SOUTH BEND INDIANA PREPARES FOR WWII “ARMS FOR AMERICA“ (SILENT) ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY 19814

Want to support this channel and help us preserve old films? Visit Browse our products on Amazon: Made at the beginning of WWII by the Association of Commerce of South Bend, Indiana, “Arms for America“ shows the industrial city’s potential as an important cog in national defense production. The film is presented silently here, but likely was originally intended to be a sound film (the soundtrack appears lost). At :56 a printing press whirs along, while at 1:13 a radio station WSBT broadcasts news. At 1:26 South Bend Tribune newspapers leave the printing press. At 1:34 a factory ID card is prepared for a new Army recruit while at 1:47 men are processed as part of indoctrination. At 2:00 a halftrack drives over rugged terrain. At 2:25, artillery practice with a mobile howitzer. At 2:38 a newspaper the South Bend Tribune declares “Local Industries Mobilize“. At 2:45 a special effect shows calendar pages turning in 1941, through December 7th and beyond. At 2:52 a defense plant sign is shown “Part of the Arsenal of Democracy“. At 3:00 workers dis-assemble an engine component and at 3:26 examine a bad cylinder. At 3:30 the Bendix plant is shown. At 3:39 a reed hot steel part is hammered into shape. At 4;21 Army trucks rumble through South Bend. At 4:52 a crate stencil reads “U.S. Army Chicago Signal Corps“. At 5:16 a woodworker cuts parts with an electric jigsaw. At 5:35 molten steel is poured. At 5:50 a female war worker -- Rosie the Riveter type -- works in a defense plant. At 5:55 rivets are put into fabric. At 6:05 a metal rod is bent into shape to create a chair? At 6:25 parts are assembled by another female war worker. At 7:00 large posters are printed and at 7:16 yellow paint or ink is seen being mixed. At 7:29 military brass and possibly city leaders are seen at a ceremony or possibly a goal setting event. At 7:50 a sign is seen for the Kingsby Ordnance Plant in LaPorte. This was a hastily built ammunition plant that sprawled over 13,454 acres. Workers were recruited from the surrounding areas. Many came from the city of Gary because Kingsbury offered higher wages than workers typically earned at U.S. Steel. To accommodate an expected 10,000 workers in a community that only had a population of 16,000, The War Department built thousands of homes, trailers and dormitories just outside the factory. The new settlement was dubbed Kingsford closed at the end of World War II, but reopened in 1951 after the US entered the Korean War. It ceased operations permanently in 1959. At 9:14 a TWA DC-3 (NC18951) is shown. This same aircraft was destroyed in 1942 in a collision with a military aircraft near Kansas City. At 9:30 a group of local leaders meets with a man who bears a striking resemblance to Chester Nimitz (but probably isn’!) At 10;20 a Red Cross nurse is shown prepping bandages. At 10:35 a scrap metal collection point for recycling aluminum is shown. At 11:00, air cadets are shown at the Stockert Flying Service. Owner Homer Stockert served as chief test pilot for the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter plane and operated the Stockert Flying Service for 42 years at the airport, teaching more than 1,000 men and women to fly. At 11:13 work is performed on an air frame. At 11:40 a new building is built, possibly part of the work on Kingsford Heights. At 11:57 new houses are shown under construction / being built. At 12:00 a row of new homes is seen. At 12:24 a parade takes place with marching bands and the film ends at 13:10 with a shot of Old Glory. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit