Watch The Big Picture - Pictorial Report No. 27

Experience the American Journey through our country's visual heritage in this historical recording provided by the National Archives of the United States. From the U.S. Army's "The Big Picture" television series, 1950-1975. FLOOD AND FIRE COVERED ON "THE BIG PICTURE" -- THE BIG PICTURE comes up this time with a pictorial report format, covering three separate stories instead of the usual single subject. However, the three stories are interrelated. The first deals with medicine, the second with experimentation, and the third with construction. But all are concerned with some of the Army's peacetime roles. Tornado and fire set the scene for "Exercise Firedrill," staged at Brooke Army Hospital, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Here is a test, and thoroughly convincing, example of how a hospital might best handle mass civilian casualties of a natural disaster. The mock disaster was slated to affect the City of San Antonio in which nearly 1000 simulated casualties are treated at Brooke Army Hospital. Where the first chapter of the pictorial report dealt with the role of Army medicine in relation to civilian disaster, the second episode is concerned with the job of the Army's Corps of Engineers and the work it does in minimizing the effects of disasters before they occur. The camera moves in close for a view of the Waterways Experiment Station at Vicksburg, Mississippi, where a continuing study is being made of the effects of hurricanes and floods.

As a wind-up to this half hour program, the work of the Army's Corps of Engineers is shown in scores of military assignments, both in war and peace.

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