Big Picture: Army Digest Number 3

Year Published: ca. 1975

Creator: National Archives

Format: 16mm/video file

Description: National Archives and Records Administration ARC Identifier 2569735 / Local Identifier 111-TV-479 Big Picture: Army Digest Number 3 DVD Copied by Timothy Vollmer. In this Army Digest for THE BIG PICTURE television series, two subjects are covered on film. The first, "The Junior Essex Troop," is the story of an historic National Guard unit and a group of 150 boys, age 11 to 17. Viewers will see how, between them, soldiers and boys keep alive a tradition and a way of life now gone from the modern scene. The National Guard unit is the 102nd Armored Cavalry in West Orange, New Jersey. Formed in 1931 as a cadet auxiliary of the famous Essex Troop, the Junior Essex Troop is believed to be the only junior cavalry squadron in the country sponsored by a National Guard unit. The charter of the troop states as its purpose: "to encourage patriotism, and to foster the love of horses among boys, and to train boys in the art of horsemanship, cavalry drill, marksmanship, military training and discipline." The Junior Essex Troop Horse Show, staged annually in which all the contestants are teenage or under, provides a colorful climax to the story. The second story, "Umbrellas of the Sky," tells how in the years since man first realized an age-old dream and took to the air, the parachute has played a role of ever-increasing importance. Today, the parachutes, like flight itself, serve in hundreds of ways the purposes of both peace and combat. In the unusual scenes shown, THE BIG PICTURE brings to the television screen some of the highlights in the development of these "Umbrellas of the Sky."