Life, 1920-11-25 · page 7 of 45
Life — November 25, 1920 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page critiques post-war attitudes toward veterans. "In Retrospect" is a poem condemning those who've forgotten soldiers' sacrifices at Flanders and in the trenches. It attacks public forgetfulness and ingratitude toward "the Soldiers of Yesterday." The middle section presents quotes from returned soldiers expressing cynicism about civilian life—indifference to material possessions, refusal to gossip, emotional detachment. The satirical point: veterans return psychologically damaged and alienated, unable to readjust to trivial peacetime concerns. The photograph shows two men in formal attire (likely at a church or civic event based on the caption about churches merging). The caption's frustration—"they can't decide which one!"—appears to mock institutional ineffectiveness, contrasting civilian bureaucratic ineptitude with veterans' real suffering.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
In Retrospect HINK you that powerfully we re- member Trenches and crosses and Flanders To-day? Think you the papers they signed that November, Soldiers and gallant commanders, Will stay Valid and honored and unviolated? Already their texts have been mauled and debated! Have you forgotten the tales we related? Under the commonplace things we now say— We are the Soldiers Of Yesterday! We have laid by olive drab for the quiet Unwarlike hues of the old business Clothing. Think you we laid by the thought of the diet We got in the trench? have less Loathing? Think you, because we don’t mope, sigh and ponder In heroic phrases, or wild praises squan- der, We've forgotten the buddies who sleep over yonder? Don't let forgetfulness lead you astray— We are the Soldiers Of Yesterday! For the Hun Treachery lives! lested ! Should we look spinelessly, silently At it? While we are men, by our reason attested, While we have strength left to see—we Combat it. The vows we once swore to are not the less said! The stripes of the flag we love not the less red! Treason goes unmo- The buddies who died for us not the less dead! We shall not see the land fall to decay— We are the Soldiers Of Yesterday! Joseph Andrew Galahad, The Power of the Imagination ‘y WAS sixty my last-birthday, and I don't feel a day older than I did when 1 was twenty-one.” “T never pay any attention to the pre- vailing fashions, but dress to suit my- self.” “I never make ‘company’ of anyone. All I do is to lay down an extra plate.” “I simply don’t care what other people do or say or think. I have my own stand- ard of thinking and living, and other peo- ple can have theirs.” “T never worry about anything.” “| THOUGHT THERE WAS A MOVEMENT IN YOUR TOWN FOR “Tam fifty years old, and I never was sick one single minute in all my life.” “T don't care anything about owning an automobile. I am always nervous in one, and I would rather walk any day.” “I never gossip nor listen to gossip, and if I can’t say something kind about people, I keep still. If I have to hear gossip, I always let it go in at one ear and out at the other.” Usually FRIEND: How long did they regard you as a hero after you returned home? Returnep Sorpier: Until ~ tried to get a job. HE brotherhood of man begins with the manhood of the brother. ALL THE CHURCHES TO MERGE INTO ONE.” “THERE 1s.” “WHAT'S THE DELAY?” “THEY CAN'T DECIDE WHICH ONE.” comicbooks.com