British soldiers during the German Spring Offensive of 1918 (also known as the Kaiserschlacht or “Kaiser’s Battle”) in World War I. British soldier assists an injured man to walk on the trench. A huge explosion in the battlefield. Captured British troops are made to march by German soldiers. British prisoners carry fallen comrades on a carrying pole and a stretcher. British soldiers momentarily duck before resuming their march. Explosion in a battle-damaged town. Captured British troops marching through a devastated battlefield. German Empire Kaiser Wilhelm II listens to German generals during a meeting at an observation point in the battlefield.
A graph shows a sudden increase in the deaths due to influenza in New York City during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic. Spike in the graph is shown for the 1918 influenza outbreak. Slide states "A steady decline of the death rate is shown by communities in which an intelligent public uses the results of scientific knowledge." A strata chart shows the deaths per one thousand people during the period from each of pneumonias, tuberculosis, and cerebro-spinal meningitis, and then deaths from the diseases summed. A chart at the end reads, "What sciences hope to do" and then it reads "Reduce all transmissible diseases to 0 - With the cooperation of an intelligent public."
Shows several aviation "firsts" accomplished by U.S. Army Air Service aviators in the period from 1918 through 1924. A close formation of biplanes in flight. President and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson chat with Major Fleet, Officer in charge, on the occasion of the first air mail flight, inaugurated on May 15,1918 between Washington DC and New York.The mail is loaded into the Curtis JN-4 aircraft. Pilot in the cockpit. The aircraft takes off and in flight. Air Service. Mention of aviators helping spot forest fires. Smoke rising from forest fires and mountain ranges. In 1920, U.S. Army Captain St. Clair Streett is seen with some of his Squadron who flew four De Havilland DH-4 aircraft 9,000 miles, from New York City to Nome, Alaska. Two of the men play with pet dogs. Their itinerary is painted on the side of one of the aircraft, along with the names of pilot and mechanic (C.E. Crumline and J.E. Long). In 1923 the first non stop coast-to-coast flight was made in the Fokker T-2 aircraft. . A sign on the aircraft reads 'Army Air Service non stop coast to coast'.First Lieutenants Oakley O.Kelly and John A. Macready board the aircraft, at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, on May 2, 1923. Their Fokker T-2 in flight. Their arrival at Rockwell Field, on Coronado Island (San Diego) California. In 1924, Lt. Russell Maughan is seen boarding his P-1 Hawk airplane at Mitchel Field, on Long Island, New York, and taking off , bound for Crissy Field at the Presidio, San Francisco, California. His goal is the first dawn-to-dusk, coast-to-coast flight. Views of his P-1 Hawk airplane flying over Manhattan, New York City.
U.S. Coast Guardsmen parade in dress whites, at pier in Gibralter harbor, and assemble in formation for ceremony to dedicate a memorial. The Coast Guard Ensign hangs over, and hides a memorial plaque on wall of building. Participants include British and American officers and British and American civilian officials, several dressed formally, with top hats. A number of ladies are seated for the event. After brief invocation by clergyman, A British military brass band plays, Coast guardsmen, with rifles, present arms, and the Coast Guard ensign is removed, unveiling the memorial plaque. The plaque honors those lost when the Cutter Tampa was torpedoed by an enemy submarine, in Bristol Channel, on September 26, 1918, with loss of all 115 souls on board. It also honors 11 officers and men of the Cutter Seneca, who volunteered, and were lost attempting to salvage the torpedoed British Steamer, Wellington, in the Bay of Biscay, September 17, 1918. The American flag is displayed above the new plaque, and Coast Guard officers place four wreaths at the base of the memorial. .
Scenes in Lyndhurst, New Jersey after explosion in the Canadian Car and Foundry Company in Kingsland (in Meadowlands of New Jersey) during World War 1. The company built shells for shipment to Russia in World War I. Over 500,000 shells were destroyed in the blast and fire, bombarding the surrounding areas in Kingsland - Lyndhurst. Black smoke rising in the distance, at night, seen from the coast. Close views of industrial buildings and homes on fire. Night views of homes and buildings engulfed in flames. People walk through smoking wreckage afterwards and pick through debris. Devastation covers area flattened by explosion and fire. Twisted railroad tracks covered by debris. A pile of munitions shells in a heap in the burned out shell of a building. View of the D.L.&W (Delaware, Lackawanna & Western) Railroad Shops building at Kingsland (now Lyndhurst), with DL&W train car 605 parked in front. Railroad Shops building is pitted with holes and broken glass from 3-inch shell bombardment. Two men inspect a damaged railroad car with broken glass and a 3-inch shell embedded in the side of the car. A heavily damaged residential house with holes and blown-out windows, and a shell embedded in the front door. Citizens pick through wreckage in front of a building where only cement pilings remain. Scene shifts to Perth Amboy area, October 1918. View of displaced families made homeless by the T.A. Gillespie Shell Loading Plant explosion (Morgan Depot Explosion; largest munitions factory in the world). Refugees sit in a town square. Men, women, and children among the refugees. An Army soldier and Navy sailor seen near refugees as they eat and drink. View of Smith Street in Perth Amboy with shops damaged by the blast. Under Martial Law, U.S. Army troops patrol with rifles to prevent looting. Pedestrians and a streetcar pass. Sign along sidewalk for entrance to Michaels & Co. at 178 Smith Street. (Suspected cause of incidents: Gillespie - worker error; Kingsland - sabotage as in the 1916 Black Tom explosion.)
U.S. battleship, USS Tennessee, sails up East River to Brooklyn Naval Yard. Next scene shows her heading back out to sea for maneuvers with a fleet in the Atlantic Ocean. in both, the Tennessee sails under the Brooklyn Bridge. Woolworth Building in Manhattan visible. A tugboat follows.View,upward, to roadbed of the Brooklyn Bridge, from vessel passing underneath. Crew members aboard the ship look at the skyline of New York City. A large boat filled with sightseers passes on the river. A group of U.S. Navy officers poses near a gun turret of the ship. A group of sailors sits under a three-gun turret aboard the ship. Commercial vessels moving in the river. Sailors at railing, look at skyline of Manhattan, New York City, as the ship passes on the East River. Ferry boats pass. View of the Statue of Liberty, in mist, framed above, by three of the Ship's 14 inch guns. Two Admirals and the USS Tennessee's officers, pose on deck, under two turrets with three 14 inch guns, in each. Sailors of the crew pose on deck of the battleship. A different time: December 25, 1918, Crewman in foul weather gear stands at railing of official Photographers boat, with battleships in background, during the great Naval review. A motor launch flying a two-star admiral's ensign, passes at high speed, with the Presidential Yacht, Mayflower, in background. The launch circles and reverses course.
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