Destroyed trains in railroad marshaling yard at Messina, Sicily, resulting from U.S. Army Air Forces bombing during World War 2. Cracked, broken and destroyed buildings in the city of Messina. Shattered trees and debris-filled areas. Two armed provisional Italian police, wearing white armbands, walk past partially destroyed commercial buildings. They turn and walk toward the camera. Closeups of each, and of armband identifying them as Civil Police, written in English and Italian.
A United States invasion convoy off the coast of Licata, Sicily during World War II. LCTs (Landing Craft Tank) and LSTs (Landing Ship Tank) underway in a choppy sea. A sailor at a signal light aboard a Navy ship sends a message to another ship.
Views of Taormina,and the nearby Island of Isola Bella, in the Ionian Sea, Sicily, taken by U.S. Army photographers during World War 2. The Ionian Sea coast near Taormina, seen from a high point of land. A home with cantilevered porch on a hillside. A woman looking over the wall. View of a substantial building in the countryside on the side of a hill. The door of a building with "cleared of mines," written on it and a sign reading,"Reserved for USAAF." A waterfront home with a large deck and rooftop veranda overlooking the sea. The Island of Isola Bella with strip of sand crossing to it at low tide. The adjoining bay and small rocky peninsula. A substantial government or corporate complex high on a hill. View from high on a hill, of a speedboat underway in the sea.
U.S. soldiers in bomb-damaged port facilities at Messina, Sicily, during World War 2. A U.S. Army Technical Sergeant wearing a holstered sidearm, walks past an overturned railroad locomotive. He stops and picks up an abandoned Italian Breda 30 light machine gun. He checks the weapon's action and holds it up in firing position. Another U.S. soldier rummages amongst abandoned Italian small arms. The Tech Sergeant climbs aboard an abandoned port utility tug vehicle. The camera focuses on the side profile of the vehicle. A crane on a railway is seen near a damaged ship. Chunks of concrete pier are seen and damaged port machinery. A small fire burns at the base of a hill near a rail line at the port.
Pope John XXIII Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli awarded the peace prize at Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. People gather in a large number at the basilica to witness the ceremony. Italian President Antonio Segni awards Pope John XXIII the Balzan prize.
Bishop Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York in the Vatican City. Spellman walks holding a crucifix towards Saint Peter's Basilica. A man holds the U.S. flag. Buildings in the background. Other people walk with Spellman. They enter the basilica and Spellman performs religious rites. People pray in the basilica. Spellman meets Pope Pius XII and they discuss amongst themselves.