Big Picture: Pictorial Report Number 8

Year Published: 1952-09-01

Creator: National Archives and Records Administration

Format: 16mm/video file

Description: National Archives and Records Administration ARC Identifier 2569542 / Local Identifier 111-TV-272 Big Picture: Pictorial Report Number 8 DVD copied by Master Scanner Thomas Gideon. Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center. (ca. 1974 - 05/15/1984). For the United States Army, television promises to revolutionize battlefield communications by giving the commander something he has never had before--communication by sight. The first subject in this pictorial report deals with a public demonstration of the use of television in combat. Staged at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, this demonstration as seen through the eyes of THE BIG PICTURE camera, shows the full spectacular scope of the changes television may one day bring to the battlefield. The second feature tells of the importance of the individual soldier. Today, throughout the world, he is doing many different kinds of jobs. One of them, shaped into vital significance by the course of current history, is the job of patrolling the borders which separate the free world from the Soviet orbit. In Germany, where this report was filmed, patrols are on the border every day of the year. The last report is about a military ceremony -- Retreat. Rich in tradition, this ceremony is graphically told with an original music score composed and conducted by the United States Army band.