May 18 1917 -  The United States passes the Selective Service Act empowering the Federal Government to draft men for the armed forces. 24.3 million Americans were drafted between 1917 - 1918 and of those about 4.3 million went overseas. These ads ran mostly in 1918 in various newpapers around the U.S.

When You Come Back - Raymond Dixon - 1917 - Press Play Button

I thought the artwork for this was fascinating

The Sea Calls You - Spanish American War by oldiesbutgoodies
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  War Bond AD

Now is the time for action.
We shall fight to the last drop of blood until VICTORY is ours. But dollars save lives and wherever it is possible we shall spend dollars rather than spend blood. The choice is clear. We can begin to save carefully and intelligently in order to prevent every needless hour of human agony on the fields of France. Or we can continue unnecessary spending and thus handicap the preparations of the Government, prolong the war and endanger the lives of our fighting men. Enlist your dollars as our soldiers enlist their lives until the war is won. No real American will hesitate. We shall save, save more than we ever believed we could save, to invest in Liberty Bonds. We are united in this purpose but our present savings may not be adequate for the purchase of all the Liberty Bonds our hearts prompt us to buy. To meet this difficulty the great banking system of America, which has been mobilized in support of the Government, offers its help. Every citizen is urged to go to a bank and arrange for the purchase of bonds to be paid for out of future savings.

Attack!
Our men answer this command with a yell of satisfaction. Fight as they do! Go in with the same determination. The Boche fears a bond as he does a bayonet; for deep down in his heart he knows that money means materials of war. He knows that these guns and
shells and bayonets in the hands of American soldiers mean THE END!

Own this great WWI Navy Poster (or order as a print)

WW1 Navy - Navy Recruitment Poster or Print by oldiesbutgoodies
See other I Posters

The New York Tribune, November 11,1918

A message from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. - 

To the People of Greater New York:
To-day the United War Work Campaign begins. It starts at a supreme moment in human history. Victory is in the air! The triumph of all we have been hoping for and all that our boys have been fighting and dying for, may be finally achieved this very day, Think what all this will mean to the soldiers of our Allies.

Their home folks will surely "take the lid off" when their boys come home. Street lights, dimmed now for several years in a thousand cities and towns, to avoid giving direction to enemy air raids, will shine out as never before. Window shades ordered by law to be down at night in millions of homes in France and England, will be raised. The boys of France and Italy can get home immediately. They will march through Paris and Rome to the sound of a nation's cheers. Nothing will be good enough for them; and oh! what it will mean to them to be there among those they love.

And the Tommies! What a time they will have hurrying to the first boat, and, only a few hours later, jumping off at railroad stations and swinging through the streets of their home towns, while bands play and all England shouts its welcome. Even the Tommies who must stay in France awaiting their turn to go home will get the home papers next morning. Mails next day will be full of letters packed with love and joy. Every Tommy will immediately hear and feel the sense of England's happiness and pride.

One day our boys will come home. It will be the biggest day New York has ever seen. But that day is not yet, 3,000 miles of ocean lie between us. A few of the boys can return immediately, but hundreds of thousands of them must stay behind and wait. It will seem a very long time both to them and to us. What wouldn't we have given? What wouldn't they have given if they could have been here last Thursday and seen that marvellous celebration. It was premature, to be sure, but the public instinct was sound. The people knew they weren't celebrating a fake; they were celebrating a victory they knew had been won. And if our own boys could come swinging down the Avenue, those boys who have slept in the mud, who have endured every discomfort, who have faced death in every form, what wouldn't we want to do for them! No one would count the dollars then; not one of us would stint in his giving. There is only one real way we can celebrate this victory in a manner which can tangibly express our feelings toward those in the service of Our Country either abroad or in camps in theUnited States. 

The United War Work Campaign gives us this opportunity. Through giving to it we can show our boys the feeling which is in our hearts, and send them our message of gratitude, not at
some future time when they return, but now.