Birth of the American Graphic T-Shirt: The Las Vegas Gunnery School Official WWII Shirt

Corporal Alexander Le Gerda is the first person in history to be included in a popular magazine wearing a graphic t-shirt. His photo made the July 13th, 1942 cover of LIFE Magazine, cradling a .30 cal. machine gun and sporting a tight-fitting athletic tee made by the American Athletic Co. in Los Angeles, CA. An original version of this shirt recently sold (August 2015) for over $1,000 USD. The shirt depicts a winged horned toad shooting a .30 caliber machine gun perched upon a cloud. The shirt is commonly reprinted but with incorrect colors for the mascot. The true color is a yellow ocher, when some sites print the shirts with a light blue… read more >