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Collection Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918 to 1919

Self Reported History of Stars and Stripes

"Making up the Final Issue." Photograph. From Harry L. Katz, A Brief History of The Stars and Stripes, Official Newspaper of the American Expeditionary Forces in France (Washington, D.C.: Columbia Publishing Co., 1921), p. 35.

On June 13, 1919, The Stars and Stripes published its final issue. On page five of that issue, the editors announced that the newspaper was being "reverently hauled down" because the war was over, and treated their readers, "the most homesick and most likable Army on earth," to a history of the newspaper's activities. The account named and honored the men who had assisted behind the scenes in the writing of the newspaper, as well as in its illustration, design, printing, and distribution.

Proud that they had succeeded in achieving the mission of the newspaper, that of raising the soldiers' morale, the editors also expressed their satisfaction in having maintained their editorial independence in spite of military censorship and in having overcome the challenges of reporting and producing a newspaper at the war front. Full of the humor that had characterized the newspaper throughout its run, the editors' self-assessment is at once a history and a celebration of a unique journalistic achievement.