The United States Army in France during World War II. On 5th August, 1944 : soldiers of 35th Infantry Division, 137th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion walk in columns while returning to a rest area near Le Mesnil-Robert. On 8th August, 1944 : an officer of 28th Division, 109th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion shows replacements where to dig foxholes in Gathemo. The soldiers dig the foxholes. A United States Army Air Force ( USAAF ) P-51 Mustang burns after a crash landing near Vire. Ammunition in the aircraft exploding. The rescued pilot talks to two soldiers.
U.S. OSS (Office of Strategic Services) headed by Colonel William Joseph Donovon asks the public to send pictures taken abroad to Colonel L. E. Norris in the United States during World War II. Employees sorting still photographs sent by the public. Various pictures showing foreign harbors and coastlines. Colonel L.E. Norris of the OSS examines the photographs at his desk. The employees examine filmstrips and photographs at a desk.
British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden at an airfield in England during World War II. Anthony Eden reviews troops at the airfield. Lieutenant General Jacob L. Devers and Major General Ira C. Eaker accompany the Secretary. Eden shakes hands with the officers at the U.S. bomber station. Secretary Eden looks on with an aircraft in the background. A man seated in the cockpit with Nazi German swastikas on the door of the plane. Secretary Eden shakes hands with flight crew members lined up at the bomber station. Officers including Colonel Curtis Le May, Colonel Archie Old, Colonel Peterson also present at the air base.
U.S. President John F Kennedy at an air show in Florida,United States. President Kennedy arrives at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. President with the Chief of Staff of United States Air Force General Curtis LeMay. Vice President Lyndon B Johnson seated. Aircraft (F-100's) in formation flight as they drop bombs. Explosions occur and smoke rises. Mass mid air refueling being demonstrated by F-100s getting fuel from KB-50 tanker aircraft. President Kennedy and General LeMay look on. An F-101 aircraft hits a drone plane with air to air missiles. (Narrator mistakenly calls them F-102s.) F-100 aircraft drop Napalm bombs. The bombs flip end over end during descent and explosions are seen as they impact.
Map shows coast of Europe with discussion of various places for a possible Allied invasion of France during World War 2. Normandy was chosen. German coastal defenses on English Channel and Atlantic shore (Atlantic Wall). German officers inspect defenses. Map highlights Cherbourgh, Le Havre, and Caen in Normandy. American workers building war machinery in defense plants and shipyards. Huge numbers of workers are seen in the yard of a U.S. defense plant. View inside a U.S. factory where numerous M3 Lee tanks are being manufactured on production lines during 1941-42. A welder at work. A woman using a saw and many other workers in a busy machine shop. B-17 bombers being built in a Boeing factory. Liberty ships under construction at a shipyard. A lookout watching the skies above a city, for enemy aircraft. A man and woman working together on a plumbing job. British women in Army uniforms working with typewriters. An American woman driving a forklift and loading a piece of ordnance on a railroad freight car. A rail yard filled with stream locomotives and freight trains. A line of trucks carrying war time cargoes. An army truck being loaded into the hold of a cargo ship. Ships underway in a harbor.
Liberated American prisoner reading the Stars & Stripes newspaper, at German prison camp for allied airmen (Stalag 7A) near Moosburg, Germany. Several American former prisoners being interviewed, include African American 2nd Lt. Alexander Jefferson, of the Tuskegee Airmen. Former prisoners posing in a group for the camera. Former prisoners strolling around the grounds of the prison, and sitting outside its buildings. (They are awaiting transport to local airfields where they will board C-47s to Camp Lucky Strike near Le Havre, France, for processing home.)