National Defense

After a man enlists in Uncle Sam's Navy he first goes to a “Detention Unit at a Naval Training Station. This is a period of quarantine intended to prevent the spread of any contagious diseases that might be lurking about. While at Training Station, “apprentice seamen,” as they are called, live in “barracks” or service buildings. They get their uniforms. They sleep in hammocks. Everything seems very different - even the way of keeping time, by “bells.” Stairs are “ladders.” Walls are “bulkheads.” Soon they are undergoing a period of military training and receiving instruction in boats, including the rules of seamanship and Navy discipline. Before long they are selected for sea duty or for training along special lines. The picture shows one of their boat drills. Oars in the rear boat are raised in a vertical position known as “Toss.” NATIONAL DEFENSE, Copyright 1941  by GUM, INC.”

NATIONAL DEFENSE, Copyright 1941  by GUM, INC.”

The use of the parachute as a life preserver is compulsory in both the Army and Navy Air Corps. Parachute jumping is known as “bailing out.” In practice, when the pilot signals to the jumper that he is in position for the leap the parachutist first clambers out of the front cockpit and climbs to the side of the cowling. Then the pilot nods his head, motor has been idled, and the student jumps! Before jumping the parachutist’s hand clasps the ring of the “rip cord: encased in the harness just over his heart. While falling, he counts ten to make sure of clearing the plane, then he pulls the “rip cord” and the ‘chute opens, checking his fall. The parachutes Uncle Sam uses are said to have been never been known to fail to open. This is due to care and construction and proper handling. Every air cadet must know how to pack them right. In addition, the shoots must be aired regularly and inspected. NATIONAL DEFENSE, Copyright 1941  by GUM, INC.”

As the student airman gets more experience he learns to “stunt.” “Stunting” or aerobatics have practical value in combat. The picture shows the use of “half roll” in a dogfight. The foreground plane is being chased by the enemy. It is whirling around sideways until it will be on its back. A half roll! This revolving takes the plane out of the enemy fire. If the enemy wants to follow he must do the same maneuver, but he cannot keep his gun trained on his target through a half roll. So when the foreground plane is upside down it can now dive away, stay upside down, or even climb in that position to get out of the enemy fire! Other stunts using fighting are the “wing over” in which the plane noses straight for the sky, then slows down and drops down the path, nose first, which it came up; and the “spin” in which the plane whirls around like a top.

NATIONAL DEFENSE, Copyright 1941  by GUM, INC.”

Photography training, especially for the observation groups, has become more and more important in recent years in the instruction of Uncle Sam's airmen. To cover this side of the work the student is taken through a photographic course and learns to make maps from the air. In actual air photography the student must learn how to mount the aerial camera and use it in flight. This camera can take oblique views of important positions. The record it makes is a valuable aid to military strategists in time of war. The student airman who completes his photographic course can go on the observation or scouting flights and not only report back to his base by radio but also bring back an aerial picture of the scene! The photographer's work is more dangerous to the enemy than bombs. So, photographers must be expert gunners, as well, daring enough to brave enemy fire to get through to headquarters with their pictures.

NATIONAL DEFENSE, Copyright 1941  by GUM, INC.”

Because Uncle Sam's Army may be called upon at some time to go into action in the frozen north, infantry troops who are stationed at camps where a lot of snow falls are given training with skis and snow shoes. The training tests the ability of one or more battalions of each division to get around in deep snow. It also gives more advanced training to small groups of specially selected individuals organized into patrol units who operate for long periods of time under all weather conditions and on all types of ground. Some are made up in groups for advanced training in battle tactics with rifles and hand grenades. They are employed in wartime like Calvary to surprise the enemy and are valuable as scouts. The instruction is given by qualified officers of the Regular Army and by expert skiers of the National Guard and Reserves.

NATIONAL DEFENSE, Copyright 1941  by GUM, INC.”

About 6% of the civilians selected for the Army are being placed in the Engineer Corp. The Engineers build roads and bridges for the Army’s system of communication. They often supervise the work of infantrymen in these projects. In the picture we see a detachment of Engineers laying a pontoon footbridge. First they unload the new composition unsinkable “pontoons” from Army trucks. Then in a steel boat they string a guide cable across the water to keep the bridge sections from flowing out of line. To start the span, four men carry the interlocking pontoons and decking, or walks into place. These are pushed out into the stream along the guide line and new sections are added from the bank. Then the bridge is anchored to both ends, “duck boards”, or connecting walks, placed at approaches, and a lifeline that stretched across, ready for a lightning advance. The whole bridge takes but a few minutes to build.

NATIONAL DEFENSE, Copyright 1941  by GUM, INC.”

Marines are sometimes called upon to take control, or to assist local authority in time of earthquake, fire, or flood. The city or town is first divided into districts and steps are taken to organize the work of relief. Federal buildings are guarded, looting prevented, supplies protected. Working parties are assembled to aid the wounded and to bury the dead. The water supply is tested and guarded, fire fighting parties are formed. Provisions for the shelter of homeless parents is made and issuing stations for rations are established. All sanitary measures are given wide publicity and strictly enforced. Military Telegraph and telephone lines are installed.

NATIONAL DEFENSE, Copyright 1941  by GUM, INC.”

At the Marine Basic Training School, commissioned officers also are fitted for Marine Corps duty. Important in their training is the instruction they receive in the use of the machine gun, particularly the famous 50-calibre, water cooled gun, whose steael-jacketed bullets can pierce one-half inch armor. For practice against planes, the gunners fire at a target toad about 2000 feet behind a plane. They aim the gun into the sun - the direction from which an enemy would usually make an attack. A mechanism known as the Synchronizer is connected to the guns by cable and gives the gunners the correct range so that fire may be concentrated upon the approaching enemy from a number of points or “stations”. Men with earphones receive instructions from the battery commander. Students include recent Naval Academy Graduates and ROTC commission holders.

NATIONAL DEFENSE, Copyright 1941  by GUM, INC.”

Naval airmen fly the scout observation planes that are carried aboard the battleships and cruisers. The planes are equipped with pontoons so that they may land on the water. The are launched from turntable “catapults”. In a sixty foot run the pilot must speed his plane up to sixty-five miles an hour! As he is “catapulted” into space he has to recover sufficiently from the “jolt” to fly his plane safely away from the ship. After the pilots learn to launch their planes from these catapults their chief mission aboard ship is to be able to take off from the catapult while the ship's heavy guns are firing, to fly high over enemy points and to radio back reports of how the ship's firing is succeeding. This can also be used for light bombing attacks against the enemy small craft.

NATIONAL DEFENSE, Copyright 1941  by GUM, INC.”