Life, 1917-08-09 · page 6 of 42
Life — August 9, 1917 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents WWI propaganda content rather than satirical commentary. The central heading "What We Are in the War For" displays symbolic illustrations representing American war aims: prosperity (money bag), glory (angel), patriotism (flag), manufacturing, and shipping. The main text is a letter from an American soldier in France describing military operations against Germans, including kite balloon sections and aircraft combat. The letter emphasizes the destruction wrought by German forces during retreat. The satire is minimal here—this functions primarily as **recruitment and morale-building propaganda** for domestic readers. By publishing authentic soldier correspondence, Life legitimizes the war effort and appeals to readers' patriotic sentiment. The subscription offer at bottom ("Send LIFE each week to a soldier") reinforces this propagandistic purpose.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
What We Are in the War for But we are in the war for something else besides these things pictured above. We are in it to destroy Prussian militarism. Read this genuine letter, received from an American boy by one of the members of our staff: Somewhere in France. ink you so much for sending me Lire every w I enjoy reading it immensely, and so do lots of others who know America and Lire. It is a change from the Con- tinental Daily Mail, which is about the only er we can get out here. We are continuously on the move at present, owing to the German retreat, and it means a lot of work, as Kite Balloon Sections are not exactly mobile. Our first move took us into country not so very long ago “ No Man’s Land,” and the state of the whole place was indescribable. No one can realize it unless they have seen it. The Germans alled it a desert, and it is the first true thing they have said. Now we are in country just evacuated and practically untouched by shell-fire, but every village has been burnt down or blown up, and everything of any value destroyed by the Huns in their retreat. SF .Stet 35 Foreigi Soon after we arrived here we had an exciting time, as a Hun aeroplane managed to Send Liv evade our anti-aircraft guns, etc, and attacked our balloon and another successfully, $ months bringing both down in flames. All the observers got out in parachutes, and came safely to earth. It is comforting to see our parachutes open up so well, as probably next time I shall be up in the balloon. We are moving again at present, and are almost wishing the line would settle down again, as the balloon is an unwieldy thing to move about. We are hoping the good weather is coming, but last month was awful, and April has not done any better. We have either raging hurricanes, pouring rain or blizzards. One minute the ground is covered with snow, the next minute it is under water. I hope America’s entry will help to end this sooner; the sooner the better, as far as all of us are concerned. Please give my kindest regards to Mrs. and rest of _ —— ——— your family. nly to new subscribers’ no sub- Your Arrrctionate Govion, scriptions renewed at this rate, Send LIFE each week toa soldier at the front. Domestic LIFE, 17 West 31st Street, New York. 2 rates will suffice if you send it to him in care of the 7 American Expeditionary Forces. oe One Year, $5.00. (Canadian, $5.52; Foreign, $6.04.) comicbooks