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On the date

Saturday, October 20, 1917

From the day

Perspective: The Teenager · Sight

The streetlights flicker over the newsies screaming about the *Antilles* going down, their silhouettes sharp against the brick as they flash headlines of those seventy poor souls lost to the U-boats. I kick at a stray crate, my stiff wool collar scratching my neck while I hum that "Over There" tune, watching my kid brother on the rug obsessively stacking his **Lincoln Logs** into a tiny, wooden fortress. He’s too young to see the posters plastered on every corner, but I can’t stop staring at that pointed finger telling me Uncle Sam wants YOU. The world feels like it’s shrinking into one big no man’s land, and these city shadows suddenly feel way too quiet.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

U-BOAT SINKS AN AMERICAN TRANSPORT, THE ANTILLES, RETURNING FROM EUROPE; 70 MEN PERISH, INCLUDING 16 SOLDIERS; American Transport Antilles, Sunk by U-Boat.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Over There

George M. Cohan

The must-have

Lincoln Logs

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

lousysnapshotmovies

Soldiers

over the topblightyno man's landcooties

Suffragette

deeds not wordsvotes for women

Catchphrases of 1917

  • Uncle Sam wants YOU

Tech Check

Modern Zipper & Drone Torpedoes.

Cost of Living (1910)

Loaf of Bread

$0.06

Gallon of Gas

$0.15

Average Home

$3,600

New Car

$950

Time Elapsed

39,675 days ago

(108 years, 255 days)