“I’d Join the Navy”

“I’d Join the Navy”

NAVY HISTORY!

How many of you seen this “Navy Recruiting Poster” before?!

Trivia: Do you know the history of this poster and who the model was?!

ANSWER: The model enlisted in the Navy and became a Chief Petty Officer.

In 1917, as America entered WWI, thousands of young men rushed to join the Army, Marines, and Navy.

Bernice Smith was an energetic 20-year-old woman who stopped by her local California recruiting office and was very interested in signing up with the US Navy.

Upon seeing all of the young men enlisting in the Navy, Bernice suddenly blurted out the words, “Gee I wish I were a man, I’d join the Navy.”

Little did Bernice realize that also present at the recruiting station was one of America’s most famous illustrators, Howard Chandler Christy.

Chandler had done many illustrations for various magazines over the years, but with the…