U.S. Army troops approach stationary C-47 'Skytrain' transport planes on ground in Algeria during World War II. Sign on side of one plane identifies its name as "Big Jig." Taxi and takeoff of C-47 as seen in point of view shot through open side door of C-47 aircraft. C-47 in flight. P-38 Lightning fighter plane in flight escorting the paratroopers. Interior of a C-47. C-47 in flight over water. Point of view shots through cockpit window of C-47 aircraft in formations over water. C-47over mountain area. P-38 in flight. U.S. Army paratroopers jump from C-47 near Tunis toward target enemy airport in Tunisia held by Germans. Parachutes descend and land on ground as seen from C-47 aircraft in flight. C-47 parked on airfield.
Local Pacific Islanders are seen in wooden dugout boats in the vicinity of U.S. Navy warships, in a bay during World War 2. Closeup of a man in one canoe with an outrigger. A boy sitting in one carrying a box of fruit. U.S. military engineers aboard a ship, look at shore with binoculars. Sailors in stern of a boat flying Naval ensign. Sailors on a barge, transport the fuselage and float of a OS2U Kingfisher Floatplane to an island, where they bring it ashore amidst grove of palm trees. Sailors roll 55gallon drums of fuel shore from a barge. A jeep is lowered over the side of a ship and driven ashore. Supplies, including foodstuffs, are brought ashore. Cartons containing canned corned beef; canned cherries, and many other foods, are stacked up in a warehouse. Engineers chart water depth in a bay as they mark boundaries for construction of a seaplane base. Caterpillar tractors level trees and clear land for the base. Soldiers install a 155mm long tom gun in position for coastal defense. Marines prepare temporary shelters of palm fronds. A U.S. Navy PBY Catalina seaplane flies overhead.
U.S. Navy commissioned Women officer nurses stand in formation, dressed in summer white uniforms, as they are inspected by senior officers during World War 2. Closeups of several nurses. Several women nurses, in uniforms of various armed services, pose for the camera. Closeups of some of them. Scene shifts to the first director of the Women's Army Corps (WAC), Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby, seen standing in front of an Army recruiting poster, and at her desk in Washington, DC. Women volunteers seen in a recruiting station, applying to join the new WAC. Colonel Hobby walking along sidewalk of the Arlington Memorial Bridge, across the Potomac River, in Washington, DC. She stops and poses for the camera. Next she is seen approaching two army officers on the bridge, who both come to attention and salute as she comes close enough for them to see the Colonel's eagles on her uniform shoulders. She returns their salute, smartly, and continues on her way. Next, four armed WAC members in field garb, stand on the side of a mountain as two of them consult a map and the others use binoculars. Below them, on a dirt path, women of a WAC motorcycle corps unit ride their Harley Davidson motorcycles. They also ford a stream on their motorcycles.
View of a U.S. Post Office building. Patrons line up inside, to use the new "V-mail" system for sending mail to service personnel overseas, during World War 2. They are seen writing letters on special forms that also serve as envelopes, when folded. Senders stamp, and mail them, just like ordinary letters. Next, after being opened and passed by military censors, the letters are fed into machines and photograpned onto rolls of microfilm. Views of microfilm in 100 foot rolls, that carry 1500 letters, each. View of a strip of microfilm with individual letters on it. Bags of mail on the floor of an Army postal facility and a soldier holding one small bag of microfilm letters that contains the same number of letters as all the other bags. Servicemen overseas reading their letters (that have been blown up and printed at normal size).
First Graduation ceremony of United States Military Academy during World War 2. General George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, awards diplomas. U.S. flag seen. General Marshall gives a speech and reviews graduates. The graduates marching.
Curtiss P-40 airplane of the "Flying Tigers" with tiger teeth painted on its nose, early in World War 2. American volunteer airmen of the squadron loading belt of 50 caliber ammunition into the plane. A red warning flag raised above the plane as guns are tested on the ground. Flying Tigers pilots in their operations office. Closeup of American General Claire Chennault,adviser to the Chinese Air Force and Commander of the Flying Tigers. Pilots scramble to their aircraft and take off to engage Japanese planes. Eight P-40s flying overhead in a V formation. Aerial view of Flying Tiger P-40s in flight. Closeup view of Japanese Tachikawa Ki-36/55 airplane, in flight, with canopy open showing pilot in front cockpit and second crew member in rear cockpit. (Wheel pants are not installed on this aircraft, indicating it is a Ki 55 version.) View of a P-40 diving. General Chennault conversing with a Chinese officer. A group of pilots in flight suits and helmets walking away from the flight line after a mission.