 to Germany, from Alaska to Puerto Rico. All over the world, the United States Army is on the alert to defend our country, you, the American people, against aggression. This is the big picture. An official television report to the nation from the United States Army. Now to show you part of the big picture, here is Sergeant Stuart Queen. How do you do? The American soldier in Berlin lives and performs his duties in a strange atmosphere. 100 miles deep in the Soviet zone of Germany, along with his allies in the British and French sectors of Berlin, he defends the prestige and interests of democracy. While in the east sector of the city, the Russians and their puppet government plot and propagandize against us. Berlin, Germany is a city of monuments, some of them a little worse for wear. But there are two monuments in Berlin erected since World War II. They're not just mementos, either. They are symbols of an unfinished story, an unresolved conflict. One erected by a hard and bitter conqueror whose foot remains on the throat of the fallen enemy, a shrine to the might of the naked bayonet. The other, put up by the vanquished German people themselves, to honor a force that seeks to lift its former enemy back to his feet, so he may find a decent place in the family of nations. One is the Russian War Memorial, figure of towering strength unveiled in 1945 to strike fear in the heart of Berlin. The other is the monument to the airlift at Tempelhof Airdrome, dedicated by Berliners to the allied airmen who died, flying in the sustenance of life to a hungry city during the Russian blockade of 1948-1949. It is the trust rather than the duty of the American soldier in Berlin to sustain with his every action this essential difference in spirit in dealing with our former enemy. For the allied sector of Berlin where he serves is an island, an island of democracy standing 100 miles deep into the Soviet zone of Germany behind the Iron Curtain. Side by side in the one community, the American soldier sees totalitarian communism and democracy, presenting perhaps more sharply than anywhere else on earth, a comparison in significance and effect of the two ways of life. In the eastern sector of Berlin, empty stomachs and fear. Hatred to make men with stones stand up against Russian soldiers with tanks. In the western sectors, a free people rebuilding their part of a shattered city with hope and with faith in the future. But let's explore Berlin through the eyes of the soldier. Members of the American Garrison, 6th Infantry Regiment, station here to uphold and protect U.S. interests, like the private first class there and the corporal. How about it, men? Corporal, how does it all hit you? Well, I'm seeing a lot of never dreamed about back home in Greenway, Arkansas. Off-duty hours, my buddy and I get around quite a bit. There's a lot of sightseeing to be done in Berlin, all kinds of interesting ruins, like the Kaiser Wilhelm Church on Coferston Dam built by Wilhelm II in memory of his granddaddy. Isn't much but a shell now. The Nazis used it like a fort at the end and it really got hurt. Almost all over Berlin there are ruined buildings. Rubble spilling out a few walls that are still up. Together with a bomb in the city took in the last-ditch fight when the Russians were moving in, a lot of it really got blown apart. Now this used to be a real swank section of town. A lot of the embassies of foreign nations located around here. That was our Italian embassy when Mussolini was a partner of Hitler. And that was our own embassy, the embassy of the United States. Pretty badly beat up. And here we are at the Russian War Memorial over in the British sector. The inscription under the soldier says, Hail the victory of the Anglo-Soviet American military lines over the German fascist invaders. But the memorial was unveiled back in 1945 when they were talking that way. Now they keep a guard on duty with a loaded Tomat gun all the time. The cannon is one of the pieces the Russians used in the taking of Berlin. And that's the Reichstag in the back, built in 1894 for the Prussian Parliament. Funny thing, it wasn't hurt by the war. Hitler himself is supposed to have had it burned down back in 1933 so he could claim the Communists did it and scare the people into giving him more power. Yep, ruins and more ruins in Berlin. But you'll notice something else after you've looked around for a while. The Berliners aren't beat. What won't stand up, they're hauling down and out of the rubble and the ruin that built in themselves another city. A new Berlin. It's backbreaking work, doing it the hard way without much machinery and fancy equipment. But there seems to be a kind of will to clear away the results of a terrible mistake and get going again anew. Only one-fifth of the city's million-and-a-half dwellings were undamaged by the war. And it's been figured that ten trains of fifty cars each could leave Berlin daily loaded full-up with rubble and it would still take sixteen years to clear away the mess. So every brick, every hunk of building stuff that can be saved is saved. As for the rest while they're beautifying the city with it, filling the debris up to make hills and turn the hills into parks like this. This used to be a flat area. Now it's the highest point in Berlin, a beautiful new park situated on top of a rubble heap. And Berlin comes out of the junk pile. New homes. New public buildings and factories. A new life. And everywhere the same sign and form and free Berliners the USA is helping on the projects. So a country that didn't know how to get along with the rest of the world learns firsthand something about the kindness and fairness of democratic folks. New houses for the homeless. A decent place to raise kids to help them grow up into decent people. Helping them to make Berlin beautiful again. Restore the tear-gotten, one of the most beautiful parks in the world. New trees are growing already. The landscaping's coming along where it was all barren and stripped. Because during the winter of 1945 and 46 what was left of the old trees had to be cut down for fewer. Most of the new trees are gifts from German towns all over the western zone. And they're turned on that memory from a nightmare up on the hill. That concrete structure there was a giant air shelter during the war built to house 30,000 people. The fancier things in life are coming back too to Berlin. Walk down Cofersterdamm and you'd think you were on Fifth Avenue, New York City. And maybe the most important of all things, food. The western sector of Berlin are eating good. Guess you know how much interest in democratic ways that's gotten from Soviet zone Germans. If you read about the food riots over on the other side of town where the communists are running things. Over here the West Berliners with the back end of our government have been handing out free food parcels to any East German who manages to get across a line for it. The Russians have risked their necks to bust through the iron curtain to take advantage of the awful. With the Russians stopping train service and doing everything else they can to keep the people in their zone from coming over for their free food. So it's border kind of peephole in the iron curtain with the Germans in the Soviet zone getting a look at how much better off the western sectors are and giving the world a look at just how bad things are in East Germany. This industry in our part of Berlin is humming too. Folks are back at the work benches and the factories without anybody having to belong to anybody else's party to get a job. Production is on its way up to pre-war times and that's in spite of anything the communists have been able to do to stop it. When the Russians moved out of our part of Berlin they took a lot along with them including everything movable in the electric plant. That meant no juice for industry or lightning except what was supplied from East Berlin plants. That gave the communists the trump hand. But then with the help of the U.S. West Berlin has went to work building up from practically scratch a new electric supply. Through the Marshall Plan the United States supplied some of the necessary equipment the rest was up to the Berlinists in free Berlin. West Berlin is getting back to their cultural life too. Auditoriums that could be fixed up have been repaired the movie halls altered and concerts are a big thing in Berlin again. They've been doing some other kind of repair and also anti-Nazi musicians who were banned by Hitler welcome back like the great composer Paul Hindemith there. I suppose you know there isn't much chance for an American to see East Berlin the Russian sector they've got most of their part of the city blockaded going and coming. When things aren't too tense though a special trip is allowed to see what the Russians call the garden of remembrance. That lady there is supposed to represent Mother Russia. The whole memorial is an honor of red soldiers killed in the fight for Berlin and was built by German labor working day and night for 18 months. The Russian soldier on top the mausoleum is carrying a child on his left arm but in case anybody might think he's going soft I guess in his right hand he's holding a double-edged sword. Sort of like the way they let tours come over into the Russian sector everything's going along nice and friendly and then all of a sudden like happened a little while back one of the tour buses inspired on by communist police. Interesting thing about the garden of remembrance is that most of its material came out of the wreck of the right chancellery Hitler's old headquarters which is also in the eastern sector the hole in the back of the chancellery is where Hitler and his bride are supposed to have ended up. They were believed cremated there after they committed suicide. The Russians made certain understandable alterations in design of the chancellery building and they also ordered other kinds of changes in their sector like carton off to Russia most of the machinery needed to give their own sector Berlin a chance to get back on its feet. Yep the Russians have played a pretty tough in their part of town setting up a police state kind of control but in spite of that West Berlin is finding ways of letting the people in the communist sector know that democracy is working fine just across the way. A method of passing on the uncensored news of the day and the facts of life to Berliners on the wrong side of the iron curtain an electric news sign just over the western border the Russian sector its message beamed on the folks in East Berlin an idea board I guess right from Times Square New York City the free Berlin press a kind of beacon up there shining right through the communist blackout to bring East Berliners some of the truth of the free world the truth has had some effect too East Berliners aren't taking a line down from the communist anymore they're making their own headlines for all the world to read about to see how people react to living under the blessings of the Russians and their German communist stuages and every day by hook or crook more Soviet zoners find their way over to West Berlin lots of them risk in their lives to get to the free world just across town whole families by the tens of thousands give up everything they own except what they can cram into a couple of suitcases so they can live and raise their kids in the new federal republic of western Germany because western Berlin itself couldn't possibly accommodate the thousands of refugees who come over the german republic is co-operating with the allies arranges air transportation freedom flights they call them to care the people to sanctuary in western Germany every refugee is carefully questioned and screened on his reasons for leaving the Soviet zone if he can prove that he fled because of extreme danger or equally pressing reasons he is entitled to permanent residence in west Germany and the right to work there besides his flight to freedom across the Russian territory surrounding Berlin and business is good on this hop with chartered planes flying out nearly 1,000 refugees every day with backlogs of his high 60,000 others waiting their turn for a freedom flight the commanded tourer which is the international body responsible for governor of west Berlin occupies the allied control building in Kleitzpark there are poles in front of the buildings for the flags of four different nations the french, the british the american and a russian only the russian flag don't fly there anymore their ideas just don't jive with democracies on the way to lead a people back to an honorable life and they walked out of the command tourer in 1948 since then the representatives of the remaining three powers military and civilian work side by side relax in controls helping a democratic west Berlin establish itself as a part of the free world interestingly enough the russians continue to cooperate with the democracies on just one job in Berlin garden spanned out prison maybe it's because it's a kind of a specialty of theirs keeping people under lock and key anyhow all four governments are responsible for garden of prison which has just a few inmates but they're the top former nazi leaders alive today and that's how it is that american troops in Berlin still meet the russians on peaceful terms and the changing of the guard when we take over our tour yep and there's even a handshake according to the rules of military courtesy yes sir, solzion in Berlin is a kind of education where you don't just hear about what's good and bad in political systems you get to see how they work out you get to look at a city that was just about flattened with a population that had to start all over again and now on one side of town you find people hungry, hopeless, scared on our side you see a great city again shaping up all the ruins folks rebuilding it who have learned a lesson about freedom and who are ready to fight to keep it this time thinking about that it feels pretty good to be a solzion here and know that you're helping them in that fight maybe that's one of the reasons we take our training activities as seriously as we do around here put that extra snap into everything to make ourselves better soldiers surrounded the way we are by the Red Army we don't have a lot of space for field maneuvers but we've still gotten pretty sharp working out in the grung old forest just outside of Berlin training a year round to keep us on our toes ready for anything that might happen when and if it happens with the knowledge that plenty can happen in Berlin, Germany the hottest spot in Europe we're not trigger happy here but we stay on close terms with our guns Bazookas too, we want to get good with them there are an awful lot of red star tanks roaming around in this neck of the woods and if an emergency comes in Berlin it's pretty likely to be civil disobedience and confusion that's why we learn how to handle riots before they occur working with the Berlin policemen our own men representing the mob the main idea in our technique is to send the crowd home without bloodshed lives can be saved this way instead of machine gun tactics like the Soviets have been practicing in their zone I guess it's just another example of that difference between their side now a difference felt I believe by every U.S. soldier here from private on up to our commandant officer in Berlin General Daniel himself Berlin is a unique city divided into two opposing parts of government and two political ideologies one third of the city, the Soviet sector lives under a communist controlled government which operates along the lines of police state it is based on the idea that the individual belongs to the state and that he has no right to decide for himself how he shall be governed or how he shall conduct his life the other two thirds of the city, the western sectors enjoy a free democratic government whose officials were elected from candidates of several political parties it is the same type of democratic government we have in the United States and the West Berliners have the same freedom of action as Americans at home this democratic government of West Berlin has existed since the first free elections in October 1946 despite all communist efforts to destroy it and its democratic freedoms it has survived with the support and encouragement of American, British and French agencies established by international agreement to help Germany toward recovery the American troops under my command here in Berlin are to assure the security of the American agencies in their efforts to keep democracy alive in this outpost 100 miles behind the Iron Curtain our American soldiers and their British and French allies are here to show the world the democratic government can function under even the most adverse conditions in short our American troops are in Berlin for the following four reasons first to show the Berliners, our allies and the communists the best soldiers in our army as peaceful representatives of a great democratic nation second to protect United States lives and property in this city where our government maintains its lawful agencies in close proximity to unfair elements surrounding the city third to help the West Berlin police to keep law and order and if it should become necessary to give them armed support against attack on civil authority fourth to fight if necessary or United States rights in a free Berlin which is in keeping with our government's pledge to keep the city free from any encroachment by hostile forces German eyes turn to Berlin and see the picture you have seen on one side of the city hunger, fear and brutal controls of the conqueror on the other side the West a new Berlin building out of the rubble and a free people have been given a chance to earn a decent future it's the job of the American soldier and his allies in Berlin to defend that chance to help them find an honorable place in the big picture now this is Sergeant Stewart Queen inviting you to be with us next week for another story in the big picture the big picture is a weekly television report to the nation on the activities of the Army at home and overseas produced by the Signal Corps pictorial center presented by the U.S. Army in cooperation with this station you can be an important part of the big picture you can proudly serve with the best equipped the best trained the best fighting team in the world today the United States Army