From the Summer of 1944.


( Read more... )

This little cartoon appeared in the back pages of pulps in 1946 as Ham Fisher used his influence to remind Americans that the war might be over but suffering was not. Pop histories tend to have a few periods they gloss over to get to the juicy parts, and the years immediately following WW II are one of those periods. Yet it was an immensely ( Read more... )

Hmmm, at first, it seems like a contradiction in terms, a surviving Kami-Kaze pilot reminiscing about the war. But in fact, most of the pilots in the program did not get to go out and do their duty before the war ended. And I seem to recall that there were even a few pilots who survived after being sent out; not that they surrendered (being welded ( Read more... )

From early 1943, we see members serving the Women's Army Corp, the RCAF, the Red Cross. The woman on the far right was working in a munitions factory.


( Read more... )

It's July 1943, and British wounded are being evacuated from Sicily. Quite the sobering sight to contemplate. When the invasion began, a hospital ship was sunk by the Germans. Imagine how cruel a fate that must seem... you're wounded but rescued, you're going to live, you might even get to go home honorably. Then the enemy is sighting approaching ( Read more... )

Even though Stan Lee and Jack Kirby knew perfectly well that combat units were segregated during WW II, they didn't care... they threw Gabe Jones in there anyway. The Howlers were a real ethnic stew in any case, including a redheaded Irishman, an Italian, Jew and a Southern boy. I imagine they got the idea for this from postwar movies which often ( Read more... )

Some interesting symbolism here. This is a Japanese poster from 1938. Let's see if I got this right. That's the Communist Party in the blue uniform, being given money to commit atrocities by a hideous red demon wearing a Western mask. Luckily, the heroic Japanese forces are riding to the rescue.


( Read more... )

From the May 1936 issue of EVERYDAY SCIENCE AND MECHANICS. Some interesting ideas there, and I'm not sure why some of them weren't practical. The double-decker tanks with a dozen riflemen don't offer the firepower or range of the regular tank with its cannon blasting away. The "infantry tank" seems like it would only be useful in some terrain, so ( Read more... )

This is a 1951 Chinese poster, warning of a noose for those Western warmongers. You see a good deal on message boards of offensive stereotypes of Asians in American comics and wartime posters, and it's worth remembering that this practice was never a one-way thing. Just about every nation has in its history lots of propaganda that's horrifying (or ( Read more... )

A simple and effective design by Ethel Franklin Betts Bains from 1917. Every war of course results in thousands of displaced people in rags without a home to return to. And the streams of refugees settling wherever they can often causes unrest and bitter feelings in their turn, keeping the domino effect of unhappiness going.


( Read more... )