Opening slate advertises "National Air Mail Week. May 15-21. The 20th Anniversary of your air mail service!" Men load a DC-3 airplane with mail bags at an airport in the United States. Transport truck brings more mail and men load the bags. 1918 Map of United States showing Air Mail connection between New York and Washington. 1923, 1928, 1933 and 1938 maps show further connections to cities such as Chicago, Salt Lake, San Francisco and other destinations. Brief view of International routes between Asia and the United States, and from the United States to South America. Men load mail bags on a plane. The DC-3 plane takes off. Dirigible in background. Closing slate, "Don't Forget. National Air Mail Week."
Army film 'The Big Picture' . View of U.S. Navy Destroyer USS Buchanan (DD-484), at rain-soaked pier. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, wearing rain coat, steps to shore. Naval ships in convoy. Battleship fires 16 inch guns. Heavy nighttime U.S. Navy ship gun barrages light up the dark in an unidentified battle. Landing craft race toward shore carrying U.S. Marines. Animation of earth with satellite circling it. U.S. Army narrator talks about the naval officer, Fleet Admiral Chester W Nimitz. Setting stage for Nimitz' upbringing, view of cowboys or cattle men herding cattle on great western plains of the United States with distant views of mountains behind. Narrator refers to Admiral Nimitz' birthplace, Fredericksburg, Texas. Still image of Chester W. Nimitz as a young boy. View of the old U.S. Navy ship USS Constitution -- a tall masted sailing vessel in full sail during the era of the Spanish American war. View of a U.S. Navy armored steam cruiser or battleship firing guns in battle. Theodore Roosevelt giving a speech, then seen close up talking and smiling, and then again Theodore Roosevelt seen on a flag draped podium giving an speech with animated hand gestures. Late childhood picture of young Chester W Nimitz around the time he entered the U.S. Naval Academy. Nimitz in a sailor uniform. U.S. Navy sailors participate in a boxing match during training, as their classmates look on and cheer the bout. Procession of U.S. Navy officers and cadets march on grounds of U.S. Navy Academy circa 1905, during a commencement exercise or other ceremony. View of one of the U.S. Navy's first submarines being loaded at a port. U.S. Navy sailors atop a small submarine as it cruises in a waterway. View of the small submarine as it dives under water. View circa 1918 of four U.S. Navy submarines at port, side-by-side. View of U.S. Navy sailors at work inside submarine. Fleet of warships and submarines underway during World War 1 era. View of USS Zeilin (DD-313) underway at sea. Navy biplane aircraft lands on U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.
French prisoners stand raising their hands in a town during the Battle of France. A group of French men comes out of buildings and surrenders to Germans. French prisoners line up on sidewalk during German occupation. Railroad cars in which Allies signed '11 November 1918' armistice. German Infantry advances over bridge through town in France. Soldiers advance behind tanks through a French village. Dead Frenchman on ground as troops advance on street. (World War II period).
U.S. President Thomas Woodrow Wilson signs the declaration of war during World War I. U.S. ships sink after torpedo attacks. United States troops aboard a troop carrier ship bound tor France. Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt. U.S. troops disembarking on docks in France. Navy ships being built in U.S. shipyard. Allied troops attack across no man's land. Allied rail gun firing. U.S.Soldiers fire howitzers. Smoke pours out of Allied biplane aircraft after being shot down. German troops fighting in trenches. A horse falls into a trench after being shot. Tanks in action. Tanks advance and fire. German machine gunners. German prisoners walk in a line. American troops in France celebrate the end of hostilities with the Armistice on the 11th hour of 11th day of 11th month, 1918. The American flag flies on a pole as a symbol of victory. Huge crowds of Americans celebrate in Manhattan, New York city, waving newspapers with headlines announcing German surrender. In 1919, President Wilson and General John (Black Jack) Pershing review victorious American troops marching in Chaumont, France (Pershing's headquarters). Franklin D. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy with Secretary of the Navy, Daniels, in France. U.S. troops board transport ships to return home after war. Returning U.S. Armies hold a victory parade in Manhattan, New York City, where they parade through a temporary Victory Arch constructed expressly for the purpose in Madison Square. Hydrogen balloons decorate the Arch. New York City mounted police monitor the crowds.
Canadian troops in West Flanders, Belgium near Ypres and Albert during World War 1. An animated map shows the region and the Somme River. Canadian troops hunkered down in grass and shrubs on a hill overlooking flat terrain. Shells exploding on horizon in background. A large contingent of Canadian troops marching downhill with left-shouldered arms. Senior officers walk out of a courtyard gate. Next, General Sir Sam Hughes, Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence, is seen shaking hands with several officers. Scene shifts, after he greets only two, and shows Canadian troops marching in platoons along a dusty road. Next, Canadian soldiers are seen moving supplies by horse-drawn wagons along a tree-lined road leading into a town. Final scenes show the war-damaged Albert Basilica. The camera pans upward, along its tower, to the Golden Virgin statue at its top, which is leaning precariously to one side, almost falling off its base. (The statue became the subject of British superstition that the war would end when the statue fell. But British artillery, itself, knocked it down while targeting the tower to prevent its use by the Germans as an observation post, during the 1918 Spring offensive)
Crowd fills the Plaza Venezia in Rome where Benito Mussolini appears on the balcony of the Piazza Venezia (formerly known as the Palace of St Mark) in Italy, on June 10, 1940. He announces that Italy has entered World War 2 on the side of the Axis powers. Views of the jubilant crowd waving Italian and some Swastika flags. Next, a road sign points to Paris and to Poissons, in France followed by view of German troops triumphantly entering Paris, through the Arc de Triomphe during occupation of France. View of the Eiffel Tower, and of a German flag flying atop it. More views of German troops marching through Paris. A German railway gun firing. (Narrator implies that the target is the Maginot Line, which is not correct. It was bypassed by the Germans, negating need to attack it directly.) Other German railway guns and siege mortars firing and many huge explosions and fires are seen, including some from flame throwers. Next, German troops are seen marching around a circle where a railroad car is parked near Compiègne, France. This rail car is the scene of Germany's surrender to France in World War I. Statue of French Marshal Foch, who had then, received the delegates of vanquished Germany here. Adolf Hitler walking past a German Honor Guard, salutes. He is accompanied by Marshal Hermann Goering and other high ranking military persons. The nearby 1918 "Alsace-Lorraine monument" is covered by a German flag. The German delegation headed by Hitler and Goering, enter the rail car and take their places. Outside, the French delegation, headed by General Charles Huntziger, is escorted by German officers. They enter the car and he German delegation stands. Both delegations exchange salutes. Next, Hitler is seen stepping from the rail car, followed by Goering. The German delegation walks past the honor guard, and Hitler salutes them. German and French officials still in the rail car exchange salutes. Hitler expresses jubilation.