Guest
This silent home movie shows a portion of Operation Blue Jay. Operation Blue Jay began in 1949 and its mission was to build Thule Air Base in the harsh arctic climate of Greenland. It took place while communist aggression was in full fight in Indochina and against UN forces in Korea. The base was to be for long range bombers. This film shows the caravan transport of men and supplies to the base. The film opens with a woman holding books with titles such as ‘Red Flannels and Green Ice’ by Arthur Pocock (:11), ‘The Little Eskimo’ (:12) and a book about Operation Blue Jay with ‘USS Monrovia APA 31’ as the title (:21). Footage switches to an overhead shot of an Amphibious Construction Battalion TWO (ACB 2) with a log strapped to it (:41). Over a 11 million board feet of lumber were required for this job. Military personnel and officers are seen in a parking lot below (:58). The ACB 2 is lifted by a crane to be loaded into a cargo ship (1:07). Enlisted men and Officers stand nearby a pile of bags of the men’s supplies (1:16). An Officer walks down with his wife into the parking lot (1:28) and an enlisted man carries his pack up the stairs (1:32). A point of view shot from aboard the USS Monrovia shows another Naval vessel ahead in the waters (1:38) as they moved towards the base for construction. Two sailors are seen leaning back and smiling at the cameraman (1:42). A profile shot follows of the vessel the USS Monrovia was near (2:04). The Monrovia’s radar equipment is seen rotating (2:09) and a signal is flashed from aboard the ship (2:18). Officer’s in traditional service uniforms are pictured (2:42). Shots follow of other Officers smiling and joking with the camera man (3:05). The ship’s cooks are seen standing in the background with white hats tipped forward (3:17). Small icebergs begin appearing in the water as they hit the frigid arctic waters (3:42). Sailors in thick winter gear hang along the chains riding around the USS Monrovia’s edges (3:53). Ice sheets get thicker as they continue to press forward (3:57). A helicopter passes overhead (4:06). A few maps are shown in succession pointing to Greenland and the village of Thule which was to be their destination (4:09). Thule rested off the coast of Baffin Bay near Ellesmere Island (4:11). A long shot follows of three navy vessels ahead of the Monrovia (4:23) as well as a rocky shoreline (4:34). As the Monrovia presses forward, thick ice sheets crack under its pressure (4:41). Footage follows from men aboard LCVP’s at (7:31). LCVP’s are seen in the water next to the USS Monrovia (7:38). A man stands near a massive iceberg along a fence (7:50). Naval Officers set up a podium on board the vessel to address the shipmen (8:35). Sailors stand at attention before an Officer who appears to be handing out awards to the men (9:11). A shot of a man welding on the ship follows (9:19). The hull of one of the vessels used for this mission is seen mangled by an apparent hit with a glacier (9:31). Two LCVM’s are seen in the waters (9:38). Observers peer out over the waters (11:55) and an observation post is seen sitting idle afterwards (12:00). Native Eskimo’s ride alongside the ship (12:20) and one steps out of his canoe and onto a large ice sheet (12:34). Men are seen chopping away at an iceberg’s surface to set charges into it in an effort to break it up (12:52). The iceberg is blown and ice chunks fall out into the water (13:15). Men are seen on land now as they had arrived at the base (13:45). A close up shot of yellow flower blossoms follows (13:51). A narrow bridge is set across a stream with white rapids (13:59). An expanse of the browned land in the early morning with few ice caps is shown (14:27). Fake graves are then shown with one pointing to the cooks of the Monrovia with a spoon jutting up from it (15:15) as well as another one reading ‘In Memory of the Unloading’ (15:21) as the supplies for the mission had been fully unloaded onto the base. A shot shows a view of some of the installations which had been set up (15:57). An Officer tosses a snow ball at the camera man and waves goodbye as the film concludes (16:16). We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit
