View of the flight line at Denain Airfield (A-83) in France in April 1945, just prior to the end of world War Two in Europe. Martin B-26 Marauders of the 323rd Bomb Group taxiing. Airmen standing, around Army Ambulance number 728234, in the foreground. A derrick in the foreground. One of the taxiing B-26s has tail number 43-34138. All the aircraft have broad white stripe on top of their vertical stabilizers. (The aircraft of the 323rd are called the White Tails.) B-26s in flight overhead. Crew chief covers turret guns on a B-26.
From "The Last Bomb", shows U.S. Army Air Forces conventional bombing of Japan in 1945, during World War 2. Map shows take off points in Saipan, Guam and Tinian. Guam Island shores. Houses and mountains in Guam. Civilians in village. U.S. military equipment, ammunition, vehicles and aircraft parked at airfield. Men around tents. Men at airfield engaged in morning activities. B-29 aircraft parked and others taxi at airfield. Technicians work on aircraft engines. Men manning B29s. Men board B29s. Sign reads 'Headquarters XXI Bomber Command'. General Curtis LeMay around chart planning raid on Japan's industrial areas. Other officers in room. Officer stand up as General Curtis leaves. Officers discuss the plan of attack. Bombs including GP bombs transferred at airfield. Submarines speed up in water to take up positions. Officers at headquarters in discussion. Officers talk on phone. Officer around flight status panel carry out visual progress of the flights. Officer marks positions. Time table for statistics of each wing on wall. B29s taxis for take off at airfield.
Following the Japanese surrender, ending World War 2, on September 2, 1945, U.S. Marines were sent into China to help the Nationalist Chinese Government with the surrender of Japanese forces occupying parts of China. This film shows Marines of the 6th Marine Division marching into Tsingtao (aka Qingdao) China on that mission. Headed by a brass band, they march along an avenue in the city. A number of Chinese civilians walk alongside them. A man riding an empty rickshaw, is seen on the sidewalk. A U.S. military policemen stands guard along the line of march. Some Chinese enter the roadway to follow the band, walking, riding bicycles, and several on a horse-drawn wagon. They have to move aside to avoid interfering with the first contingent of marching Marines following the band. Next a squad of Marines is seen marching onto a dirt field. Many Marines are assembled in another field across the road in the background, where a U.S. M4 Sherman tank and other armor are also seen. The squad is followed by a larger group of Marines. Shift in scene shows Marines marching past a building displaying the Nationalist Chinese (Republic of China) flag.
Celebes, Netherlands East Indies (NEI). Air-Sea Rescue June 11, 1945. View from low flying aircraft of a 13th Air Force B-24 ditched in Japanese-controlled waters off the coast of Celebes, NEI. A Catalina PBY flying boat of the Jungle Air Force's 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron, lands and picks up the B-24 crew. However, as it takes off on the water, it founders and crashes, killing three men. An accompanying PBY lands immediately and picks up all survivors who are aboard a rubber raft. Crew members on the wing of the PBY, help survivors aboard.
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.
United States President Harry S. Truman, and his party, make unplanned stop at RAF Station Harrowbeer during return from the last 4-Power meeting of World War 2, held at Berlin in July, 1945. (Their planned destination, RAF Station St Mawgan, was fogged in. So the President instructed his pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Henry T. Myers, to land at Harrowbeer, when they saw it was clear.) Truman descends steps from the Presidential Airplane (Douglas VC-54C named the "Sacred Cow," used by Presidents Roosevelt, and Truman). Two other C-54 aircraft have also arrived (unseen). One carried Secretary of State, James F. Byrnes, who poses with the President and three members of the British WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) identified as: Section Officer Eira Buckland Jones, Corporal Clarice Turner, and Leading Aircraft Woman Audley Bartlett. Views from inside car taking members of Presidential party to Plymouth Harbor. Groups of local people wave as the car passes through the English countryside. Larger numbers of spectators line the streets of the city of Plymouth. View of Plymouth Harbor from launch taking members of President's party out to the USS Augusta, anchored in Plymouth Sound (not seen).
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