The U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial original statue during its unveiling ceremony at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia on November 10, 1951 (This is after the statue had been moved from its original Constitution Avenue location in Washington DC in 1947, and subsequently renovated under sculptor de Weldon's supervision while it was in Quantico.). A sign on the memorial reads "Uncommon valor was a common virtue, 1945." Next scenes show sculptor Felix de Weldon as he works to build the larger Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, which was dedicated in November 1954. Felix de Weldon measuring a model of the flag raising on Iwo Jima made by him. de Weldon and others on his team work to carve the large war memorial in plaster before it is cast in bronze. Views of the sculpted faces of the six Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima: Faces of John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block and Michael Strank. Brief glimpse of the original flag raising scene on Mount Suribachi in February 1945. Next scene, circa 1954 or 1955, shows the completed Marine Corps War Memorial in bronze, in Arlington Virginia, with Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial landmarks of Washington DC in the background. Close-up views of faces of a young boy, an elderly woman, and a middle aged man who removes his hat. American flag fluttering in the breeze atop the war memorial.
Excerpt from United States Information Service film about the music school and festival at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Massachusetts. Maestro Serge Koussevitzky conducts the Boston Symphony orchestra and a chorus in an outdoor performance during the summer of 1951. Views of the conductor, orchestra, chorus, and audience including many listening while reclining on the grass on the grounds of the institute.
Describes the facilities and various activities for assisting the 2000 mentally disabled children and adults at Mansfield State Training School and Hospital. Exterior of a building. Snow covered land. A dining room with rows of tables and chairs. Mentally disabled children in Mansfield State Training School and Hospital clean the dining room as a part of assistance services program. A mentally disabled child and a woman volunteer on a sled slide down the slope. Children enter a school. 'The Longley School, built in 1951, is one where mentally disabled children can participate in many activities such as band, dance and sports as a part of assistance programs. Feet of a dancing girl. A boy in front of a woman on a sled sliding down a snow covered hill, as seen from camera position in front of sled looking at riders on sled. Children play in a park. A boy riding a soap box derby car. Boys playing American football and basketball. A boy crashes in his soap box derby car but gets up and walks away. Mentally disabled children perform a dance routine during a stage program. A man voices his opinion about the need for developing some hobbies in the mentally disabled children helpful for them when they come in contact with the community outside of the program.
Governor of Connecticut speaks at Mansfield Training School. Many ladies and gentleman sit on chairs behind him. A group of blind, mentally disabled children sings. Several people enter a building. 'The Longley School 1951' written on the wall of the building.
A U.S. Army VH-3A helicopter lands on the lawn of the Hotel General von Steuben, in Wiesbaden, Germany. A crowd of spectators stands across the drive from the hotel lawn, constrained by German policemen. U.S. Air Force Military policemen stand guard on the nearer side of the drive. Soon the Presidential VH-3 helicopter, Marine One, lands on the lawn. It displays the Presidential seal and that of the Military District of Washington, DC. Next, President John F. Kennedy is seen walking past the Army helicopter and into the U.S. Military's Hotel General von Steuben. He is accompanied by German Chancellor, Ludwig Erhard, U.S. Secretary of State, Dean Rusk and U.S. Army Aide, Brigadier General Chester V. Clifton, along with a phalanx of Secret Service Agents. Other officials look out from a dining room window of the hotel as the Presidential party arrives. (Note: In the 1950s, the U.S. built three large military hotels in Wiesbaden. In 1951,a star-shaped Hotel [the American Arms] was built on Frankfurter Strasse. In 1955, the 9-story Amelia Earhart Hotel was opened. It was a utilitarian structure, with row after row of windows. President Nixon once stayed there. It closed in 1995. The General von Steuben Hotel, depicted in this film, was the newest, built in 1956, on Auguste Viktoria Strasse, near the train station. It is now a commercial hotel, "the Dorint Hotel Pallas Wiesbaden.")
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. )