A documentary depicts activities of U.S. Department of War workers in the United States during World War 2. Scenes of various 1940's clocks on bedside tables. War department workers wake up with the alarms. They get ready for work. Cars passing on the streets of Washington DC. Buildings along the sides of the street. People lined up waiting for public conveyance. A bus arrives. Bus and car traffic on the "Highway Bridge" over the Potomac River toward Arlington Virginia. (The Highway Bridge, a swing-span through-truss bridge, was part of the 14th Street Bridge complex over the years. It was eventually replaced by the George Mason Memorial Bridge, and in 1967 the Highway Bridge was removed and taken to the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren Virginia, to be used for bombing practice). View of the newly built Pentagon War Department building in Arlington Virginia, and views of large parking lots at the Pentagon filled with cars. Workers walking inside the Pentagon building corridors. A line of women seated and working at telephone switchboards in the Pentagon, and consulting an updated telephone directory. A sign at the door of a room reads 'Security Office, Identification Section'. A woman goes inside. Woman named 'Phyllis Hood' gets her identification card and finger prints for her identification in the office. She is seen taking an oath. Hood working at her desk. She files statistical reports. Exteriors of various Washington DC buildings being guarded by United States Army personnel for the Military District of Washington during World War II. A covered anti-aircraft gun installation in Washington DC is shown opening as US Army soldiers take up positions to use the artillery during practice drills. A guard standing outside the White House building.
Construction of a runway at theNha Trang Airfield in Vietnam. A crane high up on hillside with scoop, loading a dump truck with rocks at a quarry. The load of rock is dumped into dump truck, crane swings around. A truck dumps asphalt into a spreader at the runway site. The spreader spreads the asphalt. A Vietnamese worker moves along with the truck. The spreader spreads a layer of asphalt. A compactor and steam roller compact the freshly laid asphalt. Vietnamese workers use long rake-like tools to smooth out rough areas on the leveled asphalt. A spreader spreading asphalt. The dump truck pulls away to pick up another load of asphalt, spreader comes to a stop. Asphalt runway being compacted by compactors. Other equipment on the right. A mountain range in the background.
F-8E Crusader aircraft of U.S. Marine Squadron VMF (AW) 232, (Red Devils) taxiing from revetment with wings folded and canopy open. A ground crewman wears noise suppressor headset and walks forward. The F-8E taxis out and joins another F-8E on the active runway. They proceed to take off successively. They are heavily loaded and require unusually long takeoff distances. Armorer and ground crewmen stand near to an F-8E in a revetment. The armorer inspects 250 pound bombs mounted under the aircraft's wing. (Vietnam War period).
U.S. Airmen (figefighters) of the 430th Tactical Fighter Squadron are seen performing maintenance on fire truck and equipment in their firehouse at the Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, during the Vietnam War. Glimpse of airmen relaxing in a ready room. Others are sunbathing on cots outdoors. Parked aircraft and fuel trucks are seen on an airfield apron. One taxis forward, slightly. Suddenly, an airman in a flight suit is seen running as fast as possible to the firehouse. He runs into a shower locker room where some airmen are seated, grabs a roll of toilet paper, and runs outside, dropping the roll, once, in his haste. Next, several airmen run from the shower locker room Camera focuses on a coiled cobra snake sitting in the sun, at the shower facility. It jumps towards the building. An airman with a hooked pole, pulls the snake from an awning, onto the ground, where others surround it and use shovels, clubs, and other implements to kill it. the airman with the hook poses, holding the dead snake aloft. It appears to be about 8 feet long. Glimpse of sunbather lying unperturbed on his cot.
Film showing students at the University of California, Berkeley, principally in 1980. It also shows glimpses of Vietnam war era background events. Opening shows students on a college campus. Two of them sit and converse. Scene shifts to National Guard troops and police near the University of California campus, in May, 1969, when Governor Ronald Reagan declared a state of emergency and sent 2,200 National Guard troops into Berkeley, California. Next, students are seen handing out voting information from booths on the Berkeley campus during the 1980 U.S. Presidential elections. Students massed on campus and some having lively conversations with others. The entrance gates to the campus are seen in the background. Students moving about on the campus and some seated at outdoor tables having snacks and conversing. A student being interviewed who speaks about employment. Complete shift of scene to American soldiers jumping from a UH-1 Huey helicopter in Vietnam. President Richard Nixon waving enthusiastically in front of the Presidential helicopter. President Lyndon Johnson glad-handing spectators as he walks along the streets of a city. Glimpse of American hostages being taken from the embassy in Tehran, Iran, November 4, 1979 during Iran hostage crisis. U.S soldiers firing a howitzer field piece in Vietnam. Returning American hostages leaving an U.S.Air Force transport plane. A woman student being interviewed at Berkeley campus about the 1980 Presidential race between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Students seated on a long bench in a room where a picture of motion picture star, John Wayne, is displayed on a wall. A male student says Ronald Reagan has brought a new spirit into everybody in America. A Berkeley political science professor comments on the new voters. Students speaking positively about President Reagan. More views of students and voting information on campus. (Note: film is silent except for occasional interviews.)
Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. Water flowing in a small stream. A group of Vietnamese children come running to Ho Chi Minh. He claps in rhythm as children dance in a circle. He looks at a book with them. Ho Chi Minh sits, holding a little girl, at a riverside. ho chi Minh makes a fish trap basket, fishes in a stream with a long pole, and catches a fish. He sits at a table and serves food to his Viet Minh companions. They sit at a campfire, and later, around a table listening to a large powerful radio. Ho Chi Minh sits contemplatively on the porch of a rustic shelter and enjoys the surrounding jungle scenery.
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