Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Force General Dwight Eisenhower talks to paratroopers of U.S. 101st Airborne Division in England, a day before the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France during World War II. General Eisenhower talks to Commander of 101st Airborne Division General Maxwell D. Taylor and other officers in front of a building. General Eisenhower inspects and talks to paratroopers. He walks through a crowd.
Screen actor Charles Boyer and his wife arrive in Port Washington, New York from France. A Pan American World Airways Clipper aircraft taxis on a waterway. Charles Boyer and his wife Pat Paterson leave the Clipper.
Gold medals given to the Wright Brothers for their contribution to the field of aviation. Presentation of gold medals to the Wright Brothers by American Aero Club shows U.S. President William Taft, Orville and Wilbur Wright and other members attending the medal presentation at the White House in Washington DC, United States on June 10, 1910. View of the Aero Club of American Gold Medal which was presented. View of medals presented to the Wright Brothers by the Institute of France and the Royal Society of Art in Great Britain.
American aviator Howard Hughes takes off for Paris, France from Floyd Bennett Field in New York, United States. Howard Hughes surrounded by a crowd in front of a Lockheed L-14 Super Electra (NX18973) passenger aircraft. Hughes being interviewed by press. Crew with Hughes includes navigator Tom Thurlow, navigator and copilot Harry Connor, radio technician Richard Stoddart, and flight engineer Ed Lund. This is the start of a world circumnavigation flight that ultimately covered some 14,672 miles. The Lockheed L-14 Super Electra aircraft taxis and takes off from Floyd Bennett Field.
Film starts with view of the U.S. military headquarters Pentagon building in Virginia, as seen from Columbia Island, across the lagoon, in World War 2.. Closeup of the building. Inside, Lieutenant General Brehon Burke Somervell , Commander of the Army Service Forces (ASF) is seen presiding over a staff meeting that includes seven Major Generals, who head the ASF technical services. Flag of the Quartermaster Corps seen in closeup. Officers of that organization are seen meeting. Scene shifts to a warehouse where military supplies are being moved on trailers pulled by small tractors. Carts filled with equipment are seen. Men prepare some for transport to America's allies overseas. Men fill packages with articles of clothing. A sign reads: "Maj. Gen. Reybold, Chief of Engineers." Engineers officers at a conference table rise as their Commander, General Reybold, enters. He sits and they begin their meeting. Closeup of staff officers in the meeting. Officers walk through a section of the Army Map Service, where cartographers, draftsmen and others are busy at tables creating maps. One of them is seen fitting several aerial photographs together to form a detailed map. A cartographer at the mapping service is seen annotating a map of the Marseille area of France. Views of high speed offset presses printing large scale maps for the military. A sign identifies the office of the Chief of Ordnance. Staff officers of that office are seen at work. Closeup of small arms being placed in a shipping box. An open yard filled with M24 Chaffee light tanks. A vast yard at a railroad siding, containing countless tanks on one side and building materials on the other. Sign inside the Pentagon at office of Major General H.C. Ingles, Chief Signal Officer. Closeup of General Ingles at his desk. Members of his staff consult with him. Sign at office of the Chief, Chemical Warfare Service. Major General William N. Porter, the Chief, looks over maps with several staff. Troops training under gas attack and smoke screen conditions. The entrance to the office of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. Inside, Major General Norman Thomas Kirk , Surgeon General, confers with a Colonel. Maps of areas where disease poses a threat to U.S. military forces. Office of Major General C.P. Gross, Army Chief of Transportation. Inside He holds a meeting with members of his staff. View of a pier where military supplies are being offloaded by means of derricks.
Plans underway in the United States in 1944 for participation in the invasion of France during World War 2 by Allied forces. A U.S. Army sentry of the Army Service Forces (ASF) patrols a rail line, where military men and equpment are being transported abroad., during World War 2. ASF soldiers drive DUKWs (amphibious vehicles) up a ramp for loading into railroad box cars. A long line of DUKWs being driven for loading. Many men load 55 gallon drums of petroleum products into rail cars. An M3 Stuart light tank being driven on an open rail car. Soldiers loading motorcycles on a train. An Army M3 Half-track Amored Personnel Carrier (APC) driving onto a railroad train. (Narrator notes that it requires 75 trains to transport a single Armored Division by rail.) Men loading a 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 (Called Priest, by the British) onto a flat rail car and securing it in place with wooden supports. Army personnel that would participate in an invasion are shown. Paratroopers with their packs. Women's Army Corps (WACs) fill their duffel bags with clothing and other items, and are then seen climbing aboard an open stake truck. An Army band plays and marches giving troops a sendoff at a train station. U.S. soldiers board passenger railroad trains, carrying their field packs and weapons. A steam locomotive pulling a troop train. A train load of Sherman M4 medium tanks and other equipment, including a caterpillar tractor, is seen underway. Unidentified tanks being fastened to rail flat car. Many Army trucks and heavy equipment on train passing a town train station. Military equipment moving on trains over bridges. Two ladies under hair dryers at a salon, discussing boys in service going overseas. United States Army troops bound for the war front are seen boarding railroad trains and also changing trains, monitored by Army military police (MPs) at night. Soldiers inside a moving train car occupy themselves by playing cards; shooting craps; An African American porter watches a game. An Army chaplain talking with some of the soldiers. A soldier reading a magazine. His seat partner keeps falling asleep against him. American civilians at a newsstand. Newspaper headline reads: "London expects invasion of Europe at any hour."
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