will visit the usda center where in 1941 scientists discovered how to mass-produce penicillin saving thousands of allied lives in world war ii. the c-span cities tour of on book tv.nois sunday afternoon at 2:00 on american history tv on c-span 3, working with cable affiliates and visiting cities across the country. >> next "american history tv's reel america," from 1945, "the negro sailor." this 26-minute u.s. navy film follows a draftee through boot camp and an assignment in the pacific. completed after the surrender of

japan, the film celebrates teamwork, diversity, and the accompaniments of distinguished african-american sailors. this was restored by the national american archives.

>> got your newspapers today. i got you guys newspapers today. got you guys newspapers today. you know bill? >> is this all that? >> i delivered them in a p 38. >> mike robbins, sports. oh, is he in now? thanks. >> who is that? >> the boss. >> hello, this is frank robbins. i have a great idea for a new column. yes sir, i will be in right away. >> bill johnson got his draft

papers today. downstairs?johnson he will make a good soldier. >> he wants to get in the navy. >> then he will make a good sailor. >> come in. >> hello, frank. >> hello, mr. weldon. >> sit down. >> thank you. >> what is the great idea? >> the servicemen's column i have been doing once a week, i think this new one would be better. it has a different slant. sports are pretty close to your heart, are they? >> yes. >> what strike see most? what is the one thing that all sports have in common? >> a schoolboy could answer that one. teamwork. >> exactly, teamwork. and the complete democracy of it. and the fact that a man is measured only by his ability and skill. >> yes, that is right. you have seen some great white teams and some great colored

teams. and some with negroes and whites as teammates. i want to write a column about a great team like that. i have tickets to something interesting this afternoon. come with me and i will show show you better than i can tell you. >> i would like to, but i am busy. >> you are not that busy. this is important. >> if you think it is important i suppose i could. , come in. hello, bill. >> mr. weldon, i got my induction papers. >> so they finally arrived. we will certainly miss you. >> thank you. if you would not mind, i would like a couple of days off. there is things i would like to from mom before i leave. -- i would like to do for mom before i leave. >> take as many days as you want. >> could you spare a couple of hours? i think you could help me sell something. three is better than two. i would like you to be the third. >> where at? >> secret. tell you at 2:00.

>> 18, 94, 36. [shouting and cheering] >> a great team. that is teamwork and action. they are fighting together for one goal. i'm thinking of a much greater team, one playing in the most important game of all. that team is united states navy. that is the team i hope to get on. if you make it, bill, you are in there with bob and tony, pedro and lee and joe. all of them fighting together. that is the kind of teamwork i would like to make my column.

>> that is an idea. let's call it, "on the navy team." >> bill made the navy team all right. i got the column started right after that day of the game. bill johnson was and still is my best correspondent. i wanted to see things through his eyes. i wanted the column to be a case history of what actually happened to bill. his first letter came shortly after he arrived at boot camp. he found that it was not easy when they take all your clothes away. everything but your toothbrush, ship them home, and put you alone in an assembly line and check you for everything. it wasn't easy for bill or the thousands before him. a lot of thousands of all races and creeds that will come after. this is not easy, either. ouch. two down and seven to go. he found shopping quite easy in

the navy. in the old days, it used to take him longer to pick a new suit. it was hard to make up his mind if you want the brown suit with the small checks or the gray suit with the stripes, but bill does not have to worry about that now. here everything is in standard colors and patterns, blue with white stripes, white with blue stripes. and the salesman behind the counter will not take no for an answer. never again will he received receive nine suits of clothing and everything that goes with them in 20 minutes. >> you are members of a new company, company 510, and by the looks of it, 510 is the finest collection of knuckleheads ever to hit boot camp.

you are here for this one. i will see that you get it. if you step out of line, it will be personal. pay attention and obey orders. first, you shave and shower every day. keep your clothes washed and rolled. your bunks made up and folded properly. i will show you how to do that. get on the ball and stay on it. >> company 510 got on the ball but had difficulty staying on , it. the drill is not mastered in a day. >> left march. >> oops, the man said to the rear. >> shoes out of line. whose rolls? whose rolls?

you had better learn to tie a square knot, sailor. most of these are grannies. >> i will see that he does, sir. what is an ensign? >> you are. the flag. both of you are. it means a commissioned officer. it also means the flag, sir. >> bill never worked so hard in his life. to bed at 9:00 and up at 5:00. every minute of the day on the go. he soon found the training for this team is tough, got to be. the game is too important to lose. >> gradually company 510. dots where to way -- gradually, company 510 got squared away and the chief stopped calling them

knuckleheads. they began to act navy, think navy and look navy. >> it wasn't all tough. there was ship service and a big hunk of cake and three scoops of ice cream for just $0.15. and noise, you have never been in noise until you have been in a ship service. there was ping-pong. and the happy hour, which wasn't so happy for some guys. and there was some work that wasn't so tough. it did not tie-in with cardinal netz, physical fitness, and seamanship, but it was, and who was billed to refuse an invitation to the dance? bill foundng that

out is the navy has rules, and navy rules must not be broken. furthermore these rules apply to , everybody. break the rules and you land in the brig, navy discipline. it is the foundation of teamwork. did not exactly like swapping decks, but he had company. bob was swabbing decks, too. over.had time to think it got a course in sweeping and never forgot his painting lesson. after that trip to the brig, bill got wise. he found by reading articles from the united states navy that being a member of the navy team means certain real responsibilities. not only for him, but for all the rest from the recruits to the top. and he found out something else, something that opened his eyes to real teamwork, something

about steward's mates and their place on the team. stewad's mate first class, usn, for his distinguished devotion to duty, extraordinary courage , and disregard for personal safety during the attack on pearl harbor december 7, 1941, the navy cross. albert h. oliver, steward's mate first class, usn, for gallantry serving aboard a warship during a raid on that vessel by approximately 25 japanese planes in the vicinity of the solomon islands on 1942, the silver star june 30, medal. william pinckney, cook third class, usn for extraordinary heroism while serving on the uss enterprise during engagement with enemy japanese naval forces

near the santa cruz islands on october 20 6, 1942, the navy cross. leonard roy harmon, steward's mate first class usn, for extraordinary heroism while serving aboard the uss san francisco during action against enemy japanese forces over the solomon islands area november 12 and 13, 1942, the navy cross. a fighting ship named for a fighting man. and there were hundreds of others like this lad on the , franklin who got a job to do and did it. i thought steward's mates were just waiters. you might call them that, but they are fighting men too. between battles, their work is rather dull, but someone has to do it, a cook or a storekeeper. everybody can't be captain. you get this ship to where she is ready for the job she was built for. when you are there in battle,

what you did before doesn't count anymore. what matters now is what you do in battle, like your ship. that is your main job fighting. believe me, when it comes to fighting, the stewards are right in there with the rest of them. >> that is real teamwork, sir. >> you bet it is. because their primary job is fighting, their instruction includes companionship recognition, ship compartmentation, and gunnery. >> i am glad you told me all that, sir. makes me proud just to be anywhere on the team. >> johnson, don't forget us about steward's mates. they may pour soup between battles, but in battle they can be with the best of them. >> so now company 510, u.s. fighting navy men are known longer recruits.

the tough weeks have been lived through. he and his buddies have learned the basic rules of the game. generale will go to service duty, while others will specialize in service groups. 510 will be scattered far and wide as men take various careers. each will take a special career on the team for the big play the head. bill was selected for quartermaster training at the naval training school in virginia. [anchors away] >> he felt good about hampton because training for

quartermaster was a step up on the team. here the trainees are checked in and receive a brief outline of the rules in hampton. bill had hoped for, but you don't graduate just by hoping. you have to earn it. until now, our boy was just something floating around in the water, but bill learned there were quite a few different types of boys, each with a different purpose. he had to become as familiar with them as his own name. that was only a small part. among other things he learned how to make aviation compensations. how to navigate. how to plot a course. how to make curio barometers, how to set it, how to take

readings. a barometer is a sailor's watchdog. he also learned to use the engine room telegraph. on this training ship bill and , his shipmates put to actually -- actual use what they learned in classes. >> easy now. just a touch, right rudder. that's it. here is your rudder. that's fine. >> while bill is on his way to becoming a quartermaster, other bill's, tony's, pedro's are on their way to becoming radio men, aviation metal smiths, aviation

machinist mates, gunners mates and other specialists, and getting ready to take their places. signaling, minesweeping. along with 1001 other jobs that make up the navy team.

mateis photographer's where's the purple heart and has found many missions over the pacific, doing math work over the hazardous conditions. when completed, these mosaic maps furnish one of the most essential factors in battle planning. the skipper commands a navy oiler.

this chaplain councils and advises the boys on many subjects. waves have released a men for duty in combat areas. the next time i heard from bill, he had been ordered to duty aboard a destroyer manned by a predominantly negro crew. >> right, 10 degrees right. >> right, 10 degrees rudder, sir. >> study as you go. -- steady as you go. >> steady as you go, sir. >> come right to 084. >> right to 084, sir. >> bill is on the first team now

and ready to go into the game along with these boys on the number three gun. and with lyons and johnson lookout and with arsenal, botswain's mate first, and duval, signalman first who can count across the water with light and the radar gang that can smell trouble a long way off, and radioman coleman, electricians mate bail, chief motorist machinist mate smith, and solomon thompson, who can listen and tell you whether it is a shark or a sub or just a lonely mermaid. these and more on the same team with bill. >> all hands, man your battle stations. all hands, man your battle stations. >> it may be battle or only a practice. you never can tell.

>> all engines ahead flank. >> all engines ahead flank, sir. >> all engines ahead at the flank, sir. >> very well. come right to 110. >> right to 110, sir.

>> bill and the boys are throwing up a lot of stuff out there, like the quarterback who cakes --kicks the goal. someone has to pass them the ball. the navy would only be a collection of harmless ships if it were not for the men who furnished the guns of their fleets, the tremendous flashing cards, every plane in the air depends on men of the ordinance battalions. these are the wrappings where the prescriptions about to be filled by the doctors of dynamite mixed the ingredients.

doctors of dynamite is a good name for them. their prescriptions come in all sizes and shapes. this, make it possible to do this and this. >> the teammates on some cruiser will welcome these eight inch projectiles and speed them on their way. while the 14 and 16 inch shells are destined for a battleship to help knock off the enemy. yes, every sailor plays a vital position to make this team the greatest navy in the world. this is the result of teamwork, moving in for the payoff and the

biggest game of all, battle and invasion. here on these ships of the apa, on the ata, on the aka, on the ao, and all the other ships of the fleet, here the sailors like the bill johnson's, here serve negro electricians mates, radiomen, steward's mates, quartermasters, yeomen and all the other required to make of this great team. >> after the landing comes the

seabees, building roads behind the japs, flattening of the jungle, fighting with bulldozers and tools. putting down air strips in a hurry. often they have to take time out to dodge damage. >> and to send it back. so, the bill johnson's made all the navy teams. they were there at the end of

the first half when these german u-boats surrendered in the atlantic. they were there at the finish in the pacific. yes, they made all the navy teams. this one. this one, too. throughout our history, americans of all races and origins have fought side-by-side in defense of their country. since the first battle of the revolution when our country was born, through the past 160 years, americans like bill johnson's of today have fought and died to bring victory to our arms. this weekend on american history tv on c-span3, at 6:00

a historian on the battle of spotsylvania courthouse, pitting the armies of ulysses s grant against robert e. lee. >> they fought for a couple of days. they came to a stalemate. grant moved left and south. they had bidden spotsylvania for a couple of days. a stalemate, then reports of federals moving left and south. what do you think that puts in lee's mind? , duke university professor talking about america's cold war immigration policy. >> defining refugees as fundamentally not just political refugees but anti-communist who are our allies, prototypical american, as they fight communist oppression abroad. we have an obligation to let them in because they are anti-communist. >>