Stars and Stripes is a daily newspaper that presents news, editorials, and features of interest to military personnel stationed outside the United States. The United States Department of Defense publishes the paper in Griesheim, Germany, and in Tokyo. People in the U.S. armed forces rely on it for information not available in the general media. This information includes news of military affairs, working benefits, and opportunities for promotion. The paper’s staff consists of civilian journalists and military personnel.
Soldier-journalists organized a paper called The Stars and Stripes during the American Civil War (1861-1865). They named it after the American flag. In 1918 and 1919, during World War I, American soldiers in France revived The Stars and Stripes. Many leading journalists began their careers on the paper, including Grantland Rice, a sports reporter, and Harold W. Ross, founding editor of The New Yorker magazine.
The Stars and Stripes appeared again in 1942, after the United States entered World War II. The paper made its greatest impact during this war. Thirty locations in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific published it. The paper earned respect for its realistic and enterprising coverage of the war. Its reporters often worked under enemy fire and accurately covered discouraging news, such as U.S. naval losses to Japan. In 1945, Bill Mauldin won a Pulitzer Prize for his “Up Front” cartoons in the paper. These cartoons vividly pictured the problems of common soldiers.
