Awakenings: The Stars and Stripes

Monday, February 8, 2016

The Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes (newspaper) 1945
Image Source: commons.wikipedia.org

Stars and Stripes is an American newspaper that reports on matters affecting the members of the United States Armed Forces. This significant paper has a unique history serving American troops here and abroad, during peace time and in war.

Step back in time first to its origin...

On November 9, 1861, during the American Civil War, a group of Union soldiers of the 11th, 18th, and 29th Illinois Regiments set up camp in Bloomfield, Missouri. They happened upon the abandoned local newspaper's office, the Bloomfield Herald. An idea to chronicle daily activities of the units in the area led to the printing of the newspaper. They called it the Stars and Stripes. A total of four editions were printed.

The First Stars and Stripes, 1861

Fast forward ahead to this day in history: February 8, 1918...

World War I created a need for the revival of the Stars and Stripes newspaper. So, on February 8, 1918, the paper resumed in Paris as a means to serve American troops stationed in Europe. Keep in mind this was wartime. The printing of the newspaper depended heavily on the improvisational efforts of its staff to get it printed in France and distributed to U.S. troops.

The front page for the first issue of the World War I version of the Stars and Stripes
included a statement from Commander in Chief John J. Pershing
that introduced the paper to American Soldiers:
"It is your paper. Good luck to it." USAMHI
Image Source: www.army.mil

Publication was off again, on again. After having re-emerged during World War I, there was a brief period of peace, then re-emerged again during World War II, this time for good.

And the status of the Stars and Stripes today...

Stars and Stripes remains an institution among the American military, an independent voice covering the triumphs and the trials, the battles won and the lives lost, the going to war and the coming home.
Source: Stripes Central