Original subtitles

[patriotic music]

♪ Floods of joy o'er my soul ♪

♪ Like the sea billows roll ♪

♪ Since Jesus ♪

♪ Came into my heart ♪

Thank you, soldier.

My prepared text today was to have been

make thy name be remembered in all generations.

Well I think I'm going to depart from my prepared sermon.

While I was listening to the sergeant's solo

I kept looking up at our service flag.

I was thinking of the men who serve us.

I see some of them here this morning.

Private Roberts, Sergeant Jackson,

Lieutenant Carter,

and, um...

Private Parks, first class.

First class is right.

I was over at the USO the other night

and I met somebody I hadn't seen

in quite a long time.

The last time I saw this man, well,

one of my members treated me

to a ticket to Yankee Stadium to see

Joe Louis versus Max Schmeling.

[crowd yelling]

In one minute and 49 seconds, an American fist

won a victory, but it wasn't the final victory.

No, that victory is going to take a little longer

and a whole lot more American fists.

Now those two men that were matched

in the ring that night are matched again.

This time in a far greater arena,

and for much greater stakes.

Max Schmeling, a paratrooper in the Nazi Army.

Men turned into machines, challenging the world.

Joe Louis, training for the fight of his life.

This time it's a fight not between man and man

but between nation and nation.

It's a fight for the real championship for the world

to determine which way of life will survive.

Their way, or our way.

And this time, we must see to it

that there is no return engagement for the stakes this time

are the greatest men have ever fought for.

And what are the stakes?

The American stakes.

The German stakes, the Bible of the Nazis.

The Gospel according to Hitler.

I'm not going to read all of this,

but there are one or two things

in this book that will interest you.

I quote "what is denied to us, the German fist must take."

"If our forefathers had made their decisions

by the same pacifist nonsense as the present day does,

we would possess but a third of our existing territory."

"Further" he says, "from time to time

the illustrated papers show how

a Negro has become a lawyer,

a teacher, perhaps even a minister.

It never dawns on the degenerate middle class America

that this is truly a sin against all reason,

that it is criminal madness to train a born half ape

until one believes one has made a lawyer of him."

This book was written 20 years ago.

The plan which it foreshadowed has become a reality.

And the Nazis now instruct their disciples

in terms such as these.

"We must strive by any means to conquer the world,

any methods are permissible.

Lie, betray, kill.

Kill, and kill again.

Kill the Slavs, the Russians, the Poles, the Czechs,

don't stop whether you have an old man,

a woman, a girl or boy, kill.

"We want to create our great German empire,

we must exterminate everybody who stands against us."

The liberty of the whole Earth depends

on the outcome of this contest.

Americans have always guarded liberty.

The seed took root in Boston.

In that city is the Granary Burial Ground, 1660.

Within this ground are buried the victims

of the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770.

The first to die in the Boston Massacre

was Crispus Attucks.

"Long as in freedom's cause the wise contend,

dear to our country shall your fame extend

while to the world the lettered stone shall tell

where Caldwell, Attucks, Gray, and Maverick fell."

At Concord Bridge, Sam Pratt and John Barrett

helped to fire the shot heard round the world.

At Bunker Hill, on June 17, 1775,

"gun belonged to Peter Salem, a colored man

who carried it at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill,

and with it shot Major Pitcairn."

And on Christmas Day, 1776, when all

but the bravest hearts had lost hope.

Prince Whipple took his place alongside those who pushed on.

In the winter of '78, at Valley Forge,

George Washington wrote "our soldiers

have been a week without food.

They are naked and starving.

We cannot enough admire their

unshakable patience and loyalty."

Here's Samuel Haines, Cleland Ford, thousands of others

left their bleeding footprints in the snow.

In this war, the people of the

new world won their independence.

They joined hands, and 13 colonies became the United States.

Then the people of the new republic began to build.

Together they pioneered, and together

they made territories into states.

By 1812, a wilderness was becoming a great nation.

Then came war.

[cannons boom]

At Lake Erie, Tyler Thompson heard

Admiral Curry's immortal words.

"We have met the enemy and they are ours."

And in New Orleans, when General Jackson said

"by the Eternal they shall not sleep on our soil,"

Thomas Wilson was there.

America began to build ships.

Then came 1861.

[cannons boom]

"The government of the people by the people

for the people shall not perish from this Earth.

This malice toward none was charity for all."

Then America began to rebuild.

[country music]

♪ I've been working on the railroad ♪

♪ All the live long day ♪

Hello Bob, hello Frank, hello Pete.

Take care of everything, you know what I mean.

What's the matter, Jim?

You quitting?

Man, I'm going to Cuba.

Cuba?

Yeah, with the ninth regiment

United States cavalry, horses.

[minister] Jim fought in the Spanish-American War

at Santiago, Cuba the ninth and tenth cavalry

and the 24th and 25th infantry added to their long record

new medals for courage and gallantry.

I'm Jim.

After we cleaned up in Cuba, we went on

with building factories, cities, everything.

As for me, well,

I went to Panama to help on a little job.

[minister] A little job

connecting the Atlantic and Pacific.

A little job.

[dynamite booms]

[cheering]

[patriotic music]

And with Pershing in France, Jim wasn't there,

but his sons were.

Serving with the 813th pioneer regiment near Marseilles.

The 332nd labor battalion and the

808th pioneer regiment near Verdun.

[cannons boom]

Fighting with the 8th Illinois on the Soissons front.

372nd on the plains of Monthois.

The 371st at Beausejour Farm.

And the 369th in the Argonne.

[booming]

369th fought on the line of fire for 191 days,

not a man ever captured,

not a foot of ground ever lost.

The first American troops to receive

the Croix de Guerre, 369th.

And for action above and beyond the call of duty,

many received honored medals.

When they cleaned up in France,

the boys came marching home.

[patriotic music]

Among them was Henry Johnson,

who with one companion, Needham Roberts,

killed four and captured 28 Germans

for which the French nation

decorated them for exceptional bravery.

And there were those among the honored at Arlington.

Samuel Washington, Walter Waters,

William Fox, John Simms, Young,

Charles Young, colonel, United States Army.

And to their memory, sermons in stone and bronze.

Tributes of a grateful nation.

"To commemorate the heroism

and sacrifice of all colored soldiers

who served in the various wars engaged in

by the United States of America,

that a lasting record shall be made

of their unselfish devotion to duty."

And in France at Beausejour Farm,

French people erected a memorial

to the 371st infantry.

"This stone and the ground on which it stands

are dedicated to the Negro troops

who fought and died here on April 21, 1918."

23 years later, on June 15 1941,

an invading German army.

[booming]

Yes, the Nazis destroyed our monuments in France,

but our monuments here stand and will always stand.

The founder of Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington

1856 1915, "he lifted the veil of ignorance from his people

and pointed the way to progress

through education and industry."

The late George Washington Carver,

honored in the chemistry of agriculture

and the men and women building the monuments of tomorrow.

Law, elected judge in New York City courts,

serving his second tenured term.

Explorer, the only other American

with Admiral Peary when our flag

was planted on the North Pole.

Medicine.

Leading New York City surgeon.

Father of the blues.

Financier and publisher, contributing

to the war bond drive.

Education, principal of a New York City public school.

Curator, Stromberg Collection of Literature.

International prize winning sculptor.

Singer.

["Ode to Joy" by Beethoven]

Men and women in every walk of life,

all trained and educated in schools like:

♪ Howard will shine the light ♪

♪ Hampton will shine ♪

♪ Tuskegee will shine the light ♪

♪ All down the line ♪

♪ Prairie View will shine the light ♪

♪ Old Fisk will shine ♪

♪ When the sun goes down And the moon comes up ♪

♪ Our light will shine ♪

♪ Rah rah rah rah rah ♪

♪ Our light will shine ♪

[announcer] The Olympic Games have begun.

The best athletes in the world have come to Berlin,

and 51 nations are represented here today.

The six fastest sprinters in the world are getting ready.

Owens, America.

Broschmeyer, Germany.

And Metcalfe of America.

[cheering]

Owens is ahead.

Schumbeck and Broschmeyer are fighting.

Owens challenges right off.

Metcalfe comes up, Owens wins in 10.3.

Second, Metcalfe America.

Third, Osendarp, Holland.

[cheering]

["The Star Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key]

[announcer] The men's high jump.

Brian Kurtz, Germany.

Oh, they all drop out.

Onaka, Japan.

And he drops out too.

The bar is now 2.03 meters high.

That's six feet, eight inches.

And Johnson of America.

[cheering]

First, Johnson America, a new

Olympic record of six foot eight inches.

Second, Albritton America.

Third, Thurber America.

The tree of liberty has borne these fruits.

It's a mighty tree, with roots

deep in the ground of America.

Its fame has spread to the four corners of the Earth.

Men of every faith, color, and tone

have helped to nourish it and to sow its seed in new ground.

All men stand in admiration of it,

except the Nazis, the fascists, and the Japanese military.

The villains of the new order.

There is not a man alive who does not know

it's a crime to be adventurous.

In Europe.

[booming]

[dramatic music]

By order of the German Army high command,

thousands of innocent men, women, and children

have been shot and hanged.

In Asia, the Japanese Army...

[booming]

[dramatic music]

There are those who will tell you

that Japan is the savior of the colored races.

On December 7...

[guns firing]

[booming]

[dramatic music]

The people of the world have risen in one great mass

to bring to justice the ringleaders

responsible for these crimes.

In America's army, in every branch of the service,

artillery, tank, quartermaster, engineer--

Don't forget the infantry.

Yes?

My boy's in the infantry.

He's up there.

Third from the left on the bottom row.

I got a letter from him last night.

He's an officer.

Robert?

Did he get to be an officer?

Yes, he said so right here.

"Dear mama, at last it's happened.

I'm an officer, lieutenant Robert A. Bronson, infantry.

Don't it sound good?

Of course I haven't got my bars yet,

but I'm on my way to officers candidate school

for four months, and if I pass the examination

and graduate and get my commission,

I'll be an officer.

Now I can do it, mama.

If I could go through those first 13 weeks the way I did,

I can go through anything.

That morning at the railroad depot,

I didn't know which side was up,

but misery sure loves company.

When I said goodbye to you I was laughing,

but I wasn't tickled.

And the first thing I heard when I stopped

at some place in the middle of no place..."

[patriotic music]

All right men, on behalf of the United States Army

and the reception center here at this camp,

we're glad to welcome you here today

and into the United States Army.

Very glad to see all of your happy, smiling faces.

Now fellas, during the few days

that you'll be with us here at this camp

you'll be converted from a civilian

into a full-fledged soldier.

You'll be interviewed by someone

who will inquire into your past life

before you came into the Army.

On the construction of guns and gun parts?

That's right.

What machines did you operate?

I operated boring mills, tool grinders,

drill presses, planes, and...

Forward!

Forward hut!

Hup hup hup hup, pick it up, pick it up!

Company halt!

Halt.

But I don't want to give you the impression

that it's only for religious services and advice

that you can come to the chaplain.

You can come to him at any time,

for example if you get in trouble with your girlfriend

and she doesn't write you any more,

you want to know how to propose,

why just come see the chaplain

and he'll give you some advice.

Or if you get in trouble with your first sergeant,

you want to know how to handle him,

just come around and see the chaplain

and he'll give you some advice.

Or if you're financially embarrassed,

why that's simple too.

Just come around and see the chaplain

and he'll give you some advice.

Now chaplain Sherman has just told you

how to get along in this man's army,

and it's my painful duty to tell you

what'll happen to you if you don't get along.

Regarding the salute, men.

It isn't a form of servility.

It's merely a form of recognition

used between members of the military service.

The average man when he first learns to salute is awkward.

It's a strange gesture to him, and he feels shy.

He usually sneaks his hand up in this manner

and gives a broken handed salute.

Or lowers his eyes gently like a shy maiden

and he salutes like that.

When you salute an officer, stand erect like a soldier.

Bring your hand up to your forehead in a military manner.

Tip of the forefinger above the center of the right eye.

Now make sure your thumb is alongside your hand

because if it's out here, they may misconstrue it.

Then cut the hand sharply to the side.

Don't let it drop down like a dead fish.

Fall in!

-Fall out! -Sit down.

Put your feet in the machine.

One L on a 10 and a half, David.

Put your foot in here.

Stand up now, pick up both weights.

Put the weights back, sit down.

Step down, put your shoes on and go in the next room.

- Next. - Fall in!

Fall out!

All right men, strip down completely,

put every piece of civilian clothing

that you have into that bag.

Now when you're completely stripped and have everything into that bag,

put on a set of summer underwear,

a pair of shorts, a pair of white woolen socks.

All right, now you try on your green herringbone fatigue hat first.

That's the green hat with a brim on it, try it on.

If it fits, place it into your barracks bag,

now don't mind if it's a little loose.

"But I made it, all of us made it.

They put us through so many twists and turns

we didn't know whether we were coming or going,

but Uncle Sam did.

We were going.

He put us on the train that same afternoon

for the replacement center.

We kept passing troop trains going

back and forth all over the country.

We finally arrived at a place called military secret.

But this much I can tell you, it was cold.

And even before we had a chance to thaw out,

they had us in the school of the soldier.

The sergeant gave it to us straight."

You sleep in that bed, you'll make it.

You wear them clothes, you'll wash 'em.

You walk on that floor, you clean it.

There's no service here, you understand that?

[woman] "And I'd bet right now, mama

I can make a bed better than you can.

But before I had a chance to get the bed warm, there I was.

In the beginning the new hands were all beat."

Right face.

Forward hup, to the rear forward.

Left flank, forward.

Right flank, forward.

Left forward, left forward.

Hup hup hup four left forward.

Left flank forward, right flank forward.

Rear forward, rear forward, rear forward.

Hup hup hup four.

Hup hup hup--

[woman] "Then came the cross country marching."

[yelling]

[sergeant] Halt, take a 10 minute break, fall out.

[woman] "It was tough.

Hiking, drilling, KP, bivouacs,

tent pitching, general orders.

The tougher the day, the shorter the night.

But you get used to it, and if you can't take it, they got doctors.

Some of the best in the country.

Specialists in every field.

And in our dental clinic, we have a WAC,

but even so this is one kind of drilling no soldier likes.

But after all the making beds and peeling potatoes

and drilling and marching, they give you

a rifle and teach you to shoot it.

[rifles crack]

In no time at all, I could hit the broad side of a barn.

It was fun. It's not all work.

There's football,

baseball,

boxing, and oh yes, ping pong.

If you want to read, there's a library.

Can you imagine me listening to poetry?

But it came in good.

The very next day, I got a chance to use it.

We were sent on a detail to a nearby camp.

I saw some soldiering that was beautiful to behold."

[yells commands]

Forward march!

Hup two three four, hup two three four hup!

[woman] "And you'd better tell Uncle Everett

to quit joking about the WACs

because these girls have forgotten more about jeeps

and trucks than he'll ever know,

corporal or no corporal.

And the next day was Saturday night."

[whistling]

[pleasant music]

"She was very nice, mama.

A real apple pie girl.

Just the right size and everything.

Just the kind you like.

But in the Army, man proposes and GI disposes.

[yelling commands]

And the next morning, I was out there

like the rest of them getting tough.

In this man's army they want you to be tough.

Look tough, and I mean tough.

And tough in the Army means a good fighter

who can stand up against a strong enemy

and beat him to the draw.

And after a hard week, a soldier welcomes a Sunday."

♪ Holy God in three persons ♪

This morning, I have a GI report

I think you'll all be interested in.

This is an official statement from the War Department.

"In the present World War, there are more than five times

as many men with high school education in our armed forces

than were in World War I.

This has meant an increase in officer candidates.

Official figures tell us in the present war

there are three times as many colored officers

as in World War I.

From a score of different schools,

many have earned their commissions

and taken their place alongside those

who come from any one of the hundreds

of ROTC schools and the greatest

of all military institutions, West Point."

[patriotic music]

"Mama, the next time you see me

I'll be wearing an officer's uniform.

Ready to get in there and get this war over with.

That's a promise.

Your loving son, Robert."

Thank you, Mrs. Bronson.

That's a promise millions of Americans have made.

Thousands have put it into action.

In every camp men are getting their final workout.

At Tuskegee, more pilots are earning their wings.

[patriotic music]

In a short while, these young officers

will be full-fledged combat fliers

taking their place at the controls of our fighter plane.

Today, high above their native land they fly.

Tomorrow, what a surprise the Nazis will get

when black, brown, yellow, and white men

all Americans, land on the airfields of Berlin and Tokyo.

In the far north, seasoned soldiers

are toughening themselves for they know

that in a fight against all that is evil,

troops must be readied.

Ready to strike hard, and often.

No waiting for weather or temperature.

Any weather can be good weather.

Any temperature can be right,

when men know the meaning of their job

and are determined to get it done come what may.

[booming]

And the men we knew as tailors,

printers, brick layers, cooks, entertainers,

carpenters, bell boys, school teachers, farmers,

are today soldiers in a modern army.

Tank men, gunners, radio operators, and motor mechanics.

Every man schooled in the meaning of teamwork.

Every man qualified to replace

any of his teammates at any time.

Every man ready to do his share.

The engineers, the fighting builders

ready to build bridges, highways, railroads,

ports, landing fields.

The quarter master, who moves troops

and supplies, who provides food, fuel, and clothing.

The men who supply the means of communication.

Telegraph, telephone, and radio.

The cavalry.

Ready to patrol, scout, and harass.

The tank destroyers, ready for swift and decisive action.

[dramatic music]

Hard hitting anti-aircraft unit,

ready to knock zeroes and Messerschmitt out of the skies.

And the infantrymen, the backbone of the army.

[booming]

[guns firing]

This training has met the acid test of war.

Across the Pacific, across the Atlantic,

the shadow of defeat hangs over the Axis partners

as the Allies liberate town after town.

But the job isn't finished.

This is only the beginning.

To win the final victory over Germany and Japan,

our blows must be dealt harder and faster,

and with all our strength there can be

no letup in the flow of supplies.

More and more food, equipment, and ammunition

must reach our troops in the battle areas.

[dramatic music]

More airports,

landing fields,

docks, bridges, and roads must be built.

Our troops must build them through

the swamps of the South Pacific,

the snows of the far north.

Over the mountains of India,

and across the rivers of Europe.

Build them in record time.

And under enemy fire.

[booming]

Build them right into the heart of Berlin and Tokyo.

[booming]

Robert Brooks,

Colin Kelley,

Meyer Levine,

Dory Miller,

soldiers who knew no fear.

Men who would defend even unto death

the land of their birth.

Soldiers who believed in this great country.

To the enemy, our country is something to destroy.

Our homes, our right to worship God,

our little belongings, something to crush,

to shackle, to plunder.

Oh God, we thank you for this land

which our fathers have helped to build.

Grant that we may with your help

be worthy of this heritage, and in our turn

enrich it for our children

so that government of the people,

by the people, for the people

shall not perish from this Earth.

♪ Onward Christian soldiers ♪

♪ Marching as to war ♪

♪ With the flag of freedom ♪

♪ Going on before ♪

♪ Christ the royal master ♪

♪ Leads against the foe ♪

[patriotic music]

♪ When the nation calls on men to march ♪

♪ All the men are tired and blue ♪

♪ From the mountains We can lead the march ♪

♪ And come and follow you ♪

♪ I can hear them coming down the land ♪

♪ In a humbling march all day ♪

♪ I will heave my row and take my pack ♪

♪ And the soldiers break ♪

♪ When the night is coming down ♪

♪ I will fight for justice to our land ♪

♪ And I'll be marching there ♪

♪ Joshua fought the battle of Jericho ♪

♪ Jericho, Jericho ♪

♪ Joshua fought the battle of Jericho ♪

♪ And the walls come tumbling down ♪

♪ My country 'tis of thee ♪

♪ Sweet land of liberty ♪

♪ Of thee I sing ♪