Footage needs to be further examined for more detailed information on actual locations, dates, etc. Label on original film can reads:"1942 Reel #1 - 1947 Mary + Bettylou on Last Rol" Film shows occasional projector burn holes. Preservation completed by Brodsky & Treadway in June 2004.
Stephan W. Minovich (1912-1989) was drafted to serve in the HQ 31st Tank Battalion from March 23, 1943 to October 24, 1945. He went overseas on January 20, 1944 and was involved in the following campaigns: Rome-Arno, Southern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe. He received a World War II Victory Medal on October 7, 1947. He and his brother William Minovich filmed and photographed what they saw abroad. Unfortuanately, all the photographs were lost in transit. After the war, Stephan returned home to Washington, DC and worked as a steam fitter. Stephan's parents were emigres from Russia, met on a boat to New York City in 1908, and had 11 children.
Silent amateur footage taken by Stephan Minovich, a US Army soldier and member of the HQ 31st Tank Battalion. Footage shows homefront scenes in Minovich's hometown of Washington, DC with his wife and family, wartime scenes in England, Germany, and possibly France and Czechoslovakia circa 1944-45, and the liberation of a concentration camp. Minovich family posing for the camera with pets, various shots, in a snowy yard; celebrating Christmas in Washington, DC in 1942, dancing, cameraman can be seen in mirror in BG; playing ping-pong. Child and dogs playing in the snow. Tourist shots of DC monuments, cherry blossoms in color (01:10:15), and the National Zoo. 01:20:07 Liberation of Nordhausen. Several scenes of corpses, including a CU of the corpse of a very young child, surrender of German soldiers, Polish refugees in Germany, German civilians aiding in the clean-up of the bombing site and the camp site. American soldiers exercising at their base camp in an unidentified area in Germany. Brief glimpse of a variety show in a dark theater presumably in Germany. Several visible signs: one set points to Berlin in one direction and Nuernberg in the other (on the Autobahn?); another group points in one direction to Flughafon Schkeuditz Leipzig and the other to Halle (on an airstrip?). Downed German planes and a destroyed runway and hangar. Catholic priest gives communion to American soldiers, the soldiers are kneeling on the ground (ends abruptly). Cut to an underexposed scene where the only visible image is ripples of water. MLS of an American soldier standing with his hands in his pockets on a city street, he is wearing his combat helmet and watching civilians pass by, several children are featured, and in BG other men in civilian clothes are squatting on the sidewalk, leaning against the wall of a building. 01:30:40 Postwar footage in Washington, DC of the Minovich family, children, and friends celebrating the Christmas holiday (including an intimate necking scene and an amateur striptease), dancing, and sightseeing in Washington, DC.
US Army 31st Tank Battalion soldier's wartime movies in Europe and Washington, DC