Three small canisters contain national treasures

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ENGLEWOOD - Tony and Albert Fagler didn't know too much about Grandpa Albert, except that he did something with photography in the armed forces during World War II.

When Grandma Betty died in 2000, the boys had the task of cleaning out their grandparent's home in Englewood.

In the basement, they found an old cardboard drum, mostly full of junk and old pictures. They also found three sealed canisters of very old 16mm film.

They brought the film to 9NEWS two years ago, to see what we could do with it.

Even if we could have located an old projector, 9NEWS Photojournalist Manny Sotelo says film from that era shrinks, we could have ruined it by trying to play it.

"If you put the film that has shrunk through a projector it basically would have chewed it up," said Sotelo.

Robert David, the owner of Denver's Cinemalab, examined the brittle film on a light table. He thought it might contain combat footage of planes being shot down.

9NEWS then contacted the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. They have special equipment that can safely play the film. They agreed to transfer it to video tape if the family would donate the original footage to the national archive.

The Faglers agreed.

For two years, 9NEWS waited for the video to return. When it finally arrived, it contained some surprises.

Grandpa Albert was just 23 years old when World War II began. He enlisted in the military and soon found himself learning combat photography at Lowry Field.

His I.D. card showed he was authorized to handle classified materials.

In 1944, he was transferred to England where the Allied Forces were preparing for D-Day, the massive assault on the beaches at Normandy.

While in England, he met a young British woman and they were married in April.

One of the three films shows Albert and his bride on their brief honeymoon.

It was something Tony and Grandson Albert hadn't seen before.

There was another reason why the Library of Congress wanted the original films. They are a treasure trove of historic video of the aftermath of D-Day.

They contain cockpit video of American fighter planes in dogfights over the skies of France and Germany.

There is also footage of American planes taking out German convoys on the ground and attacks on ships.

The photographer also documents American soldiers on the ground in their advance across the French countryside.

Every piece of old film, every picture of soldiers in combat in the battle against Hitler, every solder's face as the Allies made their advance across France, Belgium and Germany is a national treasure.

After all these years, Tony and Albert, by donating their film, have helped their grandparents become part of history.