"The Graphic," Volume 1, Number 6 (Saturday, July 28, 1945).

This nostalgia piece is a little different from what I typically post, but it's regarding some items in my collection that puzzle me a little bit. First, I have no recollection of where I picked them up, but I suppose they must have been in a stack of random papers. Second, I'm having a hard time finding out much about them, other than the information they provide themselves.

The cryptic items are two consecutive issues of The Graphic, a World War II regimental newspaper that was "published each Friday in the interest of all 16th Infantry personnel." (The two I have, however, are labeled as coming out on Saturday.) They were published immediately post-war, about four months after the Battle of Remagen, in Bamberg, Germany.

The earlier paper I have is Volume one, Number six, from Saturday, July 28, 1945. A cover article says it is the first issue to be formatted as a tabloid. The later is Volume one, Number seven, Saturday, August 4, 1945. This later one is called an anniversary issue, marking the end of three years overseas for the Sixteenth Infantry, and features a short but powerful article by future director Cpl. Samuel Fuller called "Die Sixteenth Infantry Hat Ein Haus Eingeschlagen." He translates this to "The Sixteenth Infantry has struck a house." Superimposed over the article is the only color in either paper: the Big Red One.

Fuller, in case you're unfamiliar, directed the brilliant 1980 war film The Big Red One, based on his experiences in the 1st Infantry Division so nicknamed. I surmise that he wrote this piece after he helped liberate the concentration camp at Falkenau (three months earlier), which he documented on 16mm film. He died in 1997.

I can’t find any mention of these fascinating papers anywhere, but when I took them to a flea market a few years ago, the seller in an expansive booth of WWII memorabilia dismissively told me he had stacks of them laying around (at home, not the market) and they’re essentially worthless. They seem pretty compelling to me, but I assumed he was telling me the truth since he wouldn’t even look at them, much less did he offer to buy them from me. But if they’re so ubiquitous, why can’t I find out a damn thing about them? Why have I never found one on eBay? I've even sent messages to an active Facebook group honoring the 16th Infantry, never to receive a response.

I've decided to reprint them here, to see if they garner any interest from WWII buffs, or anyone. My dad was with the 15th Army Air Force, but regretfully I never asked him about the war in the sixteen years I had with him, before he died unexpectedly in '85. My brother has some small notebooks in dad's handwriting titled "Record of Sorties," describing the missions he flew in simple, bureaucratic detail, as they were occurring (I guess, considering all the technical minutiae).

That's in contrast to these newspapers, which have a vibrancy to their tone. Largely covering the lives of soldiers trying to return to normal (albeit while still overseas), they contain accounts of social and sporting events, cartoons about their peculiar circumstances (by Frank Interlandi, who went on to a career as a Los Angeles Times editorial cartoonist and abstract Impressionist painter), and articles acting as guides to what they could expect next, and how best to utilize the government benefits due them. 

The hopeful elation of this new peace was obviously tinged with uncertainty, I feel that in these pages. Surely they knew they would continue to bear a weight, but now one that brought on more than just a weariness of bones.

The scans are top of page and bottom of page, I didn't bother trying to combine them fearing a loss of legibility. I edited them the best I could, eliminating some excess margins. I felt they looked best as color scans, lightly sharpened and brightened with a little contrast added. The difference in clarity between these and grayscale scans, I found, was negligible. I kept the color, for its character and unembellished verisimilitude (in other words: keepin’ it real!). The deeply-yellowed pages, for the record, are soft, not brittle.

I hope to add more description in order to make them more search engine-friendly, but for now I just want to get them on here. I'll have the other issue up at a later date, in the meantime please comment with additional info, thoughts, suggestions...

The big headline on the front page gives one an idea of where their greatest interest lie:

"BEER HAVENS OPENED FOR [ENLISTED MEN]"
with the subtitle
"16th Soldiers Can Buy Beer In Local Taverns; Ten Pubs In Operation."

(Oh, and don’t miss “Jive Time In Czechoslovakia.”) 

(click to enlarge and clarify)

Check back for the other issue, one o' these days (probably with some TV nostalgia nuttiness in the meantime, however)...
UPDATE!
I decided to give the full page edit a shot in order to see how it looks, so here's a preview of the next issue, and that incredible Sam Fuller piece with the Big Red One emblem over it (not to mention there's a message from Ike himself). I’ve also written out the full text at the DPiMR Facebook page, which you can read HERE.

Thanks for looking, and remember: share, share, that's fair!