Famous passengers aboard ocean liner SS Manhattan (later USS Wakefield during World War II) in the United States. Flashbacks show the USS Manhattan being christened by Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt on 5th December 1931. It is seen being launched from New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden New Jersey. View of maiden voyage on 10th August 1932, with passengers boarding the ship. It leaves a port for her first trip to Ireland, England, Germany and France. Couples dance aboard the deck of the SS Manhattan. Passengers including Babe Ruth, Jimmy Walker, Glenn Cunningham, and aviator Douglas Corrigan ("Wrong Way Corrigan") seen aboard the ship.
Activities of the U.S. Army Military Police (MPs) throughout the world. An MP checks credentials of American driver in a 1955 Oldsmobile, at a Base checkpoint in Germany. An MP wearing patch of Army Support Command-Europe on his shoulder, obtains directions from a local Policeman in Europe. U.S. Army trucks move through a checkpoint manned by MP, in Pointe de Grasse, France. MPs of the 728th Battalion, in Korea. They are seated in a jeep, with a Korean counterpart in the back seat. The U.S. MPs wear patches of 7th Logistical Command on their uniform sleeves. Military Police units and jeeps pass in review at a parade in Fort Gordon, Georgia.
A fleet of landing crafts and warships in the English Channel for the D-Day invasion of France during World War II. The fleet of landing crafts, merchant vessels and warships in the channel. U.S. soldiers and equipment on landing crafts. Warships fire at the French coast. U.S. soldiers climb down cargo nets from transports to LCMs ( Landing Craft Mechanized). Trucks are transferred from transports to LCMs.
A fleet of landing crafts and warships in the English Channel for the D-Day invasion of France during World War II. A swamped LCM (Landing Craft Mechanized) sinks. The crew swims in the Channel. The crew is rescued. Landing crafts, merchant vessels and warships in the English Channel. A stalled DUKW is pulled ashore by a bulldozer.
Division of Vietnam into North and South Vietnam as Indochina war ends up in Vietnam. Aerial view of cratered battle ground, with smoke rising, at Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam, in March, 1954. A French A-26 Invader aircraft flying above some clouds and pilot in cockpit using radio. French paratroops, dropping from C-47 aircraft, and landing, to reinforce troops dug in at Dien Bien Phu. French artillery firing and rounds exploding in the distance. French troops moving through brush, and carrying wounded back out. Citizens on streets of Hanoi, North Vietnam, scrounging for scraps to eat. An old woman hunkered down in a doorway. A mother with a young boy. French troops crossing a bridge as they surrender following the siege at Dien Bien Phu. North Vietnamese troops entering Hanoi. Delegates at the Geneva conference of 1954, in the Palais des Nations, including representatives of the Soviet Union, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and the People’s Republic of China, among others. Closeup of Soviet delegation, with Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, second from left. View of the North Vietnamese delegation, and delegate Ta Quang Buu, Vice Minister of Defense of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), and Head of their Military Delegation, signing the accords. Closeup of one treaty page, with his signature, as Minister of Defense, and that of Henri, Deltiel, Brigadier General, who signed for the Commander in Chief of all French Forces in Indochina. OUtdoors. After the conference, Soviet Foreign Minister, Molotov shakes hands with Chou En-lai, Chinese Foreign Minister. Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister,Andrei Gromyko, wearing a hat, is standing behind Molotov. A long line of refugees fleeing to the South, from North Vietnam. A 1954 map showing the division of North and South Vietnam at the 19th parallel. Mist settled among mountain tops. South Vietnamese people engaged in agricultural pursuits and building new dwellings. South Vietnamese placing ballots in boxes during elections. Brief glimpse of the glamorous Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, defacto First Lady of South Vietnam, dressed in ao dai and wearing dark glasses, as she leaves a polling place. Farmers dressed in traditional conical hats (non la) working in grain fields, and reaping and carrying cut grain on poles in the South. Beautiful view of fishermen and boats silhouetted against sky, with tall limestone islands in background, at Ha Long Bay, North Vietnam (incorrectly implying it shows South Vietnamese in peaceful pursuits). South Vietnamese at work building structures with concrete blocks. A car with bullet holes in the windshield, draws attention on busy street in South Vietnam. Closeup of murdered man inside on floor of car. Scenes of vandalism at a house. Viet Minh guerillas moving through jungles and setting fires to straw roofed houses. Remains of a destroyed dwelling. Bodies of South Vietnamese killed, according to the narrator, by "Viet Cong pursuasion squads." A framed picture of Ho Chi Minh, over a North Vietnamese star flag.
Film opens showing entrance to cockpit of a U.S. Air Force Troop Carrier Douglas C-124 Globemaster aircraft en route from France to Indochina. A pilot is seen at the controls in the left seat, and the Aircraft Commander is observing from behind and between the pilots' seats. Close-up of number 3 and 4 engines with propellers turning as viewed from copilot's window. Two crew members are seen asleep on bunks in rear of flight deck compartment. Another is napping in a bulkhead seat. More views of engines running and propellers turning. Glimpse downward of land and clouds below. Close-up of Copilot in right seat of cockpit, wearing headset and making an announcement through his microphone. View of French paratroopers seated in cargo compartment, listening to the announcement from loudspeaker above them. Next, a French paratrooper passenger is seen opening contents of a flight lunch package. He uses the tiny can opener included in the package to open a can (with some difficulty). Paratroopers eating flight lunches.Two of the passengers playing chess on a miniature board with plug-in chessmen. Close-up of the chessboard. Co-pilot speaking on intercom again and a French paratrooper, wearing headset and microphone, speaking as well (likely translating). Glimpse of engine running on left wing. A different person (not in flight suit) at the controls in copilot's seat. The crew's Flight Engineer making throttle adjustments at his panel. View on the ground of French greeting party on the destination airfield to meet the arriving aircraft. Arriving C-124 aircraft taxiing on inboard engines only, as it proceeds along layers of pierced steel plank (Marsden matting) comprising the surface of airfield ramp. Views of French military waiting to greet arriving paratroopers. The aircrew's loadmaster lowering one of the aircraft's front loading ramps. French paratrooper passengers use it to leave the aircraft. (The other ramp is partially down and contains cartons and boxes.) Close-up of a French major in the greeting party. A woman greeting troopers, individually, as come down the ramp from the aircraft. Some French aircraft lined up on ramp, in background. (They appear to be Grumman F8F Bearcat aircraft.) Glimpse of an armed French Colonial (Tirailleurs Sénégalais) sentry standing near the aircraft. Troopers carrying cartons of rations from the aircraft and joining others preparing to board trucks for a ride to their quarters. Uniformed French soldiers in the greeting party help load heavy crate into an Army truck. Some troopers leave on trucks.
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