Description
Object description
Edition of US-produced United News, featuring Japanese-American troops in Italy; the rescue of American aviators by Chin tribesmen in Burma; a parade in honour of General Pulaski in New York City; General Arnold and Clark Gable in England; Igor Sikorsky in Detroit, Princess Martha of Norway inspecting Norwegian sailors in New York, President Roosevelt addressing Yugoslav airmen, and air attacks on Japanese positions in the south Pacific.
Content description
Part 1: United News main titles. 'Latest films of the war in Italy'; American troops observing a target with a rangefinder. Town of Acerno, in the commune of Salerno, under shellfire. Signaller uses a telephone. Motor transport moves up. German Panzer IV tanks lying upside down by the roadside. Lorried American infantry going forward. Troops advancing on foot through a damaged town. German prisoners of war are issued with canned food. Japanese-American soldiers, probably 442nd Regimental Combat Team, on the march and appearing out of cover. Japanese-American troops in bivouac. Close-up Japanese-American soldier with thick cigar in his mouth. Playing cards. British Army General Montgomery with US Army General Mark Clark. Captured and wrecked Italian and German aircraft at Montecorvino. More lorried infantry moving up.
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Part 2: 'Dramatic rescue of airmen from Burma jungle'. Aerial landscape view of mountainous, jungle-covered terrain. Low-altitude passes over a hilltop settlement; supplies are dropped. A low pass shows the area dotted with parachutes (no parachutes are actually seen descending). Local tribesmen (Chins or Kachins?). The local men walk with a group of US airmen down a hill track; some of the airmen are limping, others are armed with local spears or M1 Carbines and one is carried on a large wooden litter.The man on the litter smiles for the camera and smokes a cigarette as he is carried past. Group shot; the airmen poses with the tribesmen.
Content description
Part 3: 'Polish patriots hail Pulaski'. A street parade through New York City's Fifth Avenue by Americans of Polish descent, in honour of General Pulaski, hero of the American Revolutionary War. Troops march past. Women in traditional dress. Parade of flags. Close-up of an older man in civilian dress watching the parade (Governor Dewey or the Polish ambassador?).
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Part 4: 'Personalities in the news'. United States Army Air Forces General 'Hap' Arnold gets down from a plane while on a visit to American airmen in England and is greeted. Another USAAF officer, Hollywood film star Captain Clark Gable wearing the patch of 8th Air Force.
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Part 5: 'Michigan'. A demonstration flight by Igor Sikorsky's VS-300 helicopter, before its donation to the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit in Michigan. The aircraft is examined by two civilian men (Ford and Sikorsky?).
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Part 6: 'New York'. Two officers accompany Crown Princess Martha of Norway with her three children as she walks along a line of Norwegian merchant sailors. Close-up of the three children shows they are wearing hats with bands that read 'KGL..' The Crown Princess presents decorations to a number of officers. Audience.
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Part 7: 'Yugoslav airmen in US honored by Roosevelt'. A parade of Yugoslav airmen passes a parked B-24 Liberator heavy bomber. Roosevelt, sitting in the back of an open car, addresses them with a microphone. 'May these planes fulfil their mission under your guidance. They are built with two great objectives. The first is to drop bombs on our common enemy successfully and at the right points. The second is to deliver to your compatriots in Yugoslavia the much-needed supplies for which they have waited so long'.
Content description
Part 8: 'US bombers smash Jap bases in south Pacific'. Aerial footage of a formation of US P-38 fighters in flight. Aerial footage of a strafing attack on a jungle airfield. Looking down as the camera aircraft streaks over a line of parked aircraft. Flight of B-25 Mitchell medium bombers over water. Bombs dropping and exploding below. A bomber at low altitude. Rearward facing aerial footage as the camera aircraft makes a (skip-bombing?) attack; bombs exploded spectacularly behind the aircraft. Divebombers attack a small island; smoke rises from trees. An attack on shipping. Landing on an aircraft carrier. Antics of a crossing the line ceremony on deck; a man runs a gauntlet. A sailor shows off an awful haircut inflicted upon him, presumably part of the ceremony. United News end titles.
Physical description
35mm