 The latest weapons, coupled with the fighting skill of the American soldier, stand ready on the alert all over the world to defend this 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. Ever since we first won our freedom, it has been the citizen soldier who has taken upon himself the responsibility to defend that freedom. There never has been a generation of Americans who has not borne arms in its defense. And there never was a generation that was prepared to bear these arms. War has always taken us by surprise. Today we can no longer afford the luxury of unpreparedness. Today wars move with the speed of sound and the power of the atom. The citizen soldier must be ready. He must be alert. Let's observe this American, the citizen soldier, as he marches down through the pages of history. Out of a world which has never ceased to tremble with the stamp of marching feet. Out of a world made tiny by the dangerous miracle of flight. Out of the bitter surprise, out of the battle and the sacrifice. There came at last a day of victory. There came at last a hope for peace. And yet there is no easy peace. Everywhere from Red Square to Red China, there are men to challenge our freedom. In this situation of danger, the first hope for survival lies in the strength and resolution of the American people. Their purpose is to grow strong in peace. But they will fight when their way of life is at stake. Their heritage is liberty. Their protection is vigilant. War is strength in reserve. This is a Minuteman of 180 years ago. This is a Minuteman of today, his name, Walter Bowen. This Walter Bowen is a fairly average looking guy with the same looks, same home, same crab grass as a lot of other Americans. How can you tell he is a Minuteman? Here's one way. Notice the fatigue pants he's wearing. Old soldiers' pants never die. They only fade away. The boy next door is Sid Pollock, 18 years old, and as you will see, also a Minuteman. These days, there aren't many surprises in Walter Bowen's life, but when one comes, he is ready for it. Take a good look at this man, this citizen soldier. Take a good look at his young friend from next door, Sid Pollock. Up to now, they have kept war from entering this pleasant backyard. It didn't happen by luck. It happened because men like these were ready to defend their homes when the need came. In one way or another, each generation of Americans has had to fight for its own freedom. In his own time, Bowen was equal to that challenge. Walter Bowen's time to defend his home came in World War II. In a great victory in Europe, we shall tell more of later. To understand that victory, we must go back to the first time Americans turned out to defend their homes at Concord Bridge. 180 years ago, the weapon of war was the rifle, and the colonists, though unorganized, knew how to handle a gun. These men were made of flint and steel. They had handled the long-barreled flintlocks since they were old enough to walk. They tore their own shirts to make the linen patches to ram their loads home, and they could knock a squirrel out of a tree without damaging a pelt. When the British officer cried, Clear the way! Get along home, you rabble! They stood as still as trees. Then the British cannon opened up. Bare chests against cannon. The colonists stood the fire for six long minutes. Then, because they didn't have proper training, they broke. The bridge crossed. The Yankees hurried the British along the road to Lexington. They fired from behind stone walls, from the windows of houses. The British had never seen such marksmanship. Before the end of the day, nearly 300 of the King soldiers had died, and the Continental Army was born. Many of these Minutemen stayed for five long years of fighting. British ships ruled the sea. British troops held every major port from Boston to Charleston, but the depths of our wilderness gave us time, time to train huntsmen and plowboys into soldiers. And when at last, these soldiers won the victory at Yorktown. The Continental Army numbered 9,000 men. But when the new government was formed, how big an army did the Infant Nation provide for its defense? Newcastle, 5,000 men, 3,000 men, 1,000 men, here's the answer. The army will have an authorized strength of 80 men to guard West Point and Fort Pitt. That standing army of 80 men grew to 235,000 men during the War of 1812, all citizen soldiers. After 1815, the army shrank to 5,000. It swelled again for the Mexican War, diminished again, and then called the Civil War or the war between the states, depending on where you live. The world got its first look at total war. New inventions and tactics increased the mobility of armies. The South, largely rural, made brilliant use of an ancient weapon, cavalry, and won major victories under men like Jeb Stuart. The North reacted by creating a highly mobile cavalry under men like Philip Sheridan. When this war ended, the know-how and mobility set free in our people during the conflict, played its part in winning the new frontier of the West. But this was the mounted horseman's last stand. As always, technology changed the face of war. More and more, the development of firepower pinned armies down and gave the defense a great advantage. A few years before Walter Bowen was born, America became aware that the uneasy world of monarchies in Europe was about to burst into flame. And once more, we were completely unprepared. This war involved the opposition of millions of men in friendship, grinding out yard after yard of precious earth. For three years, the armies were deadlocked. When we declared war in 1917, we had fewer than 200,000 men under arms. And we were entering a war in which 65 million men were engaged. Once again, there was time. The French and British held for 16 months while we built an army of 4 million. One soldier broke through the stalemated trenches and won the victory. Once again, we had met the challenge because we had the time. So the war to end wars was over. And what did we do then to show what we had learned about history? The American army shrank from over 4 million to 120,000. The few tanks that had been built for World War I were cut up for scrap. On a few training fields, strange new vehicles rumbled through the smoke. But these were prototypes, not divisions. It was a time of great accomplishment. A million kids of Walter Bowen's age cheered Lindbergh on his historic flight. A million kids cheered Babe Ruth. And then, about the time they were learning to read. Even the shock of depression did not awaken us to the coming crisis. There was so much time. Let us see how America spent that time, year by year. Europe 1933, strengthened Italian army on parade. USA 1933, paraders demand legal beer. Europe 1934, German army builds up mechanization program. USA 1934, Congress slashes 55 million from army budget. Asia 1935, Japanese army, largest force in Asia, invades Chinese mainland to the west. USA 1935, thousands cheer as Alabama invades west to beat Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Europe 1936, Soviet Union sacrifices consumer production to train every individual in the service of the state. USA 1936, Walter Bowen's team finishes second in the city sandlothly. There was still so much time. Europe 1937, French build Maginot line, the greatest creation in trench warfare ever divide. USA 1937, America's bestseller is Gone with the Wind, a novel of the Civil War. Europe 1938, German tanks in Austria. Chamberlain flies to Munich for talks on Czechoslovakia. USA 1938, Sixth Avenue L in New York, Damali. Scrap iron sold to Japan. 39, Soviets invade Finland. German panzers take memo. Italy invades Albania. This was the year that in the United States we opened a world's fair with a theme of world peace. But before the summer was over, the war came to the Western world on September 1, 1939. From the open plains of Poland came a new word, blitzkrieg, as the Germans unleashed a force that was to be decisive on the ground in Europe, armored warfare. Never before had any weapon of combat been so devastating. In four weeks, with the help of a Russian invasion from the east, armored assault conquered 30 million people. Then we wrote the handbook of warfare. With Poland gobbled up, the Germans shattered Norway and Denmark. Then blitzkrieg came to the Netherlands, to Luxembourg, to Belgium. Troopers reigned from the skies and immobilized cities. Became Prime Minister of Britain. But defiance was not enough to hold back swift armored divisions fighting with the new concept of warfare. The super trench of the Maginot Line was breached. The French army of 3 million was thrown into confusion. Three weeks after Churchill took office, came the news of Dunkirk. And the Panzer Division was master of Europe. They paraded in the Champs Elysees. The Fuhrer stood on the channel coast and turned his eyes westward. Plans were made for the invasion. Assault upon Britain will be an armored operation requiring 40,000 vehicles ashore by D plus 2. The war broke out in the sky. London went through its trial by fire. This is the night of September 15, 1940, the day of crisis in the Battle of Britain. It was not until the next day, September 16, 1940, that Congress passed a draft law in the United States. Remember Walter Bowen? He had reached military age now and with 17 million other Americans, he registered for the draft. The American men waited anxiously as the numbers were drawn from the fishbowl. When their numbers were called, they reported for duty by the millions. At first, they didn't look as if they had the skill or equipment to deal with armored division. As a result, the Axis made one of the most serious intelligence errors of the war, underestimating the potential of the American fighting man. But the American soldier had a secret weapon, know-how, an absolute mastery of the tools where had they come from, these rookie reserves? From a hill in Akron, Ohio, from a dirt track in Ho-Hocus, in the Masabi, from a luberatorium in Texas, from an 80% grade hill in Washington, for hell drivers, even as kids, hot pilots of the handlebars. Some of them could shoot, some of them could type, but they all knew how to drive. Hitler thought he had to patent on mechanized warfare, but he never saw an American traffic jam on a Sunday. They could drive, they could build, and now they were ready to fight. For at last, America had seen the whites of their eyes. But civilian skills alone don't make a trained army in modern warfare. In Africa, we paid bitterly for all the years we had dreamed away. This was the price we paid for time. Fortunately, in this case, we were not too late. Our troops learned fast and we won the Battle of Africa. In Sicily, our fighting men came of age. Then came the assault on Fortress Europe. The Germans knew this was the biggest battle of their lives. If they could throw back the invasion, they might divide the allies and sue for a separate peace. On June 6, 1944, resistance was skillfully organized. The destruction was terrific. Although a foothold on the beach was won by nightfall, the Battle for Europe was far from over. A three-day storm prevented the supply build-up on the beaches. Though few people remember it now, the Allied armies were late at every single one of their objectives in Normandy. As the build-up continued, men dug in. Stalled. Let's look at the map. This is the front July 5, D-plus 29. Conn marked for capture the first day, still not taken. Cherbourg marked for capture D-plus 8, not taken till D-plus 25. Port virtually useless. San Loh marked for capture D-plus 9, still in enemy hands, was chosen as the point for the breakdown. The attack began with the saturation of enemy lines. By now, we had added a few wrinkles to our know-how. The effect was devastating. The German commander My front lines looked like the face of the moon. 70% of my troops out of action, dead, wounded, crazed, or numbed. Walter Bowen's outfit, part of the American mechanized force. And now the world saw that America had created a mobile striking power such as the world had never seen. They came with bulldozer tanks to cut through the hedge road. They came with flail tanks to break through minefield. Third personnel carriers, they even had tanks to rescue other tanks. In 36 hours, tanks and infantry covered 25 miles. In Britain 8, they put 7 divisions over one bridge in 72 hours. August 13, the Americans had swept to the loo wild. They had taken lamans and were threatening to close the fallow's pocket. The Nazis counterattacked sharply at more time, seeking to break through to the sea, and infantry threw them back. When the Germans withdrew across the sands, they left behind 200,000 prisoners, 2200 guns and tanks. Now the way was open across France and the ganks were on the move. They fought in shot, cutting off Paris and opening away for the liberation of that city bugger branch. Punging across France, their southern flank was unprotected, but the planes took care of that. Right off the situation maps, in one week, they crossed the Marne, the Aine and the Meurs, over which four years of World War I had been fought. They traveled farther and faster than any army had traveled before in history. They were a cocky crew, these civilians in uniform, and they kept on rolling and winning till it met, they ran out of gas. France was liberated. The battle was not over, but the end was in sight, and every sane man in Europe knew what the end would be. After the Battle of the Bows, they were loose again. They rolled down the long road through Germany, through Koblenz and Koburg, through Erfurt and Bayreuth, and on deep into Germany, where Nazism was doing. The bowman is home now, cultivating his garden. But it has also taken something away. That something is time. The slack time he always had in the past to create and train an army against aggression. Today that time is measured not in years, months, weeks, but in seconds. And his young neighbor measure out their quiet days. Other men are watching them, thinking about them, assessing their strength and resolution. Across the sea in Russia, there are men who think about them this enormous military machine goes abroad or stays at home on the basis of one factor alone, what the free world has in reserve against it. In the Far East, a searching red tide floods or ebbs according to their estimate of what Americans are capable of, what we have in reserve. As Walter Bowen drives through the peaceful streets of his hometown, he knows he lives with danger. And he, his young friend and perhaps a handful of others like them are doing something about it. In centers like this, across the nation, a few minute men gather. Here they supplement their civilian skills with training in the complex know-how of today's army. There is much to learn for the new men and the veterans because the changes have been tremendous since Walter Bowen's old khaki pants in the war. There are no heroics here. This is a quiet, unspectacular business involving only a few hours a week. But it's important. These men and their instructors are the foundation of new units which must be ready in case of emergency. But the painful truth is that there are not enough men in these centers. Outside that window, too many go about their own concerns in this lesson of history. In the past, we had barely enough time, barely enough know-how to get by. There will be no future unless we are ready now. You don't have to go to a reserve center to understand this fact of life. That the enemy can pick the time, the place, and the form of attack. Thousands more men must go to reserve centers if we are to be ready to meet that attack in any form by our readiness to prevent its ever happening. Fortunately, our reserve training program makes it possible for men to achieve that readiness without leaving their homes or family. Every day of every week, America lives in a race with time, and history holds the stop-watch. The freedom of our nation, of all liberty-loving nations depends on this simple but important beauty. Today, more than ever, the world needs America's strength in reserve. And so today, thousands of young men throughout our country are attending weekly reserve meetings, advancing in their army reserve career as they advance in their civilian one. Their numbers are increasing as more and more men accept with pride the responsibility of the citizen soldier. But the defense of freedom is a gigantic job. It's a job that had its beginning with the founding of our country. It will not end until there is true peace throughout the world. It's a big job and it's everybody's job. Yours and mine together. This is Sergeant Stuart Queen. Invite you to be with us again next week for another look at your army in action on 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 Army Pictorial Center presented by the United States Army in cooperation with this station. You too can be an important part of The Big Picture. You can proudly serve for the best equipped, the best trained, the best fighting team in the world today, the United States Army.