WWII ‘United News’ Newsreels, 1942-1946 Released

Ancestry’s military records are growing. The latest addition to the Ancestry record sets are Video Reels of WWII  footage from “United News” – set up by the States to help, amongst other things, propaganda for WWII.

Unlike the latest record sets launched through Ancestry i.e. Digitised and indexed records, the difference with this collection is that the records sets are actual video footage and are highly engaging to users – whether or not they have a family tree or are currently researching their family history!

Newsreels averaged 10 minutes in length and consist of U.S and European military footage depicting allied military operations and other events from the home front. Much of the footage was taken by military combat photographers and is in excellent condition.

This database contains all 267 issues of the 'United News.’ Some of the more well known WWII events depicted in these newsreels includes:

• Marines Raise Flag Over Iwo Jima
• D-Day
• Japanese Sign Final Surrender
• Invasion of Sicily
• MacArthur Returns to the Philippines