 from Korea 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 Captain Carl Zimmerman. Along with military responsibilities in Korea, your army is conducting a program of civilian relief and supply. A humanitarian responsibility, yes, but also vitally necessary in making the actual job of fighting possible. Today we tell this very human story. How your army, along with others of the UN command, appears for thousands of Korean civilians who lost their homes, their families, when the communists attacked. This was a city, the city of Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea. It's my city. I was born there. It hot, and I saw it this way. The enemy took it twice, and we took it back. You wreck a place when you fight for it. Seoul city suffered. The people suffered. Each time the enemy drove south, the people fled before them. Farmers, mostly, were their wives and kids. Just people, like any people, any place. Only they were in the wrong place. They were tired and hungry and cold. Many were sick and hot. Behind them, their farms were ruined, and their villages burnt. There were thousands of them. They didn't mean to, but they jam up things so bad you couldn't get through. Replacements, food, and ammo, everything got stymied. They have no place to go. No one to look to. They need help. And they got it. We call it civil assistance. Civil assistance is the mission of UNCAC, United Nations Civil Assistance Command Korea. It is the program these men from many nations set in motion for the rehabilitation of Korea. It is time and money, and planning and cooperation. But mostly, it is work. Hard, back-breaking work. Delmonotonous work. Men's work, sometimes done by women. A whole nation at work, rebuilding. But it wasn't always so. Remember these people? I sure do. They came through our lines at Taekwook. I remember them. They were my friends and neighbors. They came in by the truckload. We did what we could for them. Gave them some rice, maybe dug up some old clothes. The civil affairs officer talked to them, got them organized, and sent them on back. We'd like to do more, but we're a fighting outfit. Our job was out in front of us, not behind. Back in the rear areas, the refugees were temporarily resettled in existing villages and towns. It's a good this way. We all work together, villages whose home this is and those who have no home. But it takes time. Nobody builds a house in a couple of days. And these people need thousands of houses. It's an awful big job. It takes time to make clothes to keep you warm. It takes time for the rice to grow. It takes a lot of time. But for now, these things must be provided for them. Back at Pusan, the ships came in. All victories from the last war, doing a big job again. That's rice. I never saw so much rice. But I never saw so many hungry people either. Those guys work over that rice. Every shovel is a couple of days' rations for somebody. We don't have much modern equipment here in Pusan Harbor. We wish we did. Someday, maybe we will. We need it. Just a net full of rice. Back in the States, I might give you a couple of bucks for it. Then I'd probably toss it at some old girlfriend getting married. Here it keeps people alive. Seems funny making such an important thing out of rice. It is important. And that's not all. Packages from CARE, American Relief for Korea, and other relief organizations also help. But no matter what it is or where it comes from, it's broken down and shipped to food distribution points where hungry people wait. The food shortage is acute, and for the present, rations must be provided outright by civil assistance. A man must have physical strength to work and build. The spiritual strength to hope and believe. Often they get a hot meal at a feeding station. It all depends on how far the community has gotten along the rugged road that leads to eventual self-sufficiency. For that is the mission of civil assistance, to help the Koreans, to help themselves. We don't have enough people back here to put a crew in every village and town, so we organize mobile civil assistance teams to cover large areas. A couple of jeeps, a weapons carrier, and a few bags full of old clothes from the States. Maybe gonna help keep some of these people a little warmer this winter. You ever been cold? I mean cold, cold a long time, bone cold, day after day, all winter long. Some of these people were that cold last year. The old folks remember, and they worry about what's coming. But kids live for today. The sergeant had gotten some bubble gum from the States. Bubble gum. They never heard of bubble gum five minutes ago. Now look at them. Kids are kids, even in the dirty hills of Korea. So maybe these kids don't have the stateside technique. So what? For a little while they're laughing, like kids ought to laugh. When we pulled away, I felt good. I felt good all over, like it was Christmas time. And these were kids from around the block back home. And I knew then that what we were doing here in Korea was right, and had to be done. Our other mobile units, too. This is the mobile dispensary. Its primary mission is preventive medicine. Wherever possible, Korean personnel are utilized. They'll inoculate every villager against smallpox, typhoid, and typhus. They'll dust every villager with DDT to lick the vermin-borne diseases. Deeders and the vaccines are new things to us. But we understand their importance, and we all get our shots. We don't want sickness added to our troubles. We must be strong and healthy to rebuild our country. Yes, and that's important, but that's not all. A general epidemic could infect the U.N. Army, like it did the Reds a year ago. We can't take the chance. But the program so far is only a short-term subsistence program. It has provided only the barest necessities. Most of the material has been acquired from outside organizations. It has been a program of relief rather than rehabilitation. Temporarily this has to be, for the people must live today if they ought to build for tomorrow. Shot tickets are important. They prove you've been inoculated. Shots are okay, but nobody wants more than their share. And a DDT gun is sometimes a lifesaver. You ever been dusted? Maybe typhus is no problem back home where you are. You haven't had to live in the dirty mess that follows a war. Around here people can die at typhus. Not so many now. We dust everybody. It's not bad. Some people like it. People and industry on the road to recovery. Remember the factories in Taegu and Seoul? Remember the shipyards in Kunsan? Remember the farms and the rice fields? Yes, I remember. I used to look there. I remember. My division saw some rough fighting there. There was little left. The crops must be planted again. The fishing boats must put to sea. The wheels of industry must turn once more if the land is too prosper. One look around and you know we got to help these people help themselves. We are farmers mostly. We have found this soil for centuries. It is pure soil. Our methods are ancient. Our tools are crude. But we know no others. You needed fertilizer. Good chemical fertilizer from the states to improve the soil. And through civil assistance you got it. With it came American technique and hand tools. Simple things like plows and hoes and sickles. You needed them. It is true. We needed them badly. Now we are getting them. The rice harvests are bigger. The people will be better off. The fishing industry posed more of a problem. Boats were destroyed. Ice houses and canneries were wrecked. The power to run them was nonexistent. Reconstruction had to take place on all three levels at once. It took a long time. We needed the lumber and the tools. But now there is work for the shipyards. We are building fishing boats again. Men can go to sea. Their nets will fill quickly for in Korean waters. There are many fishing. It is well because my people need fishing to live. See that? That's power. The kind of power it takes to build big things. Like a country. These people used to get their power from hydroelectric works up north. But the enemies got them now. So we set up our own plants. It wasn't easy. But now the freezes are running again. Ice is rolling from the ice houses once more. And into the holes are waiting boats. When you go in for fish in a big way you got to have a lot of ice. And the fish canneries. Something's got to run them. We patched up the few existing facilities and tapped new resources to produce the electricity. So now they're turning out the cans again. And food is getting around. Fish and rice. The two staples of the Korean diet. For the first time since the invasion there's almost a beginning to be enough. But also of importance is the rebuilding of South Korean manufacturing. This mess used to be a cotton mill. And it wasn't so long ago it looked like this. Took a lot of American know-how, UN supervision and Korean determination. But today that mill is rolling again. That's cotton batten for warm quilts. They'll need all they can get this winter. And that's cotton thread to make the kind of clothes these people wear. Shoes from America are good to have when you have no shoes at all. But Korean slippers are so much more comfortable to Korean fit. Besides, the whole object of this civil assistance is to help these people get started so they can take care of themselves. They don't want everlasting charity and we're not giving it to them. We're just lending them a hand until they can stand on their own feet. Now that this factory is back in operation one more step forward has been taken on a long road to rehabilitation. Food and clothing are basic. But a modern nation must have the industry. You know what that is? That's scrap. Stuff yourself to a junkie back home. It was copper cable. It used to run the street cars in Seoul. Then the enemy wrecked the city. They wrecked this wire plant too. But with the civil assistance the Koreans patched it up and got it running again. Now they're rebuilding their railroad. In some cases replacement parts are obtained from Japan because most of the original equipment was of Japanese manufacture. But there was still much more to do. One of the biggest problems we had to face was the treatment of civilian wounded. Remember these people? I remember. They were hot and sick. I remember. It was back in 50 when things were really tough. There weren't enough medical supplies for everyone. For a while some people had to get along without help. Supplies had to be airlifted from Japan and mobile teams of Korean doctors, nurses and technicians had to be set up. These teams still operate in the back country where there are no doctors and nurses. It is good to know that anyone who is sick or hot can get help. Sure this little guy is scared. He's probably never seen a doctor before but an obsessed ear is nothing to fool with. He's in good hands. Soon he'll forget all about it. But his mother won't. She'll remember what civil assistance did long after we're gone and the Koreans are on their own again. This is okay for minor stuff but a lot of these people work right up behind the front lines. They lug in ammo and food on their backs straight up to the guys in the bunkers and foxholes. It takes guts and sometimes they get hit. They need field hospitals like this but there are other civilians that need help too local people and refugees hurt, sick or maybe just having a baby. We use our own personnel as much as possible because when the war is over we want to be able to take care of ourselves. But field hospitals aren't enough either. There must be permanent facilities like the Italian Red Cross Hospital and Yongdong Po or the Danish hospital ship Yutlandia and this is the National Hospital at Taegu. Eventually it will be staffed and administered entirely by native Koreans but for the present you'll find Indian, Danish and American as well as Korean personnel here. In this business of civil assistance everybody's got to pull together. Here a doctor from India examines a patient. In places such as this they've got modern equipment like this x-ray machine. Here some South Korean kid with maybe a piece of enemy shrapnel that's been in him for months can get decent attention. Expert technicians operate the equipment. From what I hear a lab is pretty important too. They don't guess anymore like in the old days. They test you for everything and make sure they've got it right. Here a couple of lab technicians run tests on blood samples. Sometimes the news is good. Often all it means is a couple of pills and a few days in the sack. Then sometimes it's more serious. They tell you they're going to have to operate. I don't like the idea any more than this poor kid. But one thing I do know he's going to get the best treatment medical science can provide. He'll need it. He's going to have a rough time around here for the next few years. He must be strong so that he can rebuild his country. And he will be strong thanks to the United Nations Civil Assistance Command and cooperating agencies like the UN Rehabilitation Agency. He and many others will be stronger, healthier people. For instance, during the first nine months of 1951 the number of persons who received hospital care as a result of the UN Civilian Relief and Assistance Program in Korea exceeded the combined populations of Boston, Baltimore, St. Louis, Chicago and San Francisco. Over a million people received inpatient care. Over five million received outpatient care. And it's a lot more by now. This was good work. We traveled far along the road to recovery. But it was not enough. If you build something, you build it for the future. A nation's future belongs to its youth. Remember these children? Yeah, I'll never forget them. I gave them some candy and an old pair of fatigues. I remember them. They were children from my province. They were lost and afraid. One of the most pathetic problems to confront civil assistance was that of caring for the war orphans. Because of the vicious flow and ebb of the communist onslaught thousands of children were separated from their families. Every effort was made to gather them together in institutions and identify them so that as many as possible might be reunited with their parents or friends. Circulars and newspapers have served to join hundreds of families. Today there are over 200 institutions throughout South Korea established to provide for them. Staffed and administered primarily by Koreans. Kids, you know there's something about kids. It doesn't matter whose kids they are or where they are. You still love them. Maybe it's because kids have bounce. They take this whole mess right on a chin and snap back. Around here you need that kind of spirit. It's good to find somebody who can still have fun and who hasn't lost his laugh. The children are handled in large groups and simple discipline must be enforced. Here morning muster is taken. Afterwards there are physical exercises. Then some children play games while others go to school. In my country the scholar has always been the village leader and so even now we try very hard to give the children good schooling. It is sometimes difficult because many buildings have been destroyed, books and teachers are hard to get. Yet despite all these handicaps, real progress is being made. The school system must constantly improve for unless Korea can continue to educate her young people no present cultural, political or economic investment made by the United Nations will maintain its value in the future. After school the young kids play while the older ones work around the orphanage. Mixing mud plaster may be fun at first but pretty soon it becomes a chore. It has to be done though to get this place in shape for winter and the youngsters pitch in while one of the instructors turns his hand to cover in a wall. Then there's the garden to be tended. Pretty good for small fry, huh? It's got to be good because to a large extent they will rely on the food they grow here. These Korean kids have got heart and it's good to see it. It is well for in these children's hands lies the future of my country. You want them to have the same good things our kids enjoy. Civil assistance has given us the tools to help rebuild our country. It has shown us the way to a new and a better future. Maybe more important than anything else it has shown us what free men can do. Look, the streetcars are running in Seoul again. My people are beginning to live once more. I am a soldier of the Republic of Korea. I can fight harder now. I know my country has a future. As an American soldier, I'll continue to fight hard too for in the future of Korea is the future of the United Nations and a whole free world. Yes, it's my future and yours. Relief for the Korean civilians must go on for some time. For the good of our troops as well as the people of Korea. For now we can report that the work is proceeding successfully. We are helping the Koreans help themselves. Next week we'll bring you a pictorial report of the activities of your soldier overseas. This is Captain Carl Zimmerman inviting you to be with us then. 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 Photographic 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.