Can anyone explain that American poster to me?

[georgy]

Sorry if this is not the correct place, I had no idea where to post it.


Thanks
Georgy

[sylvieK4]

During World War II, and occasionally today, American families display little banners with one star representing each family member in the service. These banners were often seen in windows of the family home so neighbors would know of the family's contribution to the war effort. A blue star represented a family member in the service, but a gold star represented a family member who died while serving in the war.

The poster depicts a dog that has lost his master, as the unworn sailor uniform he is with suggests, and the gold star on the banner confirms.

The text "Because somebody talked" indicates that the sailor was killed because people spoke openly about ship movements and this information was overheard by spies who told America's enemies who in turn destroyed the ship. It is a spin on the saying "Loose lips sink ships."

[georgy]

Thanks for the good explanation.
Another one i'd like to understand, what does v-mail mean?

FYI, both these poster are taken from http://www.library.northwestern.edu/gov ... i-posters/, where there are few hundreds of ww2 american posters. I find it very interesting.

Georgy

[Tom Houlihan]

As I understand v-mail, you would send the letter through regular post. The Army would then photograph all the letters, putting them on microfilm. The film was then sent overseas, where it was then blown up to normal size for reading. It saved a lot of space that way on the transports.

[georgy]

it is amazing how they saved space on roads , transports, and were calling the people the save every intch of steel , wood , and rubber for the war effort.
Was v-mail obligatory or optional?
My guess is that it was optional, bacause otherwise they didn't have to concince people to use it.
Georgy

[Tom Houlihan]

I couldn't tell you if it was mandatory, optional, just accepted. I thought it was just something that was done, whether people wanted it done or not, just for efficiency.

[Andy H]

I thought V-Mail stood for Victory-Mail?

Andy H

[Caldric]

Yes as far as I know it was Victory Mail. Sounds like so high-tech stuff for WWII.

http://www.merkki.com/dson5.htm#vm

[Greg K.]

heres a poster that i have that was used during the USA -V- Japan.
as you can see they were put into factorys so to keep the employees from waisting things. this one was used in a Cable Plant. as you can see what was printed on the back...pretty weard...

greg