War posters, newspaper articles, recruiting flyers, and things of that nature give us an idea of how our parents and grandparents had to be constantly aware of the war, and had to always think of what they could do to help. I'm a graphic designer by profession, and I think the artwork on these things is fabulous.

I've collected a few for you to see. I can imagine my grandmother, father, aunts and uncles saw some of these in the Lahey grocery store or at the Henryetta, Oklahoma post office while my grandfather was at war.

[click on a poster to see a larger image]

Some posters encouraged civilians to do their part in the war effort:

My favorite is the "Invent for Victory" poster

Other posters encouraged people to eat right and stay healthy - everything they did had an effect on the war:

Many posters made an emotional appeal for secrecy - spies could be anywhere and everywhere, and talking too much could have dire consequences:

Other posters made purely emotional appeals to remember what we were fighting for:

There was even a poster featuring the Sullivan brothers, whose loss at sea while all serving aboard the same ship led to a policy in the US Navy regarding relatives serving together:

Many newspapers and magazines ran inserts exploring various aspects of the war:

There were also posters and inserts explaining things such as the benefits of serving in the Navy and how to prepare yourself for a career in the Navy:

A great collection of images is available at a Library of Congress web site called "American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library. Some of their material could be copyrighted, so I've just provided a link to the page. Click on the banner below: