Several American school children, including one in a Boy Scouts of America uniform, recite the pledge of allegiance during World War 2. Scene broadens to encompass a school yard filled with elementary school students reciting the pledge in front of an American flag flying high on a pole. As scene fades images appear of battleships firing guns; an F4F airplane taking off from an aircraft carrier; landing craft approaching a beach; American soldiers fighting with small arms and a flame thrower, in jungles of New Guinea; a U.S. gun crew firing heavy artillery; and a U.S. P-38 aircraft on a rainy runway, spraying water as it takes off, in the Aleutian Islands. U.S. troops firing automatic weapons on a Pacific Island. A B-17 pilot wearing an oxygen mask in his cockpit, flying in a formation creating contrails at high altitude over Germany. Waist gunner firing at an attacking German fighter plane that explodes in air. U.S. troops in jeeps moving over jungle road. U.S. ski troops on snow in Iceland heading downhill toward their tents in the snow. American troops during amphibious landing in the Philippines. U.S. troops aboard army halftracks on desert in Iran. American paratroopers dropping from C-47 aircraft over France. U.S. soldiers marching through two large gates with cadre of Chinese soldiers in China. American troops fighting in Italy and firing a 155mm howitzer. U.S. infantry following a sherman tank over a war-torn landscape with shells bursting nearby. Crowded, busy street scenes of traffic and pedestrians in Manhattan, New York City, and Chicago, Illinois. Army tanks being manufactured by war production workers in a Detroit war production plant or factory. A Los Angeles shipyard filled with workers at shift change. Closeups of individual American soldiers in combat helmets. U.S. troops descending rope nets from transport ships to board landing craft, and approaching the beaches of Normandy, France, under fire, on D-day, June 6, 1944. Views of the Statue of Liberty, including closeups.
Streets of Manhattan New York City crowded with pedestrians prior to World War II. Views of Americans at work: miners; farmers; factory workers; office workers. A drafting room. Montage of inventions in America: lightning rod atop roof; cotton gin in operation; telegrapher using a key; anesthetists in operating theater; rotary newspaper printing press; a telephone; an arc welder; early incandescent lamp; early submarines; steam turbine; 4-engine high wing airliner; early X-ray tube; gyroscope compass; singer sewing machine; early television; farmer hooks cows to mechanical milking machine, cat expresses dismay at not getting milk; architectural draftsmen at work; rows of apartment buildings; automobiles crowding roads; sanitation street sweeper truck at work; eggs and dairy products in refrigerated case; Surgical team in an operating theater; Scenes in a modern U.S. hospital; children being cared for, and in schools and colleges; Soldiers marching during World War I; U.S. soldiers marching in World War II; people relaxing on crowded beach; recreational hunting and fishing activity; A football game in progress; a baseball game; horseracing; track & field events; a rodeo; a basketball game; golfing; Ten pin bowling; boys play marbles; frog jumping contest; skiing; springboard diving; motorboat racing; water skiing;ice skaters with sails; Joe Louis boxing with Max Schmeling in 1938; auto racing with cars crashing; Railroad timetables in a rack; Henry Dreyfuss Commodore Vanderbilt New York Central locomotive and interior of dining car; 1935 Chevrolet sedan pulling a trailer; Road sign "Arizona welcomes you"; Motorcycle policeman pulls driver over; roadside motor hotel; girl serving at drive-in diner; signs for hot dogs, beer, cheesburgers; workers preparing sandwiches, pancakes,bacon and eggs, coffee and coca cola, using some machinery; Customers eating at a lunch counter; Welcome sign at Van Nuys California with symbols for Kiwanis, American Legion, Rotary; a Delta Sigma Phi fraternity building. Scene of a person's hand signing a membership certificate document for the Calibou Lake Mountain Club.
Brief views of ordinary American people and their music and reading activities, including: Scenes of many different radios in all locations, and hands on dials of radios, including console radios, portable radios in many rooms of the house, car radios, and hand-carried (vintage boom box) radio. A jukebox and a bobby soxer (bobby socks fashion), dancing; Crowd dancing to a swing band at a jazz night club; Older people doing country dances; Xavier Cugat conducting his orchestra; Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony being played in the Hollywood Bowl; African American jazz musician playing trumpet; a school marching band; newspaper being printed on a printing press; a news stand filled with papers and magazines; numerous city newspapers; a library filled with books; a Dick Tracy comic strip.
A line of U. S. Destroyers tied up in a port. In the line of ships are seen DD-121 ( USS Montgomery), and DD-122 (USS Breese), both Wickes Class Destroyers that saw action with the U.S. Navy in World War II. Workers, including welders and such, are seen repairing and otherwise preparing 4-stacker destroyers for transfer to Britain in the so-called "Destroyers for Bases Agreement" of September 2, 1940.The USS Hale (DD-133) a 4-stacker Town Class Destroyer, later commissioned as HMS Caldwell (I-20), is seen underway in a channel. Lines of ships underway are seen in an aerial view.
America prepares for World War II. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 (codified as 54 Stat. 885). He signs and dates September 16, 1940. A blindfolded man reaches into a large glass container and draws out the number of the first young man to be drafted under the new law. He gives the selected number to President Roosevelt. American soldiers march past a line of tents at an Army Camp. They drill on the parade field.
U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet for the Atlantic Conference in World War 2 aboard USS Augusta in Placentia Bay, Argentia, Newfoundland. U.S. General George C. Marshall, Vice Admiral Ernest J. King, and Admiral Harold R. Stark, descend steps to main deck of U.S. Heavy Cruiser, USS Augusta, where they greet top ranking members of the British military establishment as they arrive for the Atlantic Conference. U.S. General Marshall is seen greeting British Field Marshall Sir John Dill. President Roosevelt is assisted by his son, Franklin, Jr. who helps him obtain a handhold on a fixture of the ship. (This is a rare shot of President Roosevelt where he is seen walking a few steps with his cane, assisted, as his disability was typically not captured on film to be shown to the public.) President Roosevelt greets British Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, Admiral of the Fleet, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff. He also greets British Field Marshal Sir John Dill, Chief of the Imperial General Staff. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives, salutes the President, and walks past. Franklin Roosevelt, Jr. steps forward and guides Churchill back to stand with President Roosevelt, for the camera.
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