"Orchestral music plays:"
-Text flies in from the side and assembles to form the words 'World War II Memorial' and then underneath it 'National Mall & Memorial Parks, Washington, DC.'
-Small images flash by that show the construction of the WWII Memorial: workmen, cranes, scaffolds, sculptors, bulldozers, diggers, builders, and welders, and culminating with an aerial shot of the grounds.
- This transitions to a closeup of the words "World War II Memorial", carved in stone, and beneath that, the American Eagle, with the words "E Pluribus Unum."
- Slowly camera zooming in on fire and clouds of smoke at Pearl Harbor.
- Images of firefighters on fireboats.
"Sounds of explosions"
Franklin Delano Roosevelt signing the war orders.
"Voiceover of FDR speaking: 'Yesterday, December 7, 1941. A date which will live in infamy!"
"Snare drums start to play."
- Small child hugging father's leg, while mother and father hug, next to packed bag.
"Music plays: 'In the Army Now'"
These words appear on a white background:
'We are now in this war. We are in it all the way. Every single man, woman, and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American History."
They continue to be superimposed over the images of dozens and dozens of soldiers, which get increasingly smaller and more plentiful:
After the dozens of soldiers pass, the following images transition past:
- Recruiting Poster: 'I want you for the U.S. Army: Enlist Now.' Image of Uncle Sam.
- Recruiting Poster: 'Man the Guns: Join the Navy.'Image of men loading a torpedo.
- Men being sworn into the military, holding bibles.
- Two women being sworn in.
"Music changes to 'Reveille'"
- Recruiting Poster: 'For your countries sake today, for your own sake tomorrow.' Women in uniform.
- Recruiting Poster: 'We can Do it!' Woman with bandana making muscle.
- Women in uniform/women doing construction.
- Actress Rita Hayworth sitting on a white car, pointing at sign on bumper that reads: 'Please drive carefully. My bumpers are on the scrap heap.'
- A city street with heaps of tin and iron in the backs of trucks.
- A small boy in a hat next to a v8 can, being handed a piece of paper that reads 'War Ration Book Two'
"Music starts playing, soft and orchestral."
- White text on a black background read: "With confidence in our armed forces, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God. Attributed to Franklin Roosevelt.
- Sunrise shot of the Memorial with the Washington Monument in sillhouette.
- Man leaning on jeep threading a fishing pole.
- 'Queen Mary' steaming out of harbor.
- Montage of icebreaker ships.
- Frigates and fighter planes.
- The Memorial fountains arcing up.
- Sky above a fleet of ships filled with fighters and bombers.
- A plane with two propellors.
- A submarine.
- Memorial: "Americans came to liberate."
- Two planes, a fighter and a bomber.
- One of the 'wreaths' at the Memorial.
"Crescendo of timpanic drums"
The following photographs transition past:
-The camera zooms in on the picture of the Atlantic column of the Memorial towering imposingly.
- Following food soldiers and a tank into a huge dustcloud.
- Wide angle shot of the Memorial at sunrise with fountain and beautiful pink and blue skies.
"Trumpets come in"
- Shirtless soldiers firing a mortar. One is covering his ears.
- A platoon of soldiers in army helmets marching next to a tank.
- Morphs into a bronze sculpture of infantry men.
- A man closing his eyes and yelling as he fires a mortar.
- Allied soldiers in a tank on a city street.
- Soldiers in a trench hauling wooden boxes.
- A smiling soldier sitting by a tent holding an army helmet.
- Beautiful photo of the arc of wreaths of each state at the memorial with a blue sky.
"Military snares"
- Two soldiers behind a sandbag wall shelling bridges that have been destroyed.
- The gorgeous 'eagles holding a wreath portion' of the Memorial.
- A group of soldiers sitting by their tent while one other writes a letter.
- A soldier with snow on his hat eating at camp.
- Soldiers marching with snowy conifers in the background.
- The Memorial today, in the winter, at dusk, surrounded by snow.
"Pipe organ music swells to huge crescendos, very emotional."
- Soldiers getting out of large boats onto the beach.
- A soldier with a puppy on his shoulder.
- A soldier at camp after a meal.
- Two men digging a trench.
"Heroic pipe organ."
- Two soldiers with dirty faces holding machine guns, sitting on the front line. One has a half smile, one is smoking.
- Close up of the incription and cartoon "Kilroy was here." It portrays a little man with a big nose looking over a wall.
- Arcing fountains blast up in the dawn light!
- Looking up at the Memorial, where it says 'Pacific'
"Music slows down and horns come in more, questioning."
The following photographs transition past:
- A navy officer in a submarine, looking through his periscope.
- Closeup up of a bronze in which the soldier is looking back at the camera.
- Soldiers in the jungle, running around a tank labelled 'Lucky Legs II'
- Quote, white text on black background: "All right, they're on the left,they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us... they can't get away this time." - Lt. General Lewis B. Chesty Puller (surrounded by 8 enemy divisions)
- Day time shot of the Pacific section of the memorial, one huge column surrounded by smaller, but large columns, each with a bronze wreath on it.
"Soft horns with snare"
- African-American able-bodied seamen on a ship.
- Close-up of the calm waterfalls at the Memorial.
- Close-up of the 8 inch thick bronze "rope" at the Memorial.
- Interesting angle shot of the Memorial.
"Swelling emotional horns, alone."
- Infantry men with guns crawling prone on the ground.
- Navajo "code-talkers" decrypting a code.
- View looking down a ship at soldiers with packs jumping into the water to storm the beach.
- Single solder, with helmet, serious, with rifle.
- Shot of the Pacific section of the Memorial, the Washington Monument lit up in the noonday sun.
" Horns build and are joined by organ."
- Dozens of soldiers running through surf storming the beach.
- Closeup of wreath columns, the Capitol and an orange sky in the background.
- Group of pilots on an aircraft carrier smiling at camera.
- Bronze of pilots running to planes.
- Two soldiers carrying their belongings through hip-deep water in the jungle.
- Closeup of the face of a young soldier. His face is dirty and his eyes look haunted.
"Organ takes on a church hymn quality."
The following photographs transition past:
- Crisp photo of inscription "Women who stepped up were measured as citizens of hte nation, not as women. This was a people's war, and everyone was in it.
- Three female riveters up on a high place.
"Drums start coming in softly with horns, building."
- A woman MP, smiling.
- A woman painting an airplane wing. And two other women welding underneath.
- Sillhouette shot of the Memorial and American flag.
- Two women in white uniforms fixing a truck.
- A group of women in army fatigues. One has a medic armband.
"Music swells."
The following photographs transition past:
- Quote, white text on black background: "United in this determination and with unshakable faith in the cause for which we fight, we will, with God's help, go forward to our greatest victory." - General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1944)
- Photo of Eisenhower addressing a soldier, by a sign which reads "Messina."
- A photo of a famous sign in Paris, which had the distance in miles to various cities around the world.
- Quote, white text on black background: "Casualties many; percentage of dead not known; combat efficiency: we are winning." - Colonel David M. Shoup (Tarawa), November 21st, 1943.
- Two soldiers, prone, planting the American flag on a beach. One is smiling and the other one has a wild-eyed, adrenalized expression.
- Eisenhower with the desert soldiers by the pyramids.
- The soldiers planting the American flag at Iwojima. Super-imposed is the quote: "Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue." - Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, March 16th, 1945.
"Suddenly music erupts in activity. Horns playing louder and louder with drums pounding frenetically."
- MacArthur wading ashore with his officers.
- A tank in Paris, and a mother arms open to greet her son!
- A large number of Allied soldiers marching down the Champs D'Elysses in Paris.
- The Kaiser signing a treaty. He wears a monocle and one glove.
- Newspaper headline: "The war in Europe is ended! Surrender will be unconditional. V-E will be proclaimed today; our troops on Okinawak gain." Next to this is an image of tickertape parades.
- Men on a plane. The wall has been painted "Tokyo Bound."
- Naval officers lined up to watch the signing of the Japanese treaty.
- Soldiers riding down the streets New York, being greeted by happy people.
"Music climaxes."
- A naval seaman "dipping" and kissing a long-lost girlfriend while friends in the background cheer.
- A bronze showing reunited couples dancing, kissing, hugging and holding hands, over a U.S. Mail box.
- A montage sequence of our veterans today, at the Memorial, with National Park rangers and in front of different parts of the Memorial.
"Music reaches huge crescendo and falls silent."
"Deep and mournful pipe organ begins to play."
The following photographs transition past:
- Black screen
- Inscription at the Memorial: "They fought together as brothers-in-arms. They died together, and now they sleep side by side. To them we have a solemn obligation." - Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
"A trumpet and snare begin to play a lingering and slow version of 'Taps.'"
The text "They fought together as brothers in arms..." appears superimposed over the next few pictures:
- An American and a Russian soldier smiling and hugging, with the words "East Meets West" behind them.
- A dozen or so smiling laughing sailors in their bunks.
- Two men who appear to be brothers sitting on the hood of a jeep.
- Three shirtless men, with arms linked over shoulders in the jungle.
The text "They died together, and now they sleep side by side ..." appears superimposed over the next few pictures:
- Two sailors in a cemetary full of white crosses, saluting.
- About 50 soldiers kneeling at a ceremony at a cemetary.
- View of the prow of a ship from above, with men gathered, a chaplain performing a ceremony, and coffins covered with American flags.
- Wreaths at the Memorial.
- Two photos of 'stars in the windows.'
- Closeup of the field of gold stars at the Memorial.
- Sunset of the Memorial, the Washington Monument with an orange sky.
- The fountains of the Memorial at night, filled with a glow.
- The curving wall of stars, reflected in the dark pool, at night.
- A sillhouetted person by a soldier's grave. An army helmet and flowers hung on the cross of a grave.
"'Taps' reaches its climax."
- Sillhouette of soldier with gun, behind barbed wire, and the quote: "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.." - General Douglas MacArthur.
Text appears that reads: "This is for the men and women who served their country when it needed them most, with honor."
Then, the credits scroll up.
Credits
Department of the Interior
National Park Service Director,
Fran Mainella
Regional Director,
Joseph Lawler
Superintendent,
Vikki Keys
Presentation Developed by the Office of the Chief Information Officer
Dominic Nessi, CIO
Sue Hawkins, DCIO
Produced by Enterprise Web Management,
A Division of OCIO
Carl Chitwood, Enterprise Web Manager
Khaled Bassim, Feature Coordinator/Development Lead
Assisted by Toni Maguda
Music
Fanfare for Freedom
Composer Quincy Hilliard
Legacies of Honor
Composer Bert Truax
Performed by The United States Military Academy Band
West Point , New York
Lieutenant Colonel David Deitrick, Conductor
Craig Williams, Organist
Blow the Bugle, Beat the Drum
Performed by
The United States Military Academy Band "Hellcats"
Armed Forces Medley
Performed by The United States Air Force Band
Original Photography
Terry Adams, National Park Service
Khaled Bassim, National Park Service
Carl Chitwood, National Park Service
Brian Hall, National Park Service
Photographic Collections
The National Archives
Department of the Navy – Naval Historical Center
Philip Nessi Historical Collection J
ohn Merchant Photo Collection
Other Contributors
Navy Seals.com
Skylighters.org W
orldWar-2.net
World War II Illinois Veterans Memorial
Rick Latoff - American Battle Monuments Commission