In 1942, photography was beginning to replace illustration for artwork on magazine covers and interiors, but there was still a balance between the two in most publications. Life magazine, however, started in 1936 as a pictorial weekly devoted to the use of photography as narrative reporting. Its primary aim was to inform through pictures. Life’s success inspired a number of followers, including GM Folks. The General Motors company magazine cover copied Life’s distinctive style, with its full-page photograph and red border.

The July 6, 1942, issue of Life included descriptive text explaining the magazine cover campaign as “a salute to the flag that is the symbol of a nation and of freedom.” One feature documented the arrival in Alaska of casualties from a troopship at Dutch Harbor bombed by the Japanese in June, and photographs by William C. Shrout captured the somber but patriotic mood of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where families waited for news of men missing in action after the Battle of Bataan.