During WW2 Americans received their war news from short movie clips when they went to the theater, from radio and from print media such as Life Magazine.
Life Magazine not only brought the war home to civilians via news stories but also encouraged public support for the war effort through the advertisers.
The below ad appeared in the November 1, 1943 issue of Life. The advertiser is the Willard Battery Company, a subsidiary of The Electric Storage Battery Company.
The issue featured a pilot and a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter and the reason I purchased it at a rummage sale!
Willard is still in business today, owned by a South African Company.
During WW2 Willard switched production from automobile batteries to war production. In this particular ad Willard advertises the fact their batteries are used in American tanks.
The advertisement features the most common American tank of all-the M4 Sherman of which about 50,000 were built for use in the American Army, Canadian Army, British Army and even the Soviet Army due to Lend-Lease aid.
The ad is typical as it refers to the sacrifices our boys are making in fighting the war. The ad appeals to that sacrifice by encouraging the reader to buy more war stamps and war bonds so that our boys have the equipment they need to keep on fighting.
WW2 was the last of our wars that involved everyone. The nation was mobilized with one goal-to win the war as soon as possible. Since the Korean War the nation as a whole has not been involved. To be sure, if your family had\has a member in the military who are involved so are you, but for many Americans conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are remote and as a result none of the sacrifice so prevalent in WW2 is made upon most of us.
History and Hobbies 
Great post, Bruce. See – we CAN learn something new everyday!
The old Life Magazines are a goldmine GP.
The P47 is why its my user name!
That’s cool but a Mustang was a P-51 and the P-47 was a Thunderbolt. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
LOL. Just some miscommunication. The Jug is shown on the cover of the LIFE magazine. That’s why I mentioned my user name. My good friend’s Uncle, Mr. Hildebrand, engineered the plexiglass bubble canopy. He even had the original blueprints signed off by the powers to be of that time.
Very cool. You know your stuff. It’s my favorite US fighter which is why I had to have the Life Magazine! blessings, Bruce
The same friend Mike Machat offered me an original pilot’s manual… but I turned it down… Dumbness at its finest, I’m afraid.
Well, I’ve made quite a few collectible errors in my early days. I collected some old guns, some quite rare and like an idiot sold them and it wasn’t because I needed the money. We learn and you no doubt have as well. Thanks for stopping by.
? I’m curious where you see P51 associated with my name? Even this website is p47koji.com? Hmmm
A Mustang. The P-51 was called a Mustang after the horse of course.
I just went to the P47 site so now I see what you mean. Here your name is Mustang.Koji and that’s all I saw at first. Very sorry. Press on Thunderbolt!
LOL! Mustang comes from my love of the Ford Mustang GT. On my 5th and last one unfortunately.
Ah, we had a 72 Mustang but not a GT. It was white and blue with a US flag the last year they had the old design with the 351. Probably collectible now. Oh well. Now we have a Honda and a Mazda. haha