This film takes a look at the mobilization of National Guard at the start of WW2 in 1940 and 1941. It shows various veterans from the 18 units that were mobilized. It opens with images of Hitler giving speeches (:24). Nazi troops march with swastikas on their arm badges (:26). Winston Churchill is pictured (1:01) as well as Franklin Roosevelt as he ordered active military into service on September 16th, 1940 (1:07). The film was presented by the US National Guard (1:36). Veteran James Brown (1:53) of the Georgia National Guard was a part of the 101st regiment. Dan Smith (2:20) from the Illinois National Guard recalls 1938 when he had been a crew chief mechanic on the Air National Guard aircraft 038. He points to the craft behind him which is the last of the crafts remaining (2:26). Joe Gill (2:40) from the Kenya National Guard had been a part of the 36th Division that had been mobilized to the armed forces on November 25th, 1940. Donald Oars (3:01) of the Washington National Guard is seen. Men are seen undergoing the induction process (3:21) and receiving their uniforms. 28 National Guard Air squadrons had also been mobilized (3:50). Footage follows of some of the 300,000 whom had participated (4:00) and of enlisted men running through combat training courses (4:18). Fred Daugherty (4:30) of the Oklahoma National Guard was a part of the 45th Infantry Division which was called into action on September 16th, 1940. Felix Sparks (5:05) of the Colorado National Guard was sent to Fort Sill in Oklahoma. He explains their living situation in the primitive camp (5:24). Raymond Wilkinson (5:32) of the Massachusetts National Guard speaks on the morale of the National Guardsmen. The National Guard Armory follows (5:46). Paul Lemesters (5:58) of the Indiana National Guard discusses the changing from civilian life to that of life as a soldier. Donald Oars is pictured in front of his high school which was comprised of many National Guardsmen including the principal of the school, members of the coaching staff and students (7:11). In September of 1940, Oars was a member of the 41st Division stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington (7:35). Zoeth Skinner (7:42) of the Oregon National Guard was a part of the 41st which was one of the first five National Guard divisions to be mobilized. A span of the tents set up at Fort Stewart are shown (8:55) as well as enlisted men moving supplies (9:02). Equipment for training was in short supply or inadequate and much of the trainings had to be simulated (9:54). Tree branches were used as anti-aircraft machine guns (10:00). Flour is dropped from planes onto tanks to simulate aerial attacks (10:04). Oars is seen at Camp Murray in Washington (10:57) in modern times and an image follows of the camp in early 1940 (11:03). Photographs show the grounds here to be flooded and muddied (11:08). A newspaper headline follows reading ‘Sick Guardsmen Live in a Sea of Mud’ (11:20). Enlisted men are seen undergoing portions of their training which took two years including wading through flooded trenches (12:51). Reinforcement troops are pictured with packs on their backs (14:00). Wilkinson tells a story of receiving reinforcements which had all been found dead the following morning (14:29). Nazi forces are seen riding around the Arc Du Triomphe in France as the war progressed (15:08). Japanese forces hold up the Imperial Japanese flag (15:16). Zoeth Skinner (15:34) was stationed on Luzon as a part of the 194th Tank Battalion before being sent to Bataan and taking part in the Bataan Death March in April of 1942 (16:05). Oars points to tracks behind him (16:11) which had been the same tracks that the 161st Infantry loaded onto at North Fort Lewis which would eventually take them to the Southern Pacific theater of the war. Bombs are seen dropping on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 (16:53). The Japanese Naval fleet is seen in the waters nearby (17:10). General Jacob L. Devers (18:11) and Former Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson (18:41) are heard discussing the involvement of the 18 Divisions of the National Guardsmen which had been mobilized. Lindsay Henderson (19:03) is seen from the Georgia National Guard. President Truman is pictured awarding a member of the National Guard with the Medal of Honor (20:01) and the faces of the other 13 members of the National Guard who received the same medal follows (20:08). The film then presents the symbols and divisions which had been a part of the mobilization and where they were stationed at (20:50). A quote is then read from General George Patton on the Thunderbird Division (25:01). The film had been produced by the National Guard Bureau (27:18).

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