The Anderson Platoon

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A documentary film with the title The Anderson Platoon. It consists of two (2) reels of 16mm black-and-white acetate film with optical sound. The film, created and narrated by Pierre Schoendoerffer who returned to Vietnam and spent six weeks filming the documentary, follows an integrated platoon led by Lt. Joseph B. Anderson. In the opening scenes, the narrator describes being a French veteran who fought in the First Indochina War and returning to the country to follow American soldiers for the documentary. Some scenes provide glimpses into the soldiers' daily activities on the battlefield, such as praying before combat, taking communion, playing dice and gambling. Later in the film, Schoendoerffer describes the role of the integrated Anderson Platoon and the B Company of which it is a part. He names some of the men in the platoon as they walk past the camera, tells where they hail from, and describes their role in the platoon.

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