Program. Glad you are here with us either onsite or online on youtube. Before we begin i would like to give you some instructions on how to participate. For those of you have joined us onsite, welcome. We will take your questions. We ask that you hold on to them until the very end of their presentation. If you can, please use the microphones so we can capture your voice online. For those of you watching online, you too can ask questions. Log into the chat feature of this Youtube Channel and type your questions in. I will then ask the presenters your questions at the end of your sessions. You will find two hotlinks. One will take you to presentation the other to live captioning. Todays program is entitled world war ii and the first Motion Picture films with preservationists. They perform preservation work on Motion Pictures and records held at the National Archives. Before joining the lab in 2006, audrey worked with the film collection. Heidi completed her education at western washington university, earning a masters in history with a certificate in archives and records management. It is a pleasure to have them return to highlight their work. Please join me in welcoming our presenters, Audrey Amidon and heidi holmstrom. Hi. Thank you. Today heidi and i will be sharing films of the first Motion Picture unit. Our goal is to provide an introduction to a group of fascinating films to explain why making them was posht. Everything you see today will be available on the gnash National ArchivesYoutube Channel. We work in the Motion Picture lab. We avessess films for deterioration. Make new film copies and digitize for access. If you want to know more, please check out the short video we made a few years back. Its called out of the dark and is saudi arabia on our main Youtube Channel. How did we end up with the first Motion Picture unit . There was an urgent need to train millions of men very quickly. During world war i, film education than proven to be an effective and efficient method to prepare men to fight. When the United States ramped up production of munitions and aircraft, the United States military turned to film to teach men now to use them. In order to meet demand, in march of 1942, the commander of air forces devised a plan with jack warner of warner bros. Studios to create a separate filmmaking unit for the army and air force. Remember, at the time, at the start of the war, the air force was only a branch of the army, so it depended on the Army Signal Corps for all their film making needs. They believed they needed their own film making unit. To accommodate the specific needs of the branch and to promote itself as a distinct unit. The idea of the first major Motion Picture unit was born. Over three years, they produced several hundred films and recruited members from the ranks of Hollywood Studios. Most notably, Ronald Reagan, william holden, clark table, whose films can be seeing today. While the first Motion Picture unit was being stood up, the armyair force contracted warner others to make several films to serve their needs. At the top of the list was a recruitment film to recruit for the general public that fill thousands of spots. Lieutenant James Stewart, you probably recognize him, was the perfect actor to star in the short film. He was a licensed private and enlisted in the air corps in 1941. He was rejected for being underweight, but ate spaghetti every day. Enlisted as a private, made full colonel by the end of the year. During his first years of service, stewart was assigned to combat duty. He was understandably he when he received orders to make winning your wings. It was so successful, it garnered many new recruits. We see lieutenant James Stewart in all his folksy glory. Well, hello. Looks like i am back in the movies again, huh . As a matter of fact i like to do some talk. Dont go away until i get this thing off. It isnt as if fs the a chore for me to talk to you because i want to speak on my favorite subject. The Army Air Force. I cannot speak from long experience, because ive only been in the air force a year and a half but i want to talk you about what it has to offer. Thats what i want to talk to you about. Right now, the greatest mass globalization in the history of the world is taking place. Men from farms, towns, single men, married then, brothers, sweethearts, husbands, fathers and sons, businessman and workers from the factories and students from colleges and high schools, all over america are mobilizing. Theyre joining up. Or having their numbers pulled out of a fishbowl. This war we are fighting today, tomorrow, and the next day, until we win is a war of the air. The whole world knows that. Our factories know that. Interceptors, light bombers, are rolling out of the factories. 65,000 fighting planes this year. 100,000 fighting planes next year. To keep them flying, 2 million men. Now, that is where you come in. The armyair force needs 15,000 captains, 40,000 lieutenants, 35,000 flying sergeants. Well, thought how about it . Sorry. Another of the Warner Brothers recruitment men and womens made before the Motion Picture was activated. The film starred burgess meredith. You might know him better as the penguin from batman and he is a prolific actor, theater actor, already been in an adaptation of of mice and men. And of course, Ronald Reagan in the bottom right hand corner. The film emphasizes everyone has a role to play. The film follows meredith where he learns his small stature actually ideal for the position of rear gunner. Ronald reagan famously served as the Motion Picture units first chief personnel officer. In july of 1942, the first Motion Picture unit began production in hollywood. The unit was mostly staffed by hollywood veterans, writers, producers, technicians, and actors. As you can see in this still, the unit operated like any Hollywood Studio with one notable difference all of its members were in uniform. The first film turned out to be a bit to rundown for their purposes so they moved to another studio. Legendary comedy producer and responsible for the our gang series and numerous laurel and hardy comedies. By march 1943, they produced their first film, which showed pilots examining their mistakes in the afterlife. This is important too. We arent going the into too much today. In addition to the recruit and films, the first major Motion Picture unit was also in charge of overseeing combat motion. Footage shot by the cameramen was incorporated into the films and used for intelligence purposes. They had a very important job and they were on the front lines. This next extended clip is a film that the Motion Picture unit made about itself. The complete femme is 20 minutes and can be found on our Youtube Channel. Well be showing you about six minutes today . Shoot, im sorry. Sorry. This is the Army Air Forces first Motion Picture unit in cullver city, california. Films which graphically illustrate what we are fighting for, what we are fighting against, i and while we are fighting with. Today we face a task of training men by the millions. To man and maintain the airline thats hurling in everincreasing numbers against the enemies. The maximum number of men and the minimum amount of time. So inspire as well as instruct them. The Army Air Force has got many methods, such as activating many specialized organizations such as this. Men from the first Motion Picture unit are men from all crafts, writers directors, actors, cutters, electricians, cameramen, sound recorders. Men carefully chosen from among the most proficient film technicians available. Men with long years of training in the art and science of major Motion Pictures. While they are making pictures for the army, the army is making soldiers of them. Theyre specialists, yes, but first and foremost they are soldiers. Theyve got to do their job the army way. They have to be strictly g. I. From director to finished film, the course of the air force Motion Picture project is checked by the recruiting office. The script is broken down, converted to men, money, minutes and materials. The Production Office coordinates and expedite the operations of many different departments that make up the first Motion Picture yubt unit. Of all the weapons of world war ii, none have proved more effective than words. Words are particularly potent when used by the major picture writer. Young, vital, compelling. Possibilities for visual education are endless. Virtually unexplored. The soldier writers of the first Motion Picture unit work with close contact with technical collaborating agencies to secure awe tentic footage from air bases throughout the country. These massive structures with the sound stainings of the first Motion Picture unit. Especially structured, soundproofed, air connconditia. Covers an area of 78,000 square feet. Measures 246 feet long, as many as four Production Units can operate simultaneously. Stage 5, films is about to begin on instruct flight. Technicians give the final check and the director calls quiet please. All right, roll them. Quiet. The Art Department an excellent example of how the arts of peace turn into the art of war. They turn detailed sketches, architectural floor plans, blueprints. Often they make miniature models of sets built to scale. Exact replicas in every respect. Here is a model you saw on stage five. This preplanning saves precious manhours and materials and enables the first Motion Picture unit to turn out training films that are economical has well as effective. Here is another model of headquarters somewhere in the south pacific. Reporting for duty here. Glad to have you with us leent. Glad to be here. We can certainly use you. Sit down. Cigarette . Thank you sir. How was the flight over . I made it with the help of a p40. You like our p40. Yes, sir. Its a nice airplane. Maybe we can count on you not to shoot any of them down. I hadnt had any plans to. Its been done. Men with an unfortunate lack of ability to tell a friend from an enemy. Here, members of a bomber crew are being made up for crash scenes in training film project number 1010. Emergency care of paratroop casualties. The makeup expert applies a heavy greece paint. With a few definite strokeshis blending brush, he makes them look like this on the screen. Not many months ago, these serious soldier artists were the very men who put life and laughter in mickey mouse. And donald duck and barny bear. Today they turn their attention to technical things. Things like thrust and torque, the trajectory of a bomb. Inner workings of a flight specialist. Things the student or men must know and the animated sequence of a training film can teach. Complex operations or minute mechanical details the camera cannot capture in actuallity are authentically illustrated in the drawings of these artists. Long famed for he resourcefulness has been the property man. No matter how unusual the prop, the property man has got it in stock or knows where to get it. His department houses thousands of odd and assorted objects. At a moments notice he can provide a b4 bag ar a boom roong. A b24 pedestal or a bunch of bananas and in the clip you just watched, you heard the types of filmed produced by the first Motion Picture unit described at instructional, operational and sbrumtle. Above everything, if films were practical, addressing needs. One specific problem was the failure to tell the difference between the japanese and american fighters. Leading to incidents of friendly fire. The solution was recognition of the japanese fighter. You saw an excerpt but the real utility of the film comes from animated sequences pinpointing the differences between the p40 and the zero, which i highlighted on the screen. These differences are accompanied by a dramatic story, sh showing Ronald Reagan as someone who thinks he really knows his stuff, making a common mistake. The day finally came. The flyer was on his own. Out jap hunting. Do not expect too much, lieutenant. Not on your first day. Whats up . You see something . Its a plane all right. What sort of a plane . Friend or enemy. P40 or zero . Now is the time to remember your recognition. Now, is it a deep radiator . Round curving nose, inline edges . Then its a p40. Or has that plane an oil cooler, a scoop, pointed nose away. Radio engine. If it has, its a zero. Tough to tell from here. Maybe if you cut closer. Start climbing. Take another look. Hold it, saunders. Make sure. Now look at that plane. Thats no zero. Thats a p40. Lucky you missed. Its coming back. Want to take another shot on it . Wish i could apologize from here. Following the identitification laid out by the film and downing a zero. The cope that we scanned for that is the copy that comes from the Ronald Reagan library. Another famous face in the first Motion Picture unit was clark gable who joined the military to honor his wife who died in a plane crash to sell war bombs. Gable received manned of a sixperson Motion Picture unit accompanying the 351st unit to unit. He flew five missions to germany, earning the medal and a cross. He returned to hollywood to edit the film from overseas. It was used in a few notable films, most notely combat america. He was also recruited to make a film titled wings up. One flying fortress. Made in seattle now flying in the pacific. Pretty isnt it . Its been flying for 3,000 miles. Unfortunately, its lost. Its this mans fault. His nerve is gone. Everything he has been taught has left him. They have to fight off half a dozen planes besides and now theyre lost on the way back. One week late will snap the chain. Too bad, for our side that. Plane was worst 350,000. I dont know what amount you would hold on the men. How much would you take for your life . Why did this man get this job . Isnt there an xray machine that can look into a man and say, hell do . Yes, there is such an xray machine and it looks into mens hearts, mind, and souls and find them adequate or wanting. Its called the school at miami air force and its itch situated in miami, florida. Stands for i sustain the wings. These men, their mind and discipline lies in the hope we will always keep them flying. How does this school test these men . How does it expose those that must not lead and teach those who can to lead in where and how do we get these men . Thats important enough to know. Wings up provide an overview of a programics police italy designed to weed out those who could not perform turned pressure of combat. In the next clip, we could see a little bit of what the recruits were subjected to. Still in the process. Give your last name. Whats the process . Halls. You a Real Estate Agent . You look like you want to buy the place. When you come back, feet at a 45 degree angle. Jump. How would are you . You got a girl . Two . Two more wrinkles for them. Halt. Get the chest up in the air. Get it up. Way up. Get some wrinkles in that chin. More wrinkles. When i tell you to jufrpment i want you to jump this high. Why did you come down . Wipe that smile off our face. Stomp on it. Halt youre in it now, misters. For the next six weeks until youre upper classmen, you move only at double time. West point is not harder. Every minute of your waking time is accounted for so you must hurry, hurry, hurry, youre allowed seven hours sleepment youll be lucky and a very bright student if you can manage five. Youre not to eat in a public place. Say, is this necessary in maybe youre the kind of person who doesnt lend himself to this sort of discipline. You know its necessary, but its not for you. Youre too dignified. Or maybe you have your pride. Why, thats all right, mister. Just resign. Nothing will happen to you. Youll go back to your old rank. No one will hold it against you. Unless you hold it against yourself. But we want to find out now, whether you have been picked to command can learn to obey. The soldier who cant stand up under strict regulations cannot discipline himself or others. This is where we must find out. Not here. Not when all these lives are involved. Remember that clark gable would have undergone that kind of training himself. So now im going hand it back to audrey to speak about the next couple of films. The next two films feature two parts of the same process gathering and analyzing airline evidence. Youll notice they dont have interesting titles, because they were not made for the general public. They were for internal use. The first film is a separating forward process based training film that focuses on the steps of process and the names of unit that participate. While parts of the film are really dry, there is a strong attempt to overlay a story line that features reconnaissance pilot tim grover seeing a old friend who serves in the navy. In the top right hand still, you can see captain tim grover on the left, and then his friend is in the middle. Thats phil bowen. He serves as the audience surrogate while captain grover expert witnesses the process of photographic evidence. It also features allen ladd as captain smith, a sherlock hoemsian analyst complete with a pipe and magnifying glass. You see him in the two bottom stills. The ambassadorle rath films were being released at this time, so it would have been immediately entertaining for the audience of young trainees. Ladd was released from the military by the end of year and returned to hollywood. You might know him best, if you dont know him from the films he made at this time with veronica lake, he was in the western classic shane later on in the 1950s. The first clip, submitty read a photograph and makes an important discovery. Just a moment, captain. Excuse me. Ive noticed that one hamburg area is being covered exhaustively in reconnaissance. Ooimt curious to know why. What are you fellows after . I cant understand all the flak in that area. Whats it guarding . I wondered about that myself. Any ideas . You notice this shadow here . Might be the top of a fence or a long wall. Its a roof, i think. Then this is the pond, sometimes empty, sometimes full. Just doesnt make sense. Any clues are other intelligence sources . No, ive checked all reports. Refugees, underagents. People who know the territory. No raid on ham burg, so no information from that source. I better get going. Better not keep the colonel waiting. No. Major, look here. What do you make of this . Looks like another shadow. Only this one is not in line with the first one. You dont suppose of course, its a roof too. You mean all one building extending right to the pond . Oh, whats the matter with me. Thats no pond. Its a drain. For what . A water tunnel. Look, heres the building. Heres the drain. The building is shaped like this, long and narrow. I can see the other end of the roof now. Under camouflage. What sort of a building do you think it is . Testing. For submarines . Yes. Captain smith. Just a moment. I have been waiting for you in navy. Sorry, sir. Sir, it looks as though captain smith go on to one of vital plans we have been after. He has, hey . Whats that . A testing base. For sub mariness, under that cam zblaj that far from the harbor is this. Put there on purpose to escape detection. They manufacture parts here and test them in that basin. I guess ill have to forgive for keeping me waiting. I should have figured it out long ago. I can see it all now, as if there were no camouflage there at all. Well, what happened to that plant . Be patient. I have been water logged long enough. Come on, give out. Did they get it . They plu it to hell and gone. The p. M. Film is what the first Motion Picture unit is what they would describe at inspirational. Rather than focus on a detail to the process, they try to tell viewers how they should feel about their work. It stars bill holden, son of east Fighter Pilot wild bill cummings. Hes a steer yor pilot and is resentful when hes acybered to be a reconnaissance pilot. He views it too far from the action after his father is killed in action and he wants at that point nothing more than to get revenge by downing japanese planes. In our first clip, lieutenant cummings gets a taste of the excitement he craves when on a routine run, hes pursued by japanese zero planes. Youre a fullfledged photo joe, and the name gripes you. Fed up to the ears, but theres nothing you can do about it. You do your job as well as you can and keep your beef to yourself. You fly that f5 mission after mission. You photograph jungles and beaches. But a tree is a tree and a strip of sand is a beach and from five miles up, they all look alike. A war is miles away. You realize men are fighting and dying in that picture you get, but it seems as remote as a newspaper. Today youre headed back to the air droem. You photographed it so many times you know it like the back of your hand. But you have never seen an airplane there. You think its a waste of time. Youre knocking off at 20,000 feet and getting close. Then you see trouble. A patrol of five zeros. You drop your belly tanks. They dont want you to photograph that air droem. Why . Your oxygen is gone. Down you go. Without oxygen you can only stay conscious for 30 seconds at that altitude. Your heart hammers and you fight to keep from black out. Youre out of range. You still got a job to do. Photograph that air drome below you. Your cameras are running. Then you look down. And theres nothing there. You cant figure it out. Get in those clouds the exciting scene conclude with lieutenant cummings debating the japanese planes and forcing them to crash in the water. Something that fills him with pride but gets him grounded. As we see, his role actually resulted in the downing in 200 downed planes. Well, it came out all right. The destruction of that jam air fleet taught you your lesson, because now you know more and better aerial pictures will end the war that much sooner. First lieutenant packard a. Cummings, distinguished service cross. Congratulations, lieutenant cummings. Thank you, sir. You can say and rightly so you were responsible for the destruction of 200 enemy aircraft. Your father would have been very proud of you. Yes, sir. You know now a photo joe is a big man in this scrap. You have been on 52 missions. Now theyre going send you home to instruct. Think of the yarns you can spill to your kid, because brother, even to war. She wants to know what it was like. Youll teller someday. But right now, you dont feel like talking. Wasnt so bad. Wasnt bad at all. Of course, i had to do without this. The film you have just scene is fiction, of course. That is the part about my being a generals son and all that, but the adventures i went through are real, and these are the two men who actually did the things on which the film was based. This alex gary, the most decorated pilot in our air forces. Hes the one blamed for forcing the jam into the water. This is post, who spent days in the jungles of britain. Thats the dsc. Theyre home on leave and when thats over theyll return to the south pacific. Is there anything you would tliek say, gentleman . Im not good at this. I get nervous. Major post . Weld rather be in the south pacific. Lovely little add on there. The year after bill holden film third down short, he lost his own brother to the war. He was a navy Fighter Pilot who was killed in action. Bill holden went on the film a string of hollywood classics in the 1950s, most notably sunset boulevard and bridge on the river kawai. The first Motion Picture unit also recognized the power of animations in making entertaining training films. Trigger joe is the character introduced. His voice was by mel blanc and the character was modelled after william bend ins, known for his iconic brooklyn accent. From the stills on screen, you can see that much of the film is a geometry lesson, training the gunner to anticipate the position of an enemy fight interaccurately target it using deflection based on the angle of his ring set. In the following clip, we see trigger joe put this training to work. Web these three points. Shoot only when hes attacking you and in range. Aim between the target and the tail of your bombers. Estimate the approach angle and apply the correct deflection. Thats the story. Think you can do it . Certainly. Give me a play. Ready . Here he comes. Well . Uh, goes kind of fast, dont it . On a few seconds for the whole attack. How about the chance to practice on a few slower ones. Okay, if youre sure you got ate straight. Oh, i got it. I can talk it good. Lets hear you. Heres a plane. Well, first i figure hes an enemy plane. In this case, he is. Next, is he attacking. Not yet, but hes suspicious. There he is, heading right for me hold it hold it hold it i got a lot of figuring to do at this spot. Im going this way, hes coming this way. Thats about 90 degrees. I guess i can shoot. Hold it hold it looks like a rat and a half. Maybe more. There, start him again. How did i do . Didnt miss a thing. How about taking one full speed . Okay, why not . First i got identify him. Hes enemy all right. Looks like the same guy. Maybe ill get him this time. Now hes coming in. Got line him up, check the range, estimate approach angle. [ gunfire ] trigger, look at the plane it works well, ill be a sad sack of rats. Trigger joe was very popular and effective. One film columnist celebrated the 12th minute Motion Picture that could roadway place 14 days of classroom training. First Motion Picture unit produced a series of films starring the character. The Production Team included john lovely, william hurts and frank thomas of disney. Another series produced by the first Motion Picture unit was the land be live film, which taught airmen how to survive after crashing in an e team environment. In addition to land and live in the jungle, the first Motion Picture unit made films about surviving in the desert and the arctic. They showed that with preparation and engeneral knewty, flight crews call survive. The jungle look secretary of state soft and easy from a b25 upstairs but now, downstairs, the jungle looks very different, and theres a fiveman crew in it somewhere. This is sergeant mill ford, the gunner. Just a kid who used to work in a flower mill in spokane, washington. Never spent a day in the wood in his life. Since all bailed out together, theres a good chance of being heard if he yells. Hello hello there hello no answer. Not at first. [ distant calls ] hey, bill then he sees him, the navigator, lieutenant pat mcveigh, a steady dependable guy who had been a High School Football coach before the war. A good man to have around in an emergency. Hello there. Hi. How are you, you all right . . Okay, fine. Sergeant ford is worried about leaving his chute in the treetop, but thats okay. Fords will be a good marker fer any planes to spot. Two more members. Four out of five accounted for. Theyre pretty lucky to have landed close by. If they hadnt it would have taken a lot longer to get together. Sorry. Land and live in the jungle costarred van heflin as an ill prepared pilot named harrison who forgets his training at almost every turn. His situation is crafted throughout the film with that of his crew who are following procedure and are much better off as a result. Theyre looking ahead, playing it smart. And while theyre eating, ten miles away, harrison is standing and drooling. He drools for minutes before the light dawns. Anything a monkey will eat is good for a man. A simple jungle rule it took him two days to get. Hes so busy stuffing himself he doesnt see proubl coming storm clouds. The crew sees them though as theyre picking their way down the shallow stream, one of fastest and easiest ways to travel in the jungle if you cant find a trail. They dont waste any time getting to high ground. Streeps may flood in a flash. If it looks like rain, no time should be lost in providing shelter. You can build a leanto in a hurry. It should be set up with the wind at the rear and the instanting poles should be fixed against a firm base. A heavy log will do. For a floor, branches covered with sleeping bags. You can cover your leanto with a parachute, but since it isnt completely water proof, cover at with leaves. Banana leaves will do best. Start at the bomb and work your way up. Harrison is caught short again with no time to rig up adequate protection. He could cover his shelter with the large leaves around him, but that might be using his head. A fire would be a big help. You would think hes know enough to strip the wet bark from his wood or whittle some dry shavings. Naturally, his fire is a great success. And so he sits and shivers and association. Although with a Little Common sense, he too could have had a fire undercover and he too could have been warm and dry. After the crew has located the plane, with the help of a local village, they ultimately rescue harrison, who at that point has contracted malaria. Then when harrison is able to sit up, the village throws a party for him. In a few days harrison would be well enough to travel and they had head for the coast where they would be picked up. Well, thats it. Thats the works. Now, you have seen the jungle both ways. It can be tough or it can be easy. Tough if you dont know what youre doing and you havent got your equipment. And a lot easier if you follow the book. Now, you can live in the jungle, even alone, and like it. But you have got to be prepared for it and you cant be afraid. Theres only one answer to fear knowledge. So if you do land in the jungle, then land and live. Theyre at the end, van heflin referenced doing things by the book. They did have a little book to show how to survive in the jungle, the desert. He served as a combat cameraman during the war. Wings for this man is a first Motion Picture unit film about the tuskegee airman. It frames them as a powerful force. The negro soldier was shown their brad acceptance in roles and its likely wings for this man was used in the same way. The film, narrated by Ronald Reagan details the Training Institute that prepared the men to deploy. At several points in the film, it acknowledges the racism that was faced by the airmen, noting for the Training Program to exist, misunderstanding, distrust and prejudice had to be cleared away. Here above the warm familiar hills of alabama, these americans are learning to ply in the tight combat formations theyll use to hunt down the german and j ooap above his own cities. Before this, there was a step. One thing it proved you cant judge a man here by the color of his eyes or the shape of his nose. On the flight strip, you judge a man by the way he flies. Heres the answer to the propaganda of the japs is nazis heres the answer. Wings for this man. Heres the answer wings for these americans. Squadron after squadron flying p40s at first, then triking with thunder bolts, p 57s and then widing the mustangs. No, it was never easy for these men. They were pioneers and no pioneer has it easy. They fought lies, fought heartbreak, and they won. Now they fight the enemy. On his own soil. [ gunfire ] and that was some of the combat footage that would have been captured by units trained by the first Motion Picture unit. The combat accomplishments of the airmen helped pave the way of the u. S. Air forces by order of president truman in 1948. In this presentation, you have seen only a small slice of the films held at the archives and we are happy to bring it to you as the air forces 70th anniversary as an independent section of the militariment almost all the films we showed today are on youtube in their complete. You can also visit the Motion Picture and recorded sound Research Room to view the films. If we have a reference copy, you can view it that day. If theres not a reference copy existing, it will be scanned in the lab and made available in the as a digital file in the Research Room. If youre interested in reading more about the first Motion Picture unit, here are some articles we relied on in our research. Doug cunning hem and mark betten courts is informative. Theres also a documentary called its a really good overv of the unit. Our presentation is going to be Available Online so you dont need to write down the link right now, you can come and find it and get all this investigation off of there. Heres the addresses for the National Archives unwritten record blog and our youtooub channel where you can found more information about the films, both military and airmen you can find at the National Archives. Now we have time for questions. That was so informative and interesting. I would invite anybody whos in their audience, let me come up here so i can get on camera. Anybody who is with us in the theater, if you have any questions for our presenter, think about it, we ask that you use the microphone or maybe we can repeat the question. So in the meanwhile, i do have a question that came from our online audience and its kind of captured my imagination. Did the first Motion Picture unit have a unit, emblem or patch . Actually they did. It is viewable on the Wikipedia Page for the first Motion Picture unit. Its actually a little cartoon, or a little thing that looks like it was done by a disney animate for, because it looks kind of like dopey from snow white and the seven dwarfs, and hes piloting a little fighter plane, i dont know that it was a patch, but it was an insignia that was adopted, and they lost had a motto, we kill em with fillum. Anybody here who would like to ask questions . Go ahead end yif you dont m repeating. The classified information that is still classified . So the question was, were there any films that are still classified . My understanding that anything from world war ii at this point would be declassified. That would be exceptions for nuclear technology. At the time there were a lot of things that were classified because one of the things they did is they had this full scale model. Theres a really gate film that shows how all this was done. They had a full scale model of japan that they would then make a film to prepare the pilots to go do their bombing run, so they would have a little camera that would run over it to see where they needed to go. That should all be unclassified now. [ inaudible ] okay the question was whether the first Motion Picture unit would have sent people out to britain to capture films before america got into the war. The first Motion Picture unit itself wouldnt have done that because it hadnt been formed yet. But many of the people who ultimately ended up in it, they may have worked as news reel photographers or in other capacities where they would have been in europe, capturing that footage as news film. So its very likely that there was some crossover there. If youre interested in military films about the battle of britain, there is part of the why we fight series, this is the signal corps, but part of the why we fight series produced by frank capora is the battle of britain and the entire why we fight series is available on our Youtube Channel if you would like to view them. [ inaudible ] i cant speak to that for sure, but that was my impression too, was that they were sort of information and motivational and they were widely viewed. Okay, we have just got a rather broad question. It lets see how you can do. He says off topic, but how much combat footage is available from world war ii and is it indexed by date, location or unit . Yeah, so theres a whole series that would be 111adc, that would be signal corps, rg111 is signal corps. Im not the right person to answer this for sure. But they are all described. You can look for all of those descriptions are available in our catalog and its combat footage, but its also just everything they were filming, its the raw footage for everything that the signal corps was filming. Each branch of the military, their film would have ended up in a different record group. So the marine corps is in record group 428. 428 is navy. No, thats coast guard. We work with all these and get them confused but peach branch of military was collecting the film. So theres a lot of different avenues you can go down to find the combat footage. And theres a lot. [ inaudible ] that is really far outside the scope. Im sorry, that was a question about the treatment of p. O. W. S in the United States versus p. O. W. S in japan or germany. As airmen. Oh, as airmen . [ inaudible thats a really good question that i do not know the answer to, im sorry. [ inaudible ] thats a good question, maybe someone in the youtube comments can answer that. [ inaudible ] well, so the first Motion Picture unit the way that it was didnt exist after the war, because hall rich came back, and he started making films again, all of the men that worked there went back to their jobs. But the air force continued to make films, it just wasnt in that exact place or that particular formulation. But we have we work on air force films all the time. And they took very good care of their films too. So all of the films are in Good Condition in general that we have to work on. Do you have anything to add to that . Did i repeat the we . You asked if the first Motion Picture unit disbanded at the end of the war, that was the question. I know they were also known as the 18th Army Air Forces base unit. But as far as i can tell, i didnt find references to that unit after the war either. [ inaudible ] so the question, i actually dont know a lot about this. But the question was whether or not britain and the other allied countries have their own film units. And the answer would be yes. We have whats the one we did a full restore ration ation on, anniversary of dday . Full glory . Yes, full glory, that was a combination of footage from the u. S. And their allies. And the footage from dday, we lost ours, so most of the footage from dday are not ours. It was what we got from our allies. It was really important to both document and for training purposes and morale purposes. Is there any im sorry. What do you think a technology that was developed maybe during world war ii for photography do you think was most important if there was one . Hard questions. Do you have an answer . Im not sure what the most important would be, the question, yeah. They developed a lot of gun cameras that would fire or they would shoot in sync with the guns on the airplanes, thats the only piece of technology that i remember reading about in my research. But the first Motion Picture unit really did they innovated with how to use the techniques of movie making as well as how to meet the needs of the military organization in a very effective and entertaining way, and that was kind of the mix of the first Motion Picture unit. Great, thank you so much. Wow, what Great Questions that everybody had. So the purpose of the Records Program is to teach you about the records that we hold at the National Archives and how to use them for research. I think that this presentation, you certainly fulfilled that goal. Thank you. If we did not get to your question, they provided their email addresses. If you cant remember their whole one, you can also send it to our Research Staff at inqu e inquire nara. Gov. Their presentation slides are Available Online on our Youtube Channel or get to you your records. On behalf of our presenters, i want to thank you for joining us today. This weekend on the cspan networks, saturday at 9 15 eastern on cspan, former president ial speechwriters from president s nixon to obama. And sunday at 7 30 p. M. Dr. Anthony iton. Daily Caller News Foundation christopher bedford, on his book the art of the donald, a message from americas philosopher and chief. And on sunday at 11 00 a. M. , the mayflower, the families, the voyage and the founding of america. On American History tv on cspan 3. And sunday at 9 10 ing ceremony dwight d. Eisenhower memorial in washington, d. C. , thats this weekend on cspan networks. This professor peter kastor talks about how the world changed from the reconstruction period to the progressive era in the early 20th century. Heres a preview. Now to them, both of them, immigrants, who acquired u. S. Citizenship, citizenship brought with it extraordinary opportunities. Okay, they had not been born in the United States. But by becoming citizens, they enjoyed equal legal status with native born citizens, the United States in general, st. Louis in particular, became a land of opportunity for them. And this is what many immigrants will find. One of the reasons is that the germans in general faced less antagonism than the irish. Let me emphasize, i think the experience for any immigrant is difficult. You arrive in a new country, people may not trust you, you may not speak the same language as everyone, its always difficult. Then there are matters of degree. Watch the entire program on lectures in history at 8 00 p. M. And midnight eastern on saturday. American history tv, only on cspan 3. According to the National Archives, Army EngineerLieutenant Colonel ken gerrish documented his experience in new guinea in 1943 and 1944. Lieutenant colonel gerrish was responsible for maintaining p38 and p39 aircraft. In 1981, he donated the first fighters in