Artist's sketch of U.S. Army field grade officer. Sketches of soldiers, arms, and equipment, including tanks, machine guns, missiles. President Lyndon B. Johnson, addressing the nation, relates receiving a letter from a woman who doesn't understand why America is fighting in Vietnam. Two U.S. Army captains in jungle fatigues, walk past a helmeted tank crewman, in Vietnam. Closeup of Vietnamese woman holding her crying baby. View of man on his haunches over a fire in destroyed building. (Vietnam War period).
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini standing together in an open car during a motorcade in Munich, in 1938. Civilian spectators render Nazi salutes as they pass. Next, British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, arriving for the Munich treaty conference, steps from a British Airways Lockheed Model 14 passenger plane. An honor guard of helmeted and white-gloved German soldiers stands at attention during his welcome. Adolf Hitler climbs stairs of Berghof together with Chamberlain and Hitler's interpretor, Paul Otto Schmidt, on September 15, 1938 for their conference. Crowds of Germans give Nazi salute and cheer as Hitler and Mussolini appear on a balcony. Prime Minister Chamberlain back from the conference, speaks to the crowd at Heston Aerodrome on 30 September 1938, saying, among other thing, "We regard the agreement signed last night, and the Anglo-German naval agreement as symbolic of the desires of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again." Damaged buildings and ruins of city. Mussolini giving an impassioned speech. Italian cavalry carrying out a charge in Ethiopia. Italian troops employing machine guns in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War circa 1936. Italian infantry charging across sand dunes. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie at the League of Nations podium. Nazi Swastika eagle statue. A formation of German troops, during the Anschluss (German annexation of Austria,in 1938). Hitler at a podium. People rendering Nazi salute in annexed city. At this point, the film transitions to 1950 as North Korean troops cross the 39th parallel and start the Korean War. A nighttime artillery barrage. North Korean troops firing a Browning M1917 machine gun and rifles. The feet of American soldiers are jumping out of foxholes as U.S.M26 Pershing tanks fire their guns from tilted positions below hills. A Pershing tank crosses a bridge back into South Korea, where a sign reads:"You are now crossing the 38th parallel, Co.B 728 MP." Scene shifts again, to President Lyndon B. Johnson delivers speech about Vietnam at a news conference on July 28, 1965, in which he states,among other things, "Three times in my lifetime...Americans have gone to far lands to fight for freedom..." as he explains U.S. involvement in Vietnam and the Vietnam War.
Division of Vietnam into North and South Vietnam as Indochina war ends up in Vietnam. Aerial view of cratered battle ground, with smoke rising, at Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam, in March, 1954. A French A-26 Invader aircraft flying above some clouds and pilot in cockpit using radio. French paratroops, dropping from C-47 aircraft, and landing, to reinforce troops dug in at Dien Bien Phu. French artillery firing and rounds exploding in the distance. French troops moving through brush, and carrying wounded back out. Citizens on streets of Hanoi, North Vietnam, scrounging for scraps to eat. An old woman hunkered down in a doorway. A mother with a young boy. French troops crossing a bridge as they surrender following the siege at Dien Bien Phu. North Vietnamese troops entering Hanoi. Delegates at the Geneva conference of 1954, in the Palais des Nations, including representatives of the Soviet Union, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and the People’s Republic of China, among others. Closeup of Soviet delegation, with Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, second from left. View of the North Vietnamese delegation, and delegate Ta Quang Buu, Vice Minister of Defense of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), and Head of their Military Delegation, signing the accords. Closeup of one treaty page, with his signature, as Minister of Defense, and that of Henri, Deltiel, Brigadier General, who signed for the Commander in Chief of all French Forces in Indochina. OUtdoors. After the conference, Soviet Foreign Minister, Molotov shakes hands with Chou En-lai, Chinese Foreign Minister. Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister,Andrei Gromyko, wearing a hat, is standing behind Molotov. A long line of refugees fleeing to the South, from North Vietnam. A 1954 map showing the division of North and South Vietnam at the 19th parallel. Mist settled among mountain tops. South Vietnamese people engaged in agricultural pursuits and building new dwellings. South Vietnamese placing ballots in boxes during elections. Brief glimpse of the glamorous Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, defacto First Lady of South Vietnam, dressed in ao dai and wearing dark glasses, as she leaves a polling place. Farmers dressed in traditional conical hats (non la) working in grain fields, and reaping and carrying cut grain on poles in the South. Beautiful view of fishermen and boats silhouetted against sky, with tall limestone islands in background, at Ha Long Bay, North Vietnam (incorrectly implying it shows South Vietnamese in peaceful pursuits). South Vietnamese at work building structures with concrete blocks. A car with bullet holes in the windshield, draws attention on busy street in South Vietnam. Closeup of murdered man inside on floor of car. Scenes of vandalism at a house. Viet Minh guerillas moving through jungles and setting fires to straw roofed houses. Remains of a destroyed dwelling. Bodies of South Vietnamese killed, according to the narrator, by "Viet Cong pursuasion squads." A framed picture of Ho Chi Minh, over a North Vietnamese star flag.
A dozen South Vietnamese farmers walk side-by-side in a large rice paddy, spraying their crop. Outline map of Vietnam and environs is superimposed on the moving scene. Two farmers threshing crop by hand. Two farmers pounding rice with a foot operated wooden device. A steam shovel lifting mineral-bearing earth. Vietnamese workers using hand tools to loosen ore and push it down the side of a hill, where another is seen pushing a small rail car loaded with ore. A worker cutting a rubber tree on a plantation, to collect its natural latex. Latex being processed in a factory. Workers in a spinning facility and others weaving large rolls of cloth by machine.
American aid to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, speaking at a Gettysburg College commencement, on April 4, 1959, notes, among other things, that the cost of defending freedom must be paid in many places. And he mentions Berlin,Vietnam,and the Middle East. Scene shifts to South Vietnam where recruits are being signed up for its armed forces. Glimpse of a U.S. Army Lieutenant advisor, in sunglasses, smoking a pipe, on a crowded street. Local people in the area. Scene shifts to 1960. Two U.S. Army Ranger advisors, in full brim hats (3214D-M41), stand near as a contingent of Montagnard troops boards a train. View from armed guard standing on front of train as it travels along a single rail in deserted area. A sudden explosion occurs on the train track about 100 yards ahead. Next machine gun fire is seen coming from an armored gun turret on the train. View from inside the armored compartment, as the gun fires, spraying the surrounding area with bullets, creating two explosions nearby. South Vietnamese soldiers (ARVN) pursuing enemy in wooded areas. One, down deep in underbrush, is firing a machine gun. Several others are engaging enemy with small arms. Huts being blown up. ARVN troops returning from an engagement, carrying wounded on stretchers. Year, 1961, and an official American Government airplane is seen. It carries General Maxwell Taylor (in mufti) who was sent by President John F. Kennedy. Taylor is seen being interviewed on the airport ramp. A U.S. Air Force officer training young Vietnamese pilot trainees. A Vietnamese student pilot in a T-28 training airplane.
A U.S. Army advisor holding an M2 carbine with enlarged 30-round magazine, as he trains South Vietnamese soldiers, seated nearby. Closeup of several American advisers, all displaying parachutist badges on their caps. An advisor going over a map with a South Vietnamese soldier, in the field. View of ARVN (Army of Republic of Vietnam) soldiers slogging through jungles, carrying weapons and gear. ARVN troops firing weapons as they cross field of tall grass. A Viet cong (VC) in black outfit with white conical hat, seen running. Troops running under heavy small arms fire. ARVN escorting captured VC, under guard. They have their arms tied back. Vietnamese tribesmen who were impressed into VC service, are seen, momentarily, seated on the ground. A medical clinic staffed by U.S medical personnel is seen treating local citizens, who form a line waiting to be seen.
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