Sniper fire on 82nd Airborne Military Police in the Dominican Republic during a civil war. Two natives are motioned back by Military Police with a rifle. U.S. soldiers are crouched in the distance. Two soldiers run across a street in the foreground. People move on the street. 82 Airborne soldiers take cover behind a jeep. A civilian car is next to the jeep. Civilians walk about. Soldiers with M-16 rifles behind the jeep. A boy standing behind the men aims a cap pistol.
A film titled 'Santo Domingo honors ashes of Columbus' shows ashes of Christopher Columbus being placed in a crystal casket amidst vivid ceremonies in Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic. A number of officials and other dignitaries are also present at the ceremonies.
Opening scene shows President Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, President of the Dominican Republic, presenting Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, the Order of Juan Pablo Duarte. Dr. Butler is visiting Santa Domingo, as chairman of the U.S. Committee, appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to raise funds for the Christopher Columbus Memorial Lighthouse in which remains of Columbus will be interred. Scene shifts to interior of the Cathedral of Santa María la Menor, where the crystal urn, that for the past year has contained remains of Columbus, is opened so Dr. Butler and his wife might see them. They both move forward as Archbishop Ricardo Pittini Piussi points out aspects of the relics.
U.S. Marine Forces in action. The Marines on the streets of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. They get into the U.S. Marine Corps helicopters. The helicopters take off. U.S. Marine Forces in South Vietnam. The Marines patrol the area. A Vietnamese soldier. U.S. Marine trucks. A sign reads 'Da Nang'. Sacks of supplies. The Marines arrange equipment. (Vietnam War period).
Review of conflicts involving U.S. from World War 2 to 1970. A U.S. soldier with rifle and binoculars, on guard. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler speaks in Germany to mass audience. German mobilization and blitzkrieg. U.S. troops firing small arms on island in Pacific, battling Japanese. U.S. soldiers on half-track firing artillery. Explosive destruction of Nazi swastika and Eagle symbol on top of building in Zeppelin Field, Nuremberg, Germany. General Douglas MacArthur stands as Japanese General signs surrender documents aboard USS Missouri, ending World War II. Times Square in New York City on Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day) marking end of World War 2. American troops firing artillery and small arms in Korean War. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev speaking at the United Nations. Newspaper headlines about postwar Berlin Crisis. Soviet missiles on display in military parade in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union. Soviet General Georgy Zhukov and Nikita Khrushchev, at Kremlin, reviewing the parade. Cuban President Fidel Castro giving a speech. A newspaper headline reading: "Khrushchev orders removal of missiles" ending the Cuban Missile Crisis. Soviet cargo ship with covered missiles on its deck. Red flag with image of Lenin and message: 'Partido Communista Dominicano' and a crowd chanting support for the Communist party in the Dominican Republic. Communist Chinese people marching with massed flags in the People’s Republic of China. Chairman Mao Zedong waving to a crowd of young supporters and Red Guards in China as they chant. A United States soldier in South Vietnam during Vietnam War looks through binoculars and then walks carrying his M-16 rifle. A map of Vietnam.
Reconstructions of Hurricane ravages in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Views of ruins and damaged homes. Natives men, women and children. Red cross workers bandage to wounded survivors. Men remove debris for reconstructing the ravages. Damaged bridge and damaged equipment. Damaged ship in water.