This WWII newsreel film consists of several segments beginning with “Busman’s Holiday” which shows a group of Royal Air Force servicemen visiting New York City. The film shows the famous Stage Door Canteen, the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center, and the Central Park Zoo. At 1:14, a troop transport ship arrives at New York Harbor filled with allied wounded. A brief segment follows showing how a group of British medics from the transport ships volunteered to work in the New York area Grasslands Hospital. The Brits also socialize with the Yanks and are shown socializing at a local bar in Westchester at 4:30. Soldiers are shown playing pinball and playing piano in this segment.
At 6:50, a new segment shows a presentation by Marine Lt. Col. Evans Carlson, who studied Japanese battle tactics, morale, and Japanese soldier characteristics in the field in China. Carlson, whose outfit was known as the Gung Ho raiders, speaks of the Japanese as disciplined and touch adversaries.
Evans Fordyce Carlson (26 February 1896 – 27 May 1947) was a decorated and retired United States Marine Corps general officer who was the legendary leader of “Carlson’s Raiders”, during World War II crediting him as the forefather of one of America’s first U.S. special operations forces. He is renowned for the “Makin Island raid” in 1942, and their “Long Patrol” (aka Carlson’s patrol) behind Japanese lines on Guadalcanal, in which 488 Japanese were killed.
Carlson is also credited with introducing the term “Gung-ho” into the Marine Corps.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
