Essay On Walt Disney In World War 2

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Disney in World War II Despite his career’s rough start in the 1920’s, Walt Disney has become a household name, known for films such as Bambi and Peter Pan. The cartoonist’s career and company survived many eras of American history; this included the second World War, a harsh time where everyone seemed to be working and living for the war. During World War II, Disney contributed to the war effort through the creation of military insignias, aircraft nose art, and propaganda films. Throughout World War II, Walt Disney Productions created a total of approximately 1,200 military emblems. In the previous world war, a sixteen-year-old Walt Disney served as a Red Cross ambulance driver. It’s rather possible that he was exposed to early nose art, …show more content…

The emblem depicted Mickey Mouse flying on a goose bomber with a Navy trident in front of the Statue of Liberty (Daly). Disney later found itself buried in requests when hundreds of new military units were built during America’s mobilization from 1940 to 1941 (“Disney Pins on Wings”). In response, Disney organized a team of six artists specifically to keep up with the demand for military logos (Daly). Insignias were designed not only for the United States military, but also for Allied units in Britain, France, Canada, China, New Zealand, South Africa, and Poland. Organizations like war industries and civil defense had designs created for them as well. As a donation to the war effort, Walt Disney Productions designed all logos for free (“Disney Pins on …show more content…

Over 90,000 feet of training films were produced for U.S. defense forces, bringing a spirited and nostalgic flair to soldiers. One film in particular that was meant for rifle training also rallies soldiers to want to learn how to use a weapon that could destroy Hitler. Disney and director Frank Capra made a series of Why We Fight films to remind soldiers of their noble cause, along with training and navigation films. All the videos made for the army were free, resulting in more money that could be spent on other causes in the war. By the time the war ended, Disney produced around 68 hours and 400,000 feet of film in support of the war

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