Backing Up the Guns (Short Version)

Transcript (Download)

Here is the greatest national resource of the United States, our children.

Here are the potential war workers of today, the builders of tomorrow.

Developing this young potential manpower is one of the most vital parts of the war program.

It's the greatest work our schools and teachers have ever faced.

We must succeed here first.

Well -trained young minds, sound strong bodies are the very makings of a victorious army.

The full responsibility of this essential preparation of young America falls squarely upon the shoulders of our teachers, our schools.

The first step in preserving good health is a careful and regular checkup.

Our public schools bring this opportunity for better health to all children.

Physical training has been a fundamental part of our school program.

Today, a visit to any training camp shows how well this preparation work is coordinated with the war program.

Our first aid classes, developed by experienced teachers during peacetime, are now an active part of civilian defense, more important today than ever.

Your government has engaged upon a gigantic program of education on the nutrition value of foods, conserving food, and at the same time, guarding health.

You'll find Mrs.

America coming back to school today to learn how to do more with less.

She's ready to do her part in this war effort, but she needs the help of your school.

That's the call to the workers of America, more men to build more ships.

Where will they come from? From the workshops of the schools of our country.

Here is the nation's greatest reservoir of manpower in training.

Every facility of every school in the land is being pressed into service to meet the unending cry for more trained workmen.

Under the guiding hands of experienced and highly skilled teachers, young America is learning in a few short weeks what it takes to build tanks and planes.

War workers for the farm are in training too.

The job of keeping tractors and farm equipment rolling is an essential part of the food production program.

Woman power, just as vital, has an equal opportunity for training in our schools.

In the gigantic war workers' army, women are taking over responsible jobs in the factory and in the office.

Today the training shops of our schools are running day and night.

Students and adults work side by side.

More than three million workers have been trained in our school shops in the last two years.

There is another essential service our schools and teachers render, perhaps even more vital than defense training itself.

You might call it teaching American ideals upon which our democracy is founded.

Is this important today? Maybe you can see the need for this kind of help in the young faces that confront our teachers.

You can hear it in the questions they ask.

What are we fighting for? Didn't we fight the last war to save democracy? What will happen to us when this war is over? Can you answer these questions? They must be answered.

Our teachers are trying to help these young citizens find the answer in the things that stand for the American kind of liberty.

They're trying to explain the kind of love for a country that will make a man die for it, as great Americans did 50, 100 years ago.

A lesson in the responsibility of a democracy.

Our teachers demonstrate the freedoms we enjoy to work where we choose, to worship God in our churches, to write and read what we want, to say what we think, to choose our own representatives, and to control the course of our government in the free ballot box.

This is part of the teacher's daily work.

It goes on every hour of the day.

That's a sacred trust, isn't it? Yet there are communities which pay their teachers as little as $15 a week.

There are schools that have poor equipment, poorly trained teaching staffs, schools that can't begin to do the job.

Yet this job must be done.

Young men and women must be physically fit.

They must learn to use tools.

Our teachers are trying.

But they cannot win alone.

They must have your support.

All you are asked to do is your part.

Get acquainted with your school.

If you want better soldiers and sailors, if you want more ships, more planes, more tanks, and if you want them faster, if you want victory, give your school a chance to do its job.

Identifier

F.2017-11-0022

Date Of Production

1942

Abstract

Backing up the Guns was produced by the Illinois Education Association in 1942 "to demonstrate the vital role our schools are now playing to help win the war, and to show that they are a 'must' in the war effort." As described in The Educational Screen, the film "tells a complete story of how closely our whole educational system has been tuned to the needs of the nation, and how the teacher is shown doing his or her part, performing many vital services not in the line of duty in normal times. It closes with a strong appeal for the voter to equip the schools better for their tremendous task, and urges stronger financial support for teachers."

A longer 16mm version of the film was available for classrooms; this 35mm version was made for theatrical exhibition.

Format

35mm

Extent

550 feet

Sound

Optical

Reel/Tape Number

1/1

Has Been Digitized?

Yes

Language Of Materials

English

Element

Reversal Positive Print

Genre

Sponsored

Form

Short

Subject

Youth
World War II, 1939-1945
Schools
Students
Teenagers
Classrooms
Education
Health
Patriotism
Teachers
War
Militaries

Related Collections

MacRae Shannon Collection

Related Places

North America ➜ United States ➜ District of Columbia ➜ Washington DC

North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago

Sponsor/client

Illinois Education Association

Main Credits

Chicago Film Laboratory, Inc. (is production company)

Additional Credits

Schager, Edward (is writer)

Siemon, Howard (is cinematographer)

Griffith, B.I. (is contributor)

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