Members, of the U.S. Military Mission to Turkey and Armenia, stand upon a bridge under construction over the Euphrates River, and watch Kurdish construction workers manually raising a heavy weight in a wooden pile driver at the river bank. Camera pans across the bridge.
Members of the U.S. Military Mission to Turkey and Armenia, following World War 1, climb the steps of the Courthouse in Erzinjan (Erzincan) Turkey (the Provincial Capital). Next, an honor guard of Turkish infantry are seen marching along the street. Local people stand at the side of the road, across from the government building, where two Turkish soldiers stretch a banner across the steps reading (in French) "Long live the 12th principle of Wilson." (This alludes to the 12th point in a speech by U.S. President Wilson in January, 1918, that set the stage for ending World War 1. It stated, in essence, that The Turkish part of the Ottoman Empire should remain sovereign, while other nationalities under Turkish rule should be free to develop autonomously.) The film ends showing members of the Mission visiting a Red Cross Orphanage, where a group of little girls walk past them.
Camera pans across Turkish officers of the 14th Army Corps assembled in Erzurum,to receive American Army Major General James G. Harbord, Head of a U.S. post-war Military Mission to Turkey and Armenia. The camera pan ends with members of a brass band and their instruments. Next, General Harbord is seen saluting as he walks past the assembled officers. He is accompanied by his staff officers and escorted by Turkish General Kazim Karabekir Pasha.
Members of the American Military Mission to Turkey and Armenia, escorted by Turkish military hosts, sight-seeing in Erzurum. They stand in front of a Twin Minaret Madrasa (the Seljuk Çifte Minare medrese) dating to 1271. . The city of Erzurum is seen in background. Camera pans up the structure and its two flanking minarets.
Military honors for United States airmen in Virginia, United States. The crewmen were killed when the unarmed American transport was shot down over Soviet-Armenia. Military personnel carry the coffins of the from a chapel. The coffins are borne to Arlington National Cemetery. A soldier plays a bugle. Other military officers and dignitaries pay last salute to the dead airmen.
Automobiles, of the American Military Mission to Armenia, pass through the gateway of a city in Turkey. View of local people moving goods on pack animals and in carts, across a bridge over the Devegechid River in Turkey. Members of the Mission encamped on a plain. Smoke rising from their cooking fires near wagons. View from above of the mission vehicles and campsite, in background,near the river and bridge. Pack animals seem grazing near their burdens, removed and stacked in the foreground. A mission automobile moves past other elements of the expedition, as they break camp and get underway. Camera pans the barren hills and village houses atop a cliff.