Draft and mobilization activities for WWI in 1918. Decorated floats, band, German and Hungarian citizens march in a parade in New York City, United States. Men carry American flags and banners that read 'Born in Germany made in America' in the parade to support draft under selective service system.
Draft and WWI mobilization activities for American men in 1918. Draftees under the Selective Service system get their documents checked by officials. Doctors examine the draftees for military recruitment. Men carry their baggage and move away in a train. Military recruits at a receiving station, lined up. They are seen carrying rifles and marching, beginning their drills, though still dressed in civilian clothing. View of the men marching and Statue of Liberty seen in the distance on the horizon.
Activities of United States 94th Aero Squadron on in France during World War I. Major General Hunter Liggett and U.S. officers discuss a map. General Liggett leaves and French officers join the U.S. officers looking at the map and shake hands. U.S. Officers stand with Professor Henry Seidel Canby from Yale University. Large group of U.S. airmen gathered around a German aircraft that was shot down on October 2, 1918, by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and Lieutenant Reed Chambers. Some of them sit while others stand around the plane. United States 101st Infantrymen lined up as a band plays. General Edwards and other officers salute. General presents Squadron members with Distinguished Service Crosses. He pins medals onto their uniforms. Eddie Rickenbacker with aircraft in the background. Officers pose with a plane in the background. An officer smokes a cigarette as he stands against the nose of an aircraft.
A motor launch approaches a gangplank at the port side of the battleship USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) during a Fleet Review on Christmas Day, 1918, in New York harbor. Her crew is formed up on her deck and she is returning her triple battery guns to their normal position, after having them turned and raised in salute. Scene shifts to the USS Texas (BB-35) as she drops her signal flags, while moving forward. Other warships can be seen behind her. Scene shifts again, to bow view of a stationary heavy cruiser belching heavy black smoke from her stack. Port-side view of a sleek two-stack cruiser. Sailors crowd the deck of a warship. A 4-stack destroyer is seen to her starboard. Sailors launch some kind of a floating device from a davit. Officers look over the ship's side at the device in the water. Officers being saluted and piped off the ship. Long pennants streaming from ship's tower. A fairly large rapidly moving boat filled with sailors.
First scene shows foredeck and bridge of USS New York (BB-34) in World War 1. Second scene shows U.S. New Mexico-class Battleship underway. In the next scene, a sailor is signaling with a blinker from the bridge of a battleship ( Pennsylvania or New Mexico). Line of battleships in formation with the USS Texas (BB-35) leading. Quarterdeck view of U.S. Navy Pennsylvania-class battleship. View from deck of the battleship USS Texas or USS New York, looking forward. The final scene is a view from the quarterdeck of the battleship USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) looking out toward the SS George Washington (ID Number 3018) as they travel to France with President Woodrow Wilson on board in December 1918, for the Paris Peace Conference.
A film concerning railroad electrification in the United States. A westbound Boston and Maine Railroad steam train at East Portal, Hoosac Tunnel, where the railroad was electrified in 1911. An electric locomotive approaches the steam engine. ( Note the carbide headlamp on the electric locomotive--which were outlawed by the ICC circa 1918. ) The motor pulls the steam engine and its train West. Next: a 'cab ride' from North Adams, Massachusetts to West Portal and subsequently exits the East Portal of the 4.75 mile long Hoosac Tunnel.