A documentary on The United Nations Conference on International Organization that continued from April 25, 1945 to June 26, 1945 in San Francisco. A plane in flight and ships are seen in San Francisco Bay. 1940s San Francisco city views: Aerial views of Golden Gate Bridge. People on streets on San Francisco, with streetcars, buildings, pedestrians, and mid 1940's cars seen. Aircraft parked at a USAF Base as delegates from 50 countries arrive. Delegates like Jan Christian Smuts from South Africa, Vyacheslav Molotov from Russia, U.S. secretary of State Edward Stettinius arrive in San Francisco. Delegates register for the conference. United States flag on a building. Interior of the War Memorial Opera House serving as the initial meeting hall. Delegates seated. U.S. President Harry S. Truman addressing the general assembly remotely, as delegates listen through radio speakers in the opera house. Narrator recalls words of Franklin Roosevelt and recorded audio of Roosevelt is heard where he urges continuation of the work first begun by the defunct League of Nations. View of various working committees and smaller groups of the organization meeting during the Spring of 1945. Representatives debate and review concepts initiated at the Dumbarton Oaks conference in Washington DC in 1944 during World War II. Delegates addressing those assembled and signing documents that create the United Nations.
'The Big Picture' depicts the life of U.S. General Dwight D Eisenhower. Sergeant Stuart Queen of the U.S. Army stands in front of a map. He gives an introduction of Eisenhower. In 1945 Eisenhower returns to his homeland in Denison, Texas. A banner reads 'Welcome IKE'. People gather on the sides of the streets to welcome him. He waves from an open car at the cheering crowds. People at parade carry the U.S. flags during a ceremony. Eisenhower salutes. D Day, June 6, 1944- Barges carrying American troops land on the shore of Normandy. Eisenhower with another military officer. Eisenhower salutes. Streets of the city Abilene. Exterior of the Eisenhower Museum. Two boys enter the museum. Pictures of Eisenhower in his childhood - during infancy, house in which he was born, Eisenhower with a group of children, Eisenhower with his family, with his baseball and football team. View of Eisenhower's bedroom- scripture readings on the walls and books in the shelves. A truck passes the creamery where Eisenhower worked in his spare time. Pictures of Eisenhower leaving home to join the Military Academy at West Point. Cadets marching at the grounds of the military academy. Graduation Certificate of Eisenhower. Eisenhower with his wife Mamie Geneva Doud. Fight in Western Europe during the World War I. Picture of Eisenhower with other cadets. The certificate of the Distinguished Service Medal presented to Eisenhower for his services for training tank crews in Pennsylvania.
Three pilots, Major Gerald Montgomery, Major Howard D. (Deacon) Hively, and Captain Shelton W. "Shell" Monroe, of the U.S. Army Air Forces 334th Fighter Squadron, 4th Fighter Group, discuss a map during World War 2.. Logos of the Eagle Sqadron and the 334th Fighter Squadron displayed above a wall containing small painted German crosses representing enemy aircraft destroyed, probably destroyed, and damaged. Airman stencils two more under the destroyed column. Major Howard D.Hively of Athens, OH.,with another Major looking at record of aerial victories on the wall. Hively holds a sign reading "300 destroyed." He hands it to the other Major who tacks it onto the wall using the butt of his .45 caliber automatic pistol as a hammer. They smile and shake hands. Then Lieutenant Timothy Cronin stencils three more crosses in the destroyed column, under the 300 sign, as Lieutenant Victor Rentschler looks on smiling. The two men each recorded kills on Christmas Day 1944, one of which was the 300th kill for the squadron. (Shelton W. Monroe was later killed in Korea after his plane was shot down on April 17, 1951. )
Newsreel titled 'Allied Drives Split Germany'. Allied troops, tanks and soldiers fight a fierce battle on the streets of Leipzig and gain the control. Allied soldiers seize and guard the radio station in Leipzig. Allied forces win Nuremberg and Braunschweig. Destroyed buildings and houses after the fight. A German commander surrenders to American Major General. Glimpses of Hitler's speech at Nuremberg in 1932. U.S. soldiers atop the same stadium building in 1944. British Army men prisoners liberated and given food and cigarettes. A camp near river Rhine where German prisoners are released and Nazi army officers surrender. German Generals arrested by the Allied Forces. Soldiers of the 3rd Army explore stashed gold and currency reserves of Germany hidden in a salt mine. They also recover stolen art and classic paintings from German museums. Civilians registered by Allied military officials. A crowd in market hears suspension of Nazi government. Nazi army uniforms, arms, caps and badges in a stack to be destroyed. A map showing German-Russian frontier. Russian tanks rushing into German borders after bombing their bases. Tanks advance between destroyed houses, rising smoke and explosion from fights. U.S. and British forces bombing Magdeburg on the Elba river.
A sign identifies the village of Bande, in Belgium, during World War 2. View of snow-covered village rooftops from a distance. Closeup of a cafe in the village. Bodies of 34 young men from the village are seen lying in the cellar of the cafe. All had been executed on Christmas Eve, by a unit of the Nazi SD (Sicherheitsdienst) affiliated with the SS (Schutzstaffel) in retribution for the deaths of three German soldiers killed by Belgian maquis (Resistance fighters) on September 5, 1944. (Bande had been occupied by U.S. forces soon thereafter, but was retaken by German forces in the December Ardennes offensive, setting the stage for the massacre.) British troops that re-occupied the village on January 10th, 1945, are seen removing the bodies from the cellar and placing them on the snow-covered street. Wooden coffins are stacked up at the side of the building. Some closeups of the victims are seen. Scene shifts to a snowy field where the bodies are on the ground and men wrap them in sheets and place them in coffins. Closeup of British soldiers placing cover on a coffin and affixing an identification tag on it. Next, the Village Priest presides over a mass funeral for the victims, as villagers stand along the line of coffins. Women in black grieve over the victims. British soldiers carry the coffins to army trucks.The villagers follow behind the trucks as they proceed to the graveyard for burial. The coffins are placed on the ground at the cemetery.
The Philippines are established as an independent nation. Crowds of Filipinos gathered at Rizal Park (Luneta Park) in Manila on the July 4, 1946. View of Independence Grandstand (a temporary structure built in front of the Rizal Monument) with American flag and Philippine flags on tall flag poles.. View looking down on General Douglas MacArthur at a podium, speaking into microphones. Camera pans over various segments of the audience. A map shows the Philippine Islands in context of its neighbors in the Pacific Ocean. Camera pans closeup across faces of many Filipinos gathered at the independence event. View of the Jones Bridge over the Pasig River in downtown Manila. Heacock’s Department Store on the Escolta. The Legislative Building. (later the National Museum of the Philippines). Ocean going ships in a harbor. Cargo being offloaded from a ship onto smaller boat. An industrial complex with eight tall smoke stacks emitting smoke. Steel and petroleum plants. Filipino workers in an assembly plant. The Legislative building with people coming and going. Air raid sirens sounding and people running in streets of Manila at onset of Japanese invasion of the Philippines in December, 1941, at start of World War 2, in the Pacific. People running across the Jones Bridge, seeking shelter. Others boarding a bus. Smoke rising from Japanese bombing. Glimpse of Japanese tanks entering Manila during attack and invasion. Japanese infantry climbing a hill. Bodies of persons killed during the Japanese invasion. Glimpse of Japanese troops occupying Corregidor. U.S. General Wainwright negotiating the surrender of Corregidor with Japanese General Homma. View of an American warship firing during the U.S. campaign to defeat the Japanese on islands in the Pacific. An American landing ship carrying U.S. troops who storm ashore. General Douglas MacArthur striding ashore with a retinue of officers, at Leyte, Philippines, on October 20, 1944. as he keeps his promise to return to the Philippines. Views, back again, to MacArthur speaking at the Independence Day ceremony in Manila on July 4, 1946. Also seen at the ceremony are: U.S. Senator Millard Tydings, (co-sponsor of the 1934 Tydings–McDuffie Act, which provided independence to the Philippines after a 10-year transition under a limited autonomy), and Paul V. McNutt, U.S. High Commissioner of the Philippines, who read President Truman's proclamation of Philippine Independence to the assembly. Camera pans over the gathering which includes many U.S. Service personnel in uniform. The oath of office is administered to the elected President of the Philippines, Manuel Roxas. At the conclusion, the American flag is lowered by Paul McNutt, as President Roxas raises that of the Republic of the Philippines. A celebratory parade in Manila includes a float with signs reading: "Let's Produce and Rebuild," among other things. Other floats represent "Mountain Province," and "The City of Manila," "The University of the Philippines," and "The Division of City Schools." One float, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, contains a huge replica machine gear, and models of an aircraft and a ship. It's message is about turning the gear that helps make the nation great. American and Filipino soldiers march, carrying their respective national flags. A white-helmeted military band plays for the marchers. Final scene shows large loose formation of military aircraft in flight very high above the Independence Grandstand, at Rizal Park.
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