American scientist and inventor George Washington Carver, as an elderly man, working with another scientist in a laboratory. African American judge of New York city court. African American explorer Matthew Henson is seen looking at a globe (he was with Admiral Peary planting the American flag at the North Pole in 1909), and an unnamed African American surgeon at work in an operating room in New York. Next scene shows famous "father of the blues" musician and composer W.C. Handy (William Christoper Handy) smiling. Next is seen the financier and publisher of the Amsterdam News, Dr. C.B. Powell (Clilan Powell) greeting three uniformed African American women during a World War 2 war bond drive, and handing them a check (close up is shown) for 25,000 dollars, dated January 4, 1942, for the war bond drive. It is from the account of the Victory Mutual Life Insurance Company which Dr. Powell also owned. The check is signed by C.B Powell and Philip M.H. Savory (Dr. Savory was co-owner of the New York Amsterdam News). The next scene shows Elise Johnson McDougald, better known as Gertrude Elise Ayer, who was the first black full-time public school principal after the consolidation of New York City schools in 1898. She was also a noted woman writer during the Harlem Renaissance. She is seated in her office at her desk, likely in P.S. 119 in Harlem, since this is approximately year 1945 and she was at P.S 119 at that time. Her name plaque is visible on the front center of the desk. Principal Ayer smiles as a woman delivers a document to her. Next is seen the African American historian, author, and professor, Lawrence D. Reddick, serving in his role as the curator of the Schomburg Collection of African American Literature. In an art studio is seen the famous "Harlem Renaissance" African American sculptor and painter Charles Alston, at work on a sculpture. Next scene shows the famous African American contralto singer, Marian Anderson, receiving a bouquet of flowers and smiling after a performance. This transitions to a view of African American orchestra conductor Dean Dixon leading an orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Several views of different sections of the orchestra performing under Dixon's direction. Clip closes with brief shots of campuses of several historically black colleges and universities in the United States like Howard University, Hampton, Tuskegee, Fisk, Prairie View. A football game underway in one of the colleges, and view on the field as quarterback throws a pass.
World War 2 training film teaching U.S. soldiers about decontamination of combat vehicles, at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. Soldiers during a decontamination procedure with real mustard gas. The soldiers in armored vehicles. A group of soldiers prepares for the decontamination. An aircraft flying at low height. A stationary U.S. Army Pershing tank. Two soldiers in a jeep. Soldiers wearing gas masks decontaminate a vehicle. Flashback scenes to August 1918 in World War I in France, with many mustard gas attack victims being cared for at a field hospital (which narrator says is Field Hospital number 326). Medic washing eyes and face of a World War 1 gas attack victim. Next view is a soldier in 1942 with mustard gas burns on his hand, being treated by a medic. Next scene returns to World War 1 in 1918, showing mustard gas burns on arms, hands, legs, and feet of U.S. Army soldiers.
A big commercial ship passes underneath the Manhattan Bridge in New York City. The Empire State Building can be seen faintly in the background. Other ships along the East river can also be seen. 1942.
The buildings and markets of Chinatown in Manhattan, New York. The rush of people and vehicles. The restaurants and shops. 1942.