The Stars and Stripes – Page 6 – Old Magazine Articles

The Battle of Chateau-Thierry
(Stars and Stripes, 1918)

The American performance at the battle of Chateau-Thierry proved to General Foche that the Americans had the necessary stuff, and it was widely recognized that the Doughboys played the key roll in keeping the Germans out of Paris.

The attached STARS AND STRIPES article is extremely detailed as to the individual units (both French and American) that participated in rolling back the Germans along the Marne.

The W.W. I Overseas Cap Will Remain
(Stars and Stripes, 1919)

A STARS & STRIPES clipping from 1919 announcing to both Army and Marines that the era of the overseas cap had arrived and was not going away anytime soon:

The overseas cap, which has (not) protected its wearers from the rains of sunny France and the suns and snows and sleets all over the A.E.F., will be permitted to remain the official headgear of the returning troops after they get back to the States.

An Abbreviated War Record of the 92nd Division
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

An illustration of the insignia patch and a brief account of the origins, deployments and war-time activities of the U.S. Army’s Ninety-Second Infantry Division during World War One. It is highly likely that the attached description of the 92nd’s service record had been rewritten to suit the personal taste’s of the paper’s Jim Crow editors. Sadly, there are other examples of such biased editing at THE STARS and STRIPES.

Evidence of a Growing Discipline Problem Within the A.E.F.
(The Stars and Stripes. 1919)

After reading this small notice, one comes away with the sense that Pershing’s Doughboys were losing their edge by February, 1919…

When the Doughboys complained, they complained heavily about their uniforms; read about it here.

Introducing the Overseas Cap
(Stars and Stripes, 1918)

The writer who toiled over the attached STARS and STRIPES article worked very hard to convince his Doughboy readership that the latest piece of U.S. Army headgear was made on a scientific plan, terribly stylish and well-worth having around:

It has neither brim nor visor…It is better made than the old cap. It fits more neatly, looks more chic, adapts itself far more genteelly to the average Doughboy braincase.

To put it in a word, the new cap is natty. And the old cap was not even hatty.

The Fleecing of Liberators
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

By the time April of 1919 rolled around, it seemed to the Doughboys who were waiting for that boat to take them back to the good ol’ U.S. of A that their French allies had a short term memory and were terribly ungrateful for American sacrifices made on their behalf. Many post-Armistice letters written by the Doughboys were filled with snide comments about the high prices they were asked to pay for everyday merchandise, prices that seemed to be chosen just for them. Wisely, the Stars and Stripes editors chose not to take sides in this debate but ran this nifty little piece about the manner in which the Americans of 1782 treated their French allies during the American Revolution.

Click here to read about the foreign-born soldiers who served in the American Army of the First World War.

The Third Anniversary of Verdun
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

1919 marked the third anniversary of the Battle of Verdun and the grounds were still littered with the dead, surrounded by a tons of equipment, lying in open fields pock-marked by thousands of high explosive shells:

Spring will come to France next month, but Spring will not come to the field of Verdun. Already the grass is green on the broad stretches of Champagne; in the Vosges the snow patches linger only in the stubborn shelter of rocks that bar the sun,; but there is no portent of resurrection in all the stretch of churned up gravel marking the line of forts that protect the citadel of the Meuse from the Northeast…the shell holes are filled with clear water, and between them course new born brooks, sublimating in crystal pools from which no man would dare drink.

A Puttee Cartoon
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

The Doughboys were grateful to be issued European spiral-puttees in place of their canvas gaiters -which did them no good whatever in the dampness of Northern Europe; however, as the attached W.W. I photographs so clearly indicate (as does this cartoon by Walgren), not many Yanks were as proficient at wrapping them as the upper brass had hoped.

U.S. Propaganda Pamphlets Dropped on the Hun
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

This is a swell read, written in that patois so reminiscent of those fast talking guys in 1930s Hollywood movies. One of the many reasons I find this era so interesting has to do with the fact that the war coincided with that mass-media phenomenon called advertising – and this article pertains exactly to that coincidence. This column was printed shortly after the war in order to let the Doughboys in on the existence of a particular group within the A.E.F. that was charged with the task of dumping propaganda leaflets all over the German trench lines:

Propaganda is nothing but a fancy war name for publicity and who knows the publicity game better than the Yanks?

Puttees In–Leggings Out
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

Shortly after training in France began it was discovered that the leggings of the American Army were no match for the moisture of the French countryside and so puttees were issued for the whole A.E.F. – the attached notice ordered the entire U.S. Army to wear them in place of canvas leggings.

Paris Furlough
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

A cartoon by C. LeRoy Baldridge (1889 – 1977) which depicted the streets of Paris in a way that only the A.E.F. could have witnessed it. A Yank-heavy Place de l’Opera is overwhelmed by sight-seeing Doughboys (note the Y.M.C.A. patch on the tour guide) and loitering officers lounging about over-priced cafes. In the foreground stands a bewildered Doughboy, dumb-struck by the passing gaze of an appreciative Parisienne while a few steps away a four-gold-chevroned private gets reamed for failing to salute the single-chevron looey. The stage is shared by bickering cabees, melancholy widows, wandering sailors, unforgiving MPs and a hard-charging, over-weight uniformed woman.

Click here to read about W.W. I art.

Click here to read the observations of U.S. Army lieutenant Louis L’Amour concerning 1946 Paris.

A Fourth Overseas Chevron for Some
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

A short news item named the three American officers who served over there long enough to be granted the adornment of a fourth overseas chevron. Each gold wire chevron, worn on the lower left cuff, represented a single six month period served in theater; the vast majority of A.E.F. uniforms had anywhere between one and three sewn in place.

Another article about over-seas chevrons may be read here…

An Advertisement for W.W. I Officer Boots
(Stars and Stripes, 1918)

A black and white illustration showing the sort of British made boot favored by American officers during World War One. A look at the many pictures which depicted the officers of the A.E.F. and it is clear to see that the lace-to-the-knee style of trench boot was much preferred over other varieties. However, many pictures from the closing days of the war tend to also indicate the line officer’s preference for ankle-boots with puttees.

American Ambulance Volunteers in the Service of France
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

A thumbnail history of the United States Army Ambulance Service, which first arrived in June of 1917.

All through the hard French fighting of 1917 the 6,000 American ambulance drivers kept steadily at work in every sector of the French front. It was not until March, 1918, that the first sections of the service found themselves helping in battles with the fighting regiments of their own Army.

Many of the volunteers were college men, such as the poet E.E. Cummings, who wrote an interesting account of his days as an ambulance driver during the war.

World War One American Prisoners of War
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

A brief notice reporting on the number of American Soldiers captured during the First World War. Also listed are the number of Americans who died in captivity as well as the number of prisoners taken categorized by branch of service. Interestingly, the notice states that 281 American Civilians were also taken prisoner.

Interestingly, the notice states that 116 American Civilians were also taken prisoner and we can assume that these Americans were with the Salvation Army, the Jewish Wellfare Board, the Knights of Columbus, etc.

Click here to learn what the Germans thought of American P.O.W.s…

Katherine Stinson Offers Her Services to the Army
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

Katherine Stinson wants to carry letters up to Third Army.

By the time Katherine Stinson (1891 – 1977, a.k.a. the Flying Schoolgirl) had applied for the job of carrying the mails to the occupying American forces in post-war Germany, she already had the distinction of being the fourth American woman to earn a pilot’s license and the first woman to ever deliver air-mail for the U.S. Post Office. She didn’t get the job…

Storming the Skies : The Story of Katherine & Marjorie Stinson , Pioneer Women Aviators

A Great Paris Couturier Lends Her Talent to American Uniforms
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

One year prior to her retirement, Madame Paquin (1869 – 1936) was asked by the U.S Army to help with a particular element of uniform design.

Over-Seas Chevrons
(Stars and Stripes, 1918)

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