General Motors News Parade (1944)

la Invasion day on the English Chan Allied fighting men equipped with all types of Firepower with tanks trucks and bulldozers board landing craft for the long anticipated assault on Fortress Europe the breaching of the German West Wall is only another of the raids to beat down our enemies North Africa Sicily Italy New Guinea the bismar the Solomons the Carolin the maranas and now France here on the coast of nor Allied troops SLI into Germans in the greatest amphibious operation of all time thousands of landing craft of all kinds unload the fighting men on the beaches with the regularity that comes from careful planning and from the machines to help carry out the plans landing craft come on in waves waves of Destruction for the Nazis in their pred and blasted foress this is June 6th the day on the French coast and Detroit Diesel on dday minus one workers turn out to celebrate the completion of the 100,000th GM diesel Invasion engine general manager WT Crow congratulates Factory superintendent Jack fory and other plant Representatives on their accomplishment and the men and women of diesel are proud of their record to Mr CF kering Vice President of General Motors who with his research men has contributed much to the development of diesel Falls the honor of presenting the 100,000th diesel to the Navy let gr ladies and gentlemen of the Detroit Diesel it's a great thrill to me to be out here and see this uh tremendous expansion that's come in this uh business uh as Bill tried to give you an outline of uh the ups and downs of any new thing but when you think of in only 6 years time we've gone from a shop that was hoping the engine would work to one in which we have this tremend pressure and this 100,000 engines uh represents 22 million horsepower of course in this power war that we're in now horsepower we have to have a plenty as you know when we were running a normal automobile year when we was making say 4 million cars if you counted each car 50 horsepower that was 200 million horsepower that we were turning out each year in automobile engines well now with all the aircraft and all the diesel and everything the amount of horsepower that's Tak to overcome these peculiar ideas that Mr Hitler had is is quite sizable I know of no one that I would soon to present this uh engine to or unveil it in his presence than Admiral Taylor who is here today so ad [Applause] Admiral Taylor adal Taylor I take great pleasure in presenting to you as a representative of the United States Navy this 100,000 angel [Applause] thank you very much Mr K hello Americans it is indeed a pleasure and a privilege to represent Secretary of the Navy firestyle here today on the occasion which marks the delivery of the first 100,000 diesel landing craft engine to your Navy the 100,000th diesel ready to follow up Invasion day 100,000 engines representing 22 million horsepower 100,000 engines whose parts are completely interchangeable 100,000 engines carrying men and weapons and materials to every Battlefront generating power for search lights and water purification and all the necessities of life in battle areas powering the giant bulldozers that chop Landing fields and Ro ways from the forest today all over the world American men and American machines are fighting a war of Destruction so that with Victory they may devote themselves to constructive lasting peacetime [Music] effort it's the show for 1944 with emphasis on air-mindedness the industries of Detroit join with the Army and the Army Air Show at the Detroit airport it's a far cry from the first automobile show which introduced those flashy models of 1900 and 19001 but the air show follows in that tradition with just about all of Detroit's Industries represented that's the GM exhibit there for instance marked by the glistening tent crowds pack Jam the show every day and there are special sessions like this morning's for night shift warw workers and their families most of the old favorites of the days before gasoline rationing are here today they're displaying Machines of war in place of straight eights and convertible coups with white sidewall tires here's Cadillac's M5 tank Pontiac and aircraft gun SS Mobile's automatic aircraft cannon and here's Packard and Hudson Ford presents the amphibious Jeep and here's the Ford assembled Liberator bomber powered by by Buick and Chevrolet built Pratt and Whitney engines these young ladies show Keen interest in the Liberator it's just like the one there Tom and Dick and Joe are using to blast the Jabs general motor is one of the largest producers of Firepower Aviation power and aircraft is well represented Chevrolet is here and so is the diesel pancake Fisher body shows the General Sherman tank one of the meanest weapons on tracks just ask field Marshall raml Johnny there tells his ma that Uncle Fred is a gunner on one of those babies so Johnny wants to find out how the General Sherman takes them there and brings them back he does the airplanes draw the crowds especially such favorites as Eastern aircraft's Avenger torpedo bomber but the big attraction seems to be over here it's GM truck and coaches duck do your stuff duck and the duck does showing just how it helped in Africa Sicily Italy and France it's really something to hold the attention of these boys and girls sometimes there's hidden drama in a tank in a gun or in a plane that reminds somebody of somebody else in uniform there is a comfort in the knowledge that the somebody out there has the best that can be built and that Comfort is what the 1944 show tries to bring to all the somebodies back here step right up folks and see the wild cat the wild cat that flies the killer of Japs and Nazis not the only one in existence the 2,500th of its kind the flying fighting Wilder Wildcat of Eastern aircraft [Music] Division and here she [Applause] [Music] comes the first of these General Motors Wildcats made their appearance at this same Lyon plant on September 1st 1942 only 7 months after the formation of Eastern a combination of five former GM Automotive plants that first Wildcat caused quite a lot of excitement around Lyon since that memorable day these powerful stubby wied carrier-based Warf flanes have made history in the hands of Navy and Marine Corps aerial fighter [Music] more than 10,000 of the folks of GM's Eastern aircraft division the sole producers of the Wildcats gathered in the lyen plant to witness the official christening and delivery to the United States Navy of the 2,500th of these famous fighter [Music] planes George Al assistant manager at lynon and Master of Ceremonies introduces PE B Lyndon plant manager officially representing the United States Navy rear Admiral CH Woodward salutes the workers of Eastern aircraft division for their fine record of producing 2500 of these carrier based fighter planes in such a brief period of time in spite of almost constant design changes to keep the wild cats the best lightweight fighter planes in combat service Eastern is turning out more combat planes for the Navy than any other single producer Queen of the day and sponsor of the 2500th Wildcat is laaus Mary Martin Broadway goddess and musical comedy star of One Touch of Venus well here we go folks bring on that bottle of champagne and where's that fly and fighting Wilder Wild [Applause] okay let's go hit go ahead and come on what you waiting for let's go yes now it [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thus was prisoned a new and Wilder wild cat destined to bring new combat strength and striking power to Navy and Marine Corps fighting pilots and new credit to Eastern aircraft division of General Motors [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Indiana's largest Buick dealer is one of the first dealerships in the country to receive the army e award when car production stopped there was no retrenchment at Monarch Buick in Indianapolis Monarch's enterprising President William rcraft went right out and found a war production job for his expert mechanics good mechanics can work it if it's made out of metal said Mr craft so he acquired an adjoining building and organized a machine shop here Monarch's mechanics machine critical parts for war Goods open just 2 years ago by June 1 first Monarch had manufactured and shipped a quarter million pieces to Prime war production plants Monarch subcontracts for Allison and Delco Remy divisions of GM Stewart Warner Universal gear RCA Victor and Curtis Wright a small War plant but one of the best says the Army and Navy and they should know Monarch people and their families are definitely a part of the war effort Colonel enus tells the Monarch organization their production record is out out standing but no soldier on the Battlefront or on the production front can rest until Victory Is Ours to them Lieutenant Colonel GM enus presents the E for excellence for the Navy Lieutenant Commander RW McGregor thanks Monarch for meritorious and distinguished service in time of need the governor of India is on hand to congratulate Indiana's active Sons Monarch employee Representatives receed their e pins from private Richard Ensley native hoer wounded at anzio for his organization Mr craft accepts the award and tells of some of the troubles that faced Monarch in the early days at first we didn't know which side of a turret lathe was up says Mr craft but we rolled up our sleeves and found out he pledges his organization to to continue the good work to make the Army and Navy as proud of Monarch as Monarch is of the E for [Music] excellence but this is only a part of the excellent job done by the Monarch organization Mr craft has maintained a complete Service setup separate from the subcontracting machine shop but essential too necessary trips must be made every day this means automobiles need lubrication a motor tuneup makes that older car perform better helps speed our Vital Highway Transportation wheel alignment saves wear and tear on tires that must travel extra miles and there's service needed for cars that get into accidents that shouldn't happen but do today at Monarch the servicing and repair of automobiles still goes on and there are few jobs more important than that of helping the community to keep its Transportation rolling Captain Don s genti famous American Ace pays visit to the GM division at velia the men and women who build propellers for several of Uncle Sam's fighter planes including the Mustang turn out and force to welcome the ace Mustang fighter pilot Mr WJ Blanchard general manager of Aero Products and Captain J KY with members of his family arrive at the ceremony we and aerop products must continue to do our part says Mr Blancher Captain gen Tilly has certainly been doing his he is a fighter pilot with 27 German planes to his credit a fighter pilot decorated by General Eisenhower the Aero Products folks meet the flying Captain I'd rather be flying a Mustang than making a speech says Captain genti so I'll just thank you for the propellers you've sent to the air forces and tell you that production and bond buying are the things you can do to keep the boys on the victory Trail now for a look at the plant to see the aror prop in the making yes it's a good job a great job that America is doing it's Craftsman technicians and fires working together to bring defeat to the enemy and a return to the way Americans like to well