Soldiers of the Sea

Soldiers of the Sea is a 1939 RKO-Pathe News two-reeler short subject narrative featuring the U.S. Marine Corps.

It was produced by Frederic Ullman Jr. and supervised by Frank Donovan. Through narration and film footage, the film shows and tells the history, mission statement, capabilities, equipment, and training of the United States Marines. Many sequences of the film were used in RKO's Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe's 1941 comedy Call Out the Marines.

The film begins with an aerial view of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. Recruit Training and the Sea School of the Marines are shown along with sequences of rowing whaleboats, foot drill and bayonet fighting conducted by Lieutenant Colonel Anthony J. Drexel Biddle.

Marines are shown on shooting ranges firing M1903 Springfield rifles and M1917 Browning machine guns. The machine gunners are shown firing at targets on the range held up by a visible Marine laying downrange of the weapon and an officer walking up to the firing weapon holding the target in his hand as the machine gun bullets hit it.

United States Marine Corps Aviation is featured with scenes of the VMF-2 squadron of Grumman F3F biplanes accompanied by narration of its increasing role and importance after the years.

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