Operations of the U.S. Army Air Forces 394th Fighter Squadron, 367th Fighter Group, at Juvincourt Airfield (Advanced Landing Ground A-68) in France, during Winter of 1944, World War 2. The entire field is covered in snow. Pilots ride to their P-38 aircraft on a train of sleds, pulled by a Carl Eliason Motor Toboggan (Made by Four Wheel Drive Auto Company of Clintonville, Wisconsin). Pilots playfully brush some snow toward the camera as they pass. They stop to let a pilot off at his P-38 (reportedly the pilot is Jack Hallett). Next, P-38 aircraft are seen taxiing for takeoff over the snow, and then, flying very low over the field. The sound of gunfire is heard in the background. An abandoned (crash-landed) RAF Avro Lancaster bomber is seen collapsed on its left wing and elevator, in the snow. (It has been suggested that this might be Lancaster serial no ME850 LS-D of XV squadron RAF that crash landed on January 1st, 1945 or Lancaster VN-G of 50 SQN that crashed there on the same day.)
U.S. Army 3rd Armored Division advance in Belgium during World War 2. U.S. Army Captain examines a snow-covered disabled M4 Sherman tank, with shell holes in it, in Sterpigny, Belgium. Damaged buildings all around. American soldiers look at a damaged German Panther tank. View of jeep approaching on road. Shattered trees along the roadside. (Note:This footage was shot in the town of Sterpigny, Belgium just after 16 January 1945. The 2nd Battalion, U.S. 330th Infantry Regiment was attached to the 3rd Armored Division and fought alongside tank units of the 3rd Armored Division against elements of the 9th SS Panzer Division to capture the town on 16 January.)
Air evacuation of Marine causualties from narrow road, near Itomen, Okinawa in 1945 during World War 2. A Stinson L-5B Sentinel ambulance aircraft of the 163rd Liaison Squadron lands and rolls past a flagman and waiting Marine with arm wound. View of the wounded Marine inside the airplane. View of L-5B taking off and in flight. Wounded Marine on stretcher being loaded on an L-5B and another being taken, on a stretcher, from an ambulance and loaded on an L-5B.
Remains of United States Army Air Forces B-29A Super fortress that crashed on March 30, 1945, at North Field, Tinian,in the Northern Mariana Islands, during World War 2. Scattered debris on ground. Remaining piece of tail section displays serial number 265283 indicating it is B-29 number 42-65283, nicknamed "Big Wheel," from the 9th Bomb Group, 99th Bomb Squadron. Reportedly, it experienced mechanical problems during a mission to drop mines in Japanese waters. After jettisoning its munitions, it returned to Tinian, but crashed on the shore. Of the 12 crew, only the radar operator survived.
Remains of USAAF B-29 number 42-65283 from the 9th Bomb Group, 99th Bomb Squadron, that crashed, 30 March 1945, in World War 2, on Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands. All crew members were immediately killed in the crash, except tail gunner, Sgt. Joseph C. Trullo, Jr., who initially survived but died of his injuries, five days later, and the sole survivor, Radio Operator, Sgt. James Langraf who was injured but eventually recovered. Air Force personnel inspect debris that is scattered across the crash site in sand dunes close to the ocean in the background.
Film opens with slate reading: "Cabanatuan Prisoners' Hospitalization at Time of Repatriation." Brief view of a tent-like field hospital where former POWs were being treated, behind American lines, with rescued American POWs in beds and several Army nurses attending them. After that is an extended view of several ambulatory patients engaged in conversations at a hospital behind American lines. At TC:01:35, the scene reverts to earlier time, and a patient is seen lying in the ruins of the prison camp on the day of the rescue raid (Jan 30, 1945). He is being tended to by another soldier, with whom he converses. Two former prisoners are seen in a straw-lined cart prepared for transport back to the American lines, by water buffalo. The remainder of the film shows the former POWs and their rescuers leaving the Cabanatuan prison, on their way back to the American lines. Some non-ambulatory former prisoners are seen lying on straw- covered ground.
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