British Expeditionary Force commander and Field Marshal, Sir Douglas Haig, debarks from a smaller ship onto a dock in Dover in December 1918, soon after the signing of the armistice ending World War 1. White cliffs of Dover seen briefly in background behind a large ship. Victorious Marshal Haig is met by Vice-Admiral Sir Roger Keyes. A man with a royal mace stands behind the officers. British Royal Navy Guard of Honor band in white helmets plays as Commander Haig and Commander Keyes pass by the assembled forces. Civilians are lined up behind the military forces to welcome home Field Marshal Haig.
U.S. Army Air Forces C-47aircraft , number 42-93098, of the 9th Troop Carrier Command Pathfinder Group, and its crew. This is the first aircraft and crew to drop American paratroopers (pathfinders) over France during the Allied invasion, in World War 2. The aircraft taxis on a British airfield. Crew of the aircraft are seen in front of it, including pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Joel Crouch, Copilot, Captain Vito Pedone, Navigator, Captain William Culp, Radio Operator, Harold Coonrod, along with two crew chiefs. Crew members shake hands and board the aircraft. Colonel Crouch waves from the cockpit of the C-47 (but has not started engines). Major J.L. Sweetman boards another aircraft. Colonel Crouche's C-47 taxis to where the Pathfinders will load up. View of Control Tower at RAF North Witham, with ambulance parked outside it. Three hours before takeoff.Colonel Crouch, is seen on a path near the airfield, with a Pathfinder Captain and Lieutenant, who will be aboard his aircraft and be the first to jump into France. They kid around. The Pathfinder officers note that Colonel Crouch wears paratroop wings. Later, two Pathfinders, of the 101st Airborne Division , with camouflaged faces and American flag insignia on their right shoulders, step from woods and pose momentarily. Pathfinder Paratroopers line up to board C-47 aircraft as Lt. Col. Crouch rides a scooter at the airfield. Aircrews and Pathfinders pose for photographs before taking off. The lead aircraft, number 42-93098, with Lieutenant Colonel Crouch at the controls, takes off from RAF Station North Witham at 9:54 PM, on June 5, 1944. to begin the invasion of France. (Note: This C-47 was shot down on September 18, 1944, during Operation Market Garden, and crash landed on Haamstede Airbase, Netherlands. Although shot at by German troops on the ground, pilot, Maj Joseph A. Beck, and Navigator Lt. Vincent J. Paterno, survived as prisoners of war. Copilot Capt Fred O. Lorimer and another crew member were fatally shot.)
U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is besieged by correspondents and photographers in London, upon his appointment as Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Forces during World War 2. He us seen pointing at a wall map of Europe. Then, with flags of Great Britain and the United States behind him, he makes remarks from his desk. He expresses pleasure at the Joint nature of the allied command, and the effectiveness of the U.K. and U.S. forces. He extols the advances made on the Eastern front by Soviet forces. Finally, he expressed confidence in the ultimate victory of the United Nations.
Film opens showing a Captain, Intelligence officer with the U.S 8th Airforce 97th Bombardment Group, debriefing Captain William “Bill” Musselwhite, Commander of the 342nd Bombardment Squadron, about his unit's experience participating in the first Eighth Air Force heavy bomber mission in World War II, attacking the Rouen-Sotteville marshalling yards in France, on August 17, 1942. Referring to a map, he asks Captain Musselwhite where his Squadron dropped their bombs. Musselwhite points out the path of his units aircraft and that his first aircraft overshot the target, but those following dropped "on range," bracketing the target on left and right, with one "stick" of bombs going right down the middle. He mentions one ship straying over the town of Rouen, itself.
British troops arriving at Kings Cross railroad station, in London, on Christmas leave during World War I. Soldiers amongst civilian shoppers at a poultry market. One of the soldiers holds up a dressed bird. (World War i; World War 1; WWI; WW1)
Procession by the British Empire Union with boards and banners in London. Houses and buildings in the background. The procession is protesting the World War 1 sinking of the ship Lusitania. Signs include "Out with all Germans, naturalised or not." A model of the Lusitania is carried by the protestors, encased in a long box with glass sides. (WWI; WW1)