WELL DONE

This beautiful, patriotic color film, produced in 1945, is made in appreciation of the proud men and women who served in the U.S. Navy. It was intended to help with the demobilization of the wartime Navy and the discharge of so many hundreds of thousands of sailors and officers who could soon be on their way back to civilian life. The movie shows the many valuable ways of life that have been protected by the men and women in service to the United States. The film opens with a Navy destroyer sailing on the open ocean. Water is turned up behind the boat. Sailors stand proudly 1:10. In a flashback, men go from uniforms to civilian clothing 1:15. Fans cheer in the stands. 1:30. Navy men swab the deck 1:37. Landing signal officer waves in a plane 1:45. Man lays in a sickbed as a doctor attends 1:50. A sailor enjoys a chicken leg and a man aboard ship struggles with a sandwich 2:04. Sailor lies in his bunk 2:18. Sailors are inspected by officers on deck 2:27. A sailor sits, feeling lonely 2:33. A sailor stands watch, long into the night 2:40. An officer berates a sailor 2:50. Sailors put out a raging fire on board a carrier men are injured 3:15. A politician bangs his desk and speaks to a crowd 3:35. A bombed out city is flown over 3:45. A starving child walks along and injured children are held by ragged women 4:13. Foreign children are starving 4:18. An American boy swings a bat and hits a baseball 4:25. Women and children walk in a park 4:29. Men shakes the hand of a sailor on the street 4:40. A mother reads to her child 4:51. Fisherman arrange their nets 4:58. A parade passes by a reviewing stand 5:11. Two children walk behind sailors mimicking them in adoration 5:18. Fans stand in the grandstand of a sporting event to salute the flag 5:40. Navy men salute as the American flag is lowered 5:44. Cows graze in the pasture 5:53. Scenes from America. Farms, towns and cities 6:08. The Declaration of Independence 6:13. Boats in the harbor and the site where the Oliver Cromwell, a Connecticut warship in the revolution, was built in 1776 6:27. Ironworkers, farmers, writers, clergy at work and at worship 6:35. A couple sits on a porch swing, men play chess and sit outside a general store 7:06. A man fishes, while others golf and sail boats 7:24. An art gallery, a sculpture and a boy plays the guitar representing our arts 7:36. A jazz ensemble plays on stage 7:45. A band plays on stage 7:58. People join in free assembly and discuss community issues 8:12. A church steeple and people exit the service 8:36. Children play in a schoolyard 8:43. Children run down the stairs on Christmas morning 8:50. People exercise their right to vote 9:00. The Secretary of the Navy, James V. Forrestal (1944) speaks to the camera about Navy veterans finishing their jobs well and proudly returning to civilian life 9:20. The End. Photographed in Technicolor. 1945. James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense.

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Transcription

[Music] [Applause] [Applause] Pirela Coral Sea Midway Guadalcanal Santa Cruz North Atlantic Sicily panacea Norman Philippines [Music] these were your battles these are your victories you have a right to feel proud today tomorrow and forever it took some doing but you did it let's go back to the beginning might be a good thing to sum it all up most of you were civilians when this thing started truck drivers painters riveters clerks teachers students actors everything in the book but no matter what you'd been before in due time you became sailors and by and large most of you adapted yourselves well the stateside are in forward areas when the time came you did a good job [Music] there were bad times there were good times sometimes the food was good [Music] sometimes it wasn't so good there were those uniforms apparently designed by a guy who thought it was immoral to carry anything concealed in your pockets there were restrictions there were those inspections there was Mon leanness sometimes [Music] for those who watches that seem so long that you wondered if you'd ever done anything would stand watch no is that chief you swore you were gonna kill some day and that jg who was a pain in the Duff there were more serious things things that count there were those guys who were hurt or those guys were gone for good some of the best no man can deny that this victory has been won at great cost what did we get out of this useless war nothing but Rex's death and Bolshevism and the time will surely come when someone will try to persuade you that this victory your victory was not worth the cost [Applause] when that time comes it might be well to remember what defeat would have meant to you to your families dear children born and unborn [Music] here is the record here is history because your enemies succeeded in writing it for millions of others this is history as they would have written it for you if you had not prevented him this would have been America but for you and your comrades and arms these are some of the millions of children who've looked on defeat children now in rags and in tears without food without laughter grown old without youth never believed that the people of this nation are not grateful to you for having kept such tragedy away from this land never believed that these your people are not moved at the thought of what you have done some noble deed will not have the power to utter their gratitude for what you have done as such gratitude is unutterable but the feeling is there sailor feeling is in the hearts of the mothers of America whose children you've spared from hunger terror death [Music] it is in the hearts of all those who came to these shores to seek a freer fuller life it is in the hearts of those who fought before you to preserve the precious birthright that you once again have saved it is firm in the hearts of children who think you're the greatest bunch of guys evident it is in the hearts of all those who have given their sons in battle [Music] is in the hearts of all those who love this land of ours and sailor that's just about everybody and it is in your own hearts as well well you have good cause to be grateful to yourselves for having kept this land this way of life intact look at this lion sailor this way of life these are our villages our towns our cities [Music] this is our history of what you have written the latest bright chapter [Music] this is the tale of our struggle for liberty [Music] these are our people at work and at worship these are our people at leisure these are our people at play [Music] this is our art our sculpture our music a penny for a spool afraid a penny for a needle that's the way my Barney go [Music] this is our age-old custom of governing ourselves in free assembly where every man can speak his mind without fear and without restraint they should be snowed up for six months in the year and I tell you that if 10 Higgins won't get us snow fences I say we ought to elect someone who will [Music] these are some of the things that add up to a way of life that we rightly judge to be the best we know these things you fought for these things you shall keep this is a way of life that we may alter but that we shall alter for the better and after our own fashion [Music] the Secretary of the Navy I salute the men and the women of the Navy you have completed your mission you have taken part in the winning of the bitterest war in history you have carried out this mission in a manner which has earned you the respect and the gratitude of the entire nation now your service in that Navy draws to a close the readjustment says you returned to civil life may be difficult for some of you but as you adjusted yourselves to the ways of war with a speed and an efficiency that our enemies thought beyond our power so too I am confident that you will adjust yourselves to the ways of peace All Hands stand ready to help you who have served this country so well as the secretary of your Navy I bet you could by and say well done as your fellow citizen I welcome you home to live in peace among your own people [Music]

Sources

YouTube channel: PeriscopeFilm · video ↗ — title, year, format, description, catalog record, video

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