 The United States Army presents the Big Picture, an official report produced for the armed forces and the American people. Today, the Big Picture brings you a story of many stories. All of them moving, some truly earth-shaking. Through these stories has revealed a different role of the United States Army. Of natural disaster, need immediate relief. The United States Army, with its primary responsibility for national security, has a ready organization, trained personnel, special facilities and equipment, needed supplies and instant mobility. When assistance is requested by civil authorities or the American Red Cross, the United States Army stands ready to answer their call. The United States Army was there to help Chicago after its great fire of 1871. They were there to save Johnstown from its devastating flood of 1889. At the dawn of this century, San Francisco, a prospering metropolis in the year 1906, day and festive just after Easter Sunday, then on April 18 at 5.14 a.m. Harvest of destruction, the Department of California ordered all available forces to report to the mayor. By 7.30 a.m., mounted troops were in action. The artillery and engineer units, the two-day fight against the flames, had finally been won. They leveled four square miles of business and residential areas, over 500 dead and several hundred thousand homeless. Besides guarding property and maintaining order, the Army took on the task of supplying food, clothing, shelter and medical care. The quartermaster department established 800 relief stations to hand out shoes and shirts and set up bread lines to feed over 300,000 daily. Military control continued for 10 months until the civil authorities resumed normal functions. Mayor E. E. Schmitz credited General Funston and his troops with saving the city from annihilation. During the next four decades, the United States Army distinguished itself many times in disaster relief. The Galveston flood of 1915. The Vermont flood of 1927. The 1938 New England hurricane, April 16, 1947. In the harbor of Texas City, Texas, the freighter Grand Camp exploded. Suddenly the waterfront and industrial section erupted into a blazing inferno. Within minutes, two Army officers leading a convoy of 47 vehicles arrived on the scene. They took initial charge of evacuating injured, set up a traffic control system and established field kitchens. Mayor Resources of the 4th Army Command supported the relief operation. 500 Army troops worked through the first two weeks. The 10th Army Air Force made available 39 transport planes. They delivered food, medical supplies and bedding. The Texas City disaster left 512 dead and missing. More than 2,000 injured and $50 million damage. Assisting the Red Cross and other civilian agencies, the United States Army did its job to help the victims of this catastrophe. The Great Plains, Winter, 1948. From November, one storm followed another, and the New Year brought more blizzards and gales. On January 29, 1949, the President declared the snowbound western states a disaster area, and the Army, already alerted, immediately went into action. Major General Lewis A. Pick was designated Commander, 5th Army Disaster Force, Snowbound. He sent 110 supervisory personnel into the storm territories. Sub-area field offices were set up. Army weasels, bulldozers, snow plows and other rescue vehicles were rushed to the snowbound area. Helicopters and ski-equipped planes braved blinding blizzards and sub-zero weather to evacuate the sick and to feed the starving. Next to Mercy Missions, the most urgent task was to reopen roads. This task became bigger as time passed. No sooner had they succeeded in Nebraska than they were facing a harder battle in Wyoming and South Dakota. The United States Air Force airdropped feed for starving cattle and food supplies for snowbound families. Within six weeks, 100,000 miles of roads were opened. More than 200,000 persons were reached, and 4 million heads of livestock were given access to feed. 6,000 military and civilian personnel worked as a team and won. Contrast to the winter-long blizzard, the tornado that hit Waco, Texas on May 11, 1953 devastated the town in seconds. 114 dead, more than 500 injured. The heart of the business district laid waste, ever since the deluge is still the flood. This was Northeast United States in August 1955. Hurricane Diane, following Connie, poured water on the soaked land. Floods broke out from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts. The torrent raced down the hills, into the swollen rivers, then over the streets and through many highly industrialized cities. Armed forces, along with the police, firemen, civil defense volunteers, Red Cross workers, and the Salvation Army began rescue operations. More than 300 towns in six states needed help. In the disaster area, the Federal Administration was authorized to coordinate federal relief rates. The Army's Corps of Engineers was called to take on a major part. Lieutenant General Samuel D. Sturgis Jr., then Chief of Engineers, came to investigate the damage and to direct the emergency construction operations. With an aerial survey fresh in his mind, he worked with the mayors and other civil authorities to map the campaign against nature's ravage. Facing him and his engineers were herculean tasks, repairing water and sewage systems, clearing and shoring up roads, mending river banks, dams, public schools, hospitals, post offices, decontaminating streams, removing debris and wreckage. More than 500 local contractors were spot-negotiated and immediately put to work under supervision of the Corps of Engineers. Some 1,200 pieces of heavy equipment were employed at once. So much water, but none to drink. A flood's brutal irony. Contamination endangers health. Water purification is always among the first tasks of relief. While Army engineers struggled against time to alleviate immediate suffering, they looked toward the future. They constantly worked at flood control, so these towns may never again face such widespread destruction. A neat incident in the annals of disaster relief occurred in Grand Canyon on June 30, 1956. Two commercial airliners collided in mid-air. Their wreckage fell into the deep gorges. The helicopters were requested to help the recovery teams. Despite terrific vertical drafts, they enabled search parties to accomplish their difficult mission. To present a balanced picture, we have invited General Alfred M. Grunther, President of the American Red Cross, to tell us of the long-standing cooperative relationship in time of disaster between the Army and the Red Cross. As you know, the American Red Cross is a voluntary agency chartered by Congress to serve the armed forces and to assist victims of natural disasters. Now in a disaster, there is an emergency phase where help is given while the disaster is in progress or immediately thereafter. Then comes the work after the emergency, a long process of assisting families to rebuild their homes. The United States Army has always been most helpful in the emergency phase. Time after time, during my years with the American Red Cross, I have seen the Army respond promptly and effectively in disasters. The skill with which the Army has functioned, the sympathetic way in which it handles individuals who are frightened, injured and homeless, has made me very, very proud of the service in which I spent 38 happy years. This help is given by the Army, not only in the United States, but also throughout the world. As President of the American Red Cross, I want to thank the Army for this magnificent service. I know that I speak for the American people in expressing this gratitude. An example of the Army's mercy missions abroad took place in the Netherlands in 1953. On February 1, high tides struck the dykes and broke through. Water poured over 700 square miles of land, endangering nearly a million people. Communications broke down completely and it was feared that at least 1,000 persons had perished. On the same day, the United States Army Europe received official request for help from the Netherlands. By evening, orders were issued by the United States European Command to provide assistance. Early the next day, after air reconnaissance of the disaster area and conference with Netherlands authorities, it was determined that the most urgent requirements were to evacuate people and to repair the communications. First missions were air rescue and emergency drops. Under hazardous flying conditions, 7th Army and United States Air Force helicopters rescued hundreds of people from dangerous and isolated positions. They also guided amphibious vehicles to evacuate stranded persons. Helicopters provided the most direct means of evacuating the sick and injured. Against the destructive forces unleashed by nature, Air Force cargo planes joined the operation against hunger and cold. They delivered tons of food, clothing, medical supplies and animal feed by making as many daylight sorties as possible. Responding to every assignment given them by the Netherlands civil authorities, United States Army personnel worked round the clock to check the advancing waters. Their jobs were varied, strengthening and repairing dykes, maintaining communications, transporting workers and supplies. While less spectacular than the air rescue missions, these ground forces provided essential services. Our Navy dispatched landing craft and patrol boats for reconnaissance and heavy-duty work. To the stricken Dutch people, the helicopter and the amphibious vehicles stood out as the mechanical heroes of the two-week relief operation. Together with liaison aircraft, they made a superior rescue team. These children and their countrymen, the goodwill of the American people was expressed so eloquently by United States military forces that no language barrier could block the bridge of understanding. One of the worst disasters in modern history began on May 21, 1960. A series of severe earthquake shook Chile with its southern part hardest hit. The most devastating quake on May 22 released energy equal to 1,200 atomic bombs of the World War II type. Some 4,000 persons were dead or missing, 5,000 injured and 800,000 homeless. One-third of the country suffered. May 24, 1960, our government received Chile's request for assistance, specifying the most needed items, field hospitals, tents, blankets, water purification equipment and medical supplies. Thus began one of the biggest emergency air lifts. Two strategic Army Corps field hospitals, each a 400-bed unit, were flown by 34 cargo aircraft. They moved out immediately after receiving sudden notice to embark on a 6,000-mile journey. To the disaster scene, in addition to field hospitals, were medical maintenance teams, water purification units, field laundries and signal corps communications technicians. In 72 hours, the operation was completed by the 1607th and 62nd troop carrier wings of the United States Air Force. Some 500 Army doctors, nurses and medical corpsmen arrived to set up one hospital unit in Valdivia and another in Puerto Mat, both centers of devastation, became the elixir of life. For Chile, so near the South Pole, the winter was closing in. The young, the old and the ill were evacuated to Santiago, where they could be fed and shielded from the cold. This emergency relief operation was in progress. The tidal waves generated by the Chilean earthquakes swept the far-flung shores all the way across the Pacific. These waves, at 450 miles an hour, hit the Hawaiian islands, creating the most costly disaster in the history of our newest state. National Guard on Hilo mobilized at once to help the police maintain order. After Hawaii was declared a major disaster area on May 25, federal assistance was made available along with Red Cross relief and rehabilitation efforts. From the reports of the Secretary of War dating back to the 1870s, over a span of nearly 100 years, down to the news heard only yesterday, you will find the United States Army extending its helping hand to people everywhere in their hour of need. Disaster relief, both at home and abroad, has become the Army's contribution away from the battlefields. This, above all, to save lives and to prevent suffering. In such emergency periods, people came to know the Army in this different but heartwarming role and remembered. They were there.