 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 Sergeant James Mansfield. Today, I have the pleasure of introducing to you a new series of the big picture. For the next 13 weeks, we will bring you the story of the combat infantryman as told by Colonel William W. Quinn, a regimental commander recently returned from Korea and himself a combat infantryman. We have called this series the Blue Badge because that is the mark of the combat infantryman, the mark of the man with the rifle, the soldier who must face the enemy on the battleground and defeat him. He as America's fighting man, who from Bunker Hill to Old Baldy has fought oppression and tyranny so that our way of life might remain free. He as America's citizen soldier. I'm the American soldier for the American people, my family, my fellows, my sons to come, I carry arms. Remember how I began? Born of explorers, colonists, hunters and deer skins, schooled in the wilderness, fighting for a continent. Remember Concord Bridge, 1775? Here it was, here at this bridge. I fired the shot heard round the world. Then I was the Minuteman, the embattled farmer, the son of liberty, raw militiamen, hardy continental. I was the hope of freedom on the frontier. I carried arms for the rights of man. Remember Valley Forge. I was the winter soldier, starving, marching, freezing, fighting and praying at night, alone in the snow. I planted the flag of 13 stars at the Mississippi, at the Great Lakes. On these, our hard one shores, our flag still flies. And again, here at Yorktown, I was in the splendid ranks when we won our freedom and our continent. I fought the revolution, I won this liberty. Look at my battlefields, Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga, Niagara, Lake Champlain, Manhattan, Kings Mountain and Cowpens, marching. I made America great, north to the parallel 49, south to the real grand, west to the mountains. Marching, I made America free, working at peace. I built America, explored Lewis and Clark with Zebulun Pike, with Kit Carson and Davy Crockett. 1860, 1865, I was the blue, I was the green. I was the green. Marching, I made America free. Marching, I gave America peace. Marching, I found the American spirit. I led the way. I called to America, follow me, follow the American soldier, follow the trail I've laid. I convoyed the wagon trains, moving west, fought the tribes with Custer, rode the Oregon trail, patrolled the wild American continent. My lonely outpost grew. My camps became crossroads. My frontier forts took root, roads from the prairies into cities. My infantry marching made paths. My cavalry riding made trails. Where cities rise, I made the hikes to lay the tides and drive the spikes, uniting my country with rails. Give me the hardest job. Remember? I brought America to the Pacific, punched the railroad tunnels through the rocket. I licked the Mississippi floods, conquered the Yellowjack in Cuba, joined the oceans of Panama, hell like a rock on the mar. I am the American soldier, pioneer, Samaritan, vanguard, wherever I was needed, whenever I was called, I stood and delivered. I came through, I was America on the march. And now today, here I come again, marching again at the same old job, same old brand new job. Marching again with all free men, I'm the ring of steel around democracy. I'm the ramparts that you sing about. I'm the citizen soldier, the nation in arms. I'm a snap and precision, West Point pride. I'm the regular, strictly GI. I'm the rookie, maid soldier. I'm up from the ranks, hell for leather, right on the line, straight from the eye, canineer, trooper, skier, engineer, signalman, sentry, flyer, in the eyes of the cannon, the marching refrain, the brains of the tank, the nerves of the plane. I'm the heart of the shell, the courage of truth. I'm the Liberty Bell, I'm the song of our youth. I'm the fighting men at every outpost. From Alaska to Hawaii to the Philippines and beyond, from Panama to Puerto Rico to Iceland and beyond, whatever the need, for the spirit we're living, for the future we're making, I, the American soldier and the sheen. Here to tell you more about the Blue Badge is Colonel William W. Quinn, better known perhaps as Buffalo Bill Quinn, who recently returned from Korea where he was commanding officer of the 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Division, the Buffaloes. We take you now to Colonel Quinn's office. Now that you've met the man, I'd like to tell you a little bit about the Blue Badge itself. The official title of the badge is the Combat Infantry Badge, and it was authorized for wear on the 27th of October, 1943. In describing the badge, we find an old fashioned flintlock superimposed on a blue background. The blue, of course, is the color of the infantry. The flintlock itself is of a vintage of in the late 1790s and was a copy of the first rifle which was produced in large quantities for the army. Might say that the model for this flintlock was found in the old Harper's Ferry arsenal some years ago, and of course, is in the archives of the army. The laurel wreath that goes around the musket itself is, of course, from ancient vintage of the times when the Greeks used the royal leaf to denote an element of achievement. The star, if you'll note, is awarded to those individuals who have had the opportunity or have been awarded this combat infantry badge in two wars. Earlier in the program, we promised to bring you the infantrymen of the various divisions and tell you something about the histories of these divisions. So today we'll start out with the first United States Infantry Division. Therefore, the blue badge proudly presents the Big Red One. This is the story of the first infantry division, the Red One, whose fighting men saw the war through from D-Day North Africa to V-E-Day Germany. Those combat boots polished now for occupation duty slogged through eight campaigns and three amphibious landings. But units of the first fought as far back as the revolution to preserve the union in the Civil War were first in combat in World War I when those units were combined into a regular army division. Then in 41, there came from all walks of life a new generation of recruits. Boy, do I remember breaking in them first GI shoes. We learned quick, it was a fighting outfit from that rugged training we got here and overseas. Still when we left England along in 42, we felt pretty good. Had a swell CG, Terry Allen, a fighting general. We liked him and he liked us. So the outfit relaxed, had some fun. Till on a chilly November dawn with the coast of North Africa out there in the dark, we knew action was close. Everyone tightened up, waiting. The witch was cold and the water or the feeling in my stomach when they opened up on us. In three days, Oran was ours. Easy, too easy. We thought we knew what war was like, but Jerry taught us different, with dive bombers, tanks, those dirty 88s, tough school pal, the kind you gotta work your way through. Damn near flunked out at the Casserine, but we learned the score, started to teach Jerry a few things out of our book. We rammed our way back to Gaffser and down Ronald's throat at El Guitare, where we tore up his crack tent panzer division. Then we swung north to mature, Pyle told about it, drenching artillery, hidden mines, walls of machine gun fire. Meanwhile, Montgomery's eighth army cracked the marathon line. When we shook hands with his patrols, it was over the corpse of Rommel's army. After Tunisia, the crazy rumor got around that we were gonna load on boats for home. We loaded on boats, all right, but for Sicily, which believed me was no place like home. This time, the beachhead was plenty rough, but after we broke through, the red one moved fast, took 18 towns in 37 days. But to take him, we had to stop and slug it out in the mountains all along the way, like Troyner. Pretty mountain town, but after 21, yeah, 21. Jerry counter attacks, it looked like this. We won all right, but we paid. After Troyner, they sent us back to England. Our new CG, General Huebner, put us through the jumps again. We practiced for another beachhead, but this one we knew was gonna be the payoff, the biggest show of all. The curtain went up on June 6th, 1944. To me, it's a piece of beach in Normandy that was held. We were getting crowded until remordering machine gunfire like rain, without even an umbrella for protection. We came close to being rained out, all right. But when Colonel Taylor of the 16th yelled, we'll get the hell off the beach. We got the hell off and ran smack into Hedge Row country where the crowd set up the fields like forts, using the Hedge Rows for walls. It's like a Chinese puzzle out of hell. We clean up one field only to find out the next was loaded with Jerry. Had to keep digging all the time for cover from 88s and mortars, because if you didn't, still in a week's time, we dug, shot and plowed our way to Calmont, where we waited for the other outfists to come up on our flanks. The French were tickled to see the Superman getting licked by plain American doffy, who were human beings, too. We got a chance to clean up and tell the folks back home how we were doing. It had to be a short note, though, because that big blow-up was brewing. It came on July 25th, when it seemed the whole damn air corps got in on a big bust around some low. Then the infantry pulled an off-tackled play west of the town. The 4th and 9th divisions opened up a nice big hole and the first charged through. Patents' tanks went running all over like frisky colts chopping up the panicky crows. But it was the doffers who did the cleaning up. Combat engineers dug up mines like fat cabbages, cleared away roadblocks. And all the time, the infantry kept coming along for the final kill. It was slugging and slogging, shooting, march, grab a nap when you could, eat while you hiked, see rations, caves, and a lot of dust. That's what the school books called victorious pursuit. Eatin' dust. Even when they put you on trucks, you ate dust. It was a hell of a way to seal our bell france, but we sure covered ground. From Coutance in a month, we drove a right away clear across France, through Soissons with a red one smeared gerry 26 years ago, rolled across the Belgian border, bagged 17,000 heinies in a three-day scrap around Monts, and kept scoopin' them up all the way to the Siegfried line. We cracked it in three days, drove a claim into Hitler's backyard around Arkham. It looked like the final round was comin' up. We did some preparing. Hitler decided to hold out in Arkham, pep up the Germans by makin' it a symbol of Nazi resistance. Gave him a slogan, too. He was fightin' for the honor of the National Socialist German Army. He said, they fought hard, too. House to house, for weeks. But we had a slogan, too. No mission too difficult. No sacrifice too great. Duty first. In the payoff, our slogan had more punch. We cleaned them out, house by house, street by street, till on the 21st of October, Arkham, or what was left of it, surrendered. But we hadn't seen the worst yet. Hurtgenfuhrer showed us that, didn't getcha, and down the outfit. But we cleaned out Jerry. Then General Andrus, our new CG, pulled us out for our first rest in six months. We couldn't believe it. Even when we got back to Verveer in Belgium, we knew it was too good to last. It didn't. Hitler shot the works with one last gamble in the Ardennes. And back in the line, we went to hold the northern shoulder of the bulge. There's an old story for the red one. Mean weather. Jerry beatin' his brains out, attacking, and us counter-attacking. For keeps. When we got rollin' again after the bulge, we found the Rhine River ahead of us. It looked like a big ditch for Dopey to jump. But the 9th Armored grabbed a weird-lookin' bridge at Remagen, and we got over fast. After that, we just threw away the brakes and kept rollin'. Plowed right through the belly of Germany. When they told us in May the war was over, do you know where we were? Czechoslovakia. Yeah. Czechoslovakia. And brother, where we tie it. You know, they call the infantry the queen of battle. Don't ask me why. You wouldn't say those guys look pretty, would you? No, not pretty. But they're real men, soldiers, who do their job. Sure, what you've just seen has brought back a lot of old memories to many of you. I'm also certain that those of you that serve with the First Division are very proud of that service. As before, we want to tell you that the service is a tribute to those of you who served as riflemen and also those who are yet to serve. We want all to know that the wear of the blue badge, what he has done, and what he is doing today, particularly in Korea. We'd like to explain the great burden that this man with a rifle is carrying in the whole defense effort. And to gain for him that recognition which is doing. I must point out at this particular phase that the greater portion of this program has been made possible through the heroic efforts of the Signal Corps combat cameraman. Those individuals who are constantly under fire, taking pictures, portraying for you and for posterity, the activities of this man with a rifle. They have done a good job. I know this from my own experience because when I commanded the 17th Infantry in Korea, we had any number of cameraman with us. And on many occasions, I've seen them pinned down by fire, along with our own men. Well, I think you'll be interested to know what we have in store for you for the next 12 programs. We're going to bring to you living histories of the combat infantrymen in some of our great divisions. We'll start out with the 30th. We'll have a history of the 1st Cavalry Division in the Philippines. We'll see the 3rd, 45th, and 36th in the invasion of southern France. We'll see the 41st at Boone and in New Guinea. We'll go on to see the 34th at Casserine Pass, the 6th Division, the 82nd Airborne in Sicily. We'll watch the divisions of General Patton in the relief of the Bastone Bulge. We'll watch those divisions moving from Naples to Casino. We'll see the 7th in the Pacific and the 29th in Europe. In addition, we will interview a great number of very interesting personalities. On our next program, we invite you to look on when we honor the infantrymen of the Old Hickory Division, the 30th. We'll see them in Normandy, at Sand Low, we'll see them cracking the Siegfried Line, and we'll see them in the Battle of the Bulls. In addition, we have some very interesting facts about the rifleman himself, his rations in combat, his clothing, and the gear that he carries when he goes to battle. So until next week, this is Colonel Quinn speaking for the combat infantrymen and asking you to look twice at the man who wears the blue badge. It's the mark of a man. 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.