Charles E. Ruttan Biography
Ruttan designed advertisements for various products and companies such as, Post Toasties, Procter & Gamble, and Pompeian Cream.   He also illustrated a Cream of Wheat advertisement that was displayed in trolleys and train cars.   On June 23, 1916, Ruttan entered the Naval Militia.   His ranking in the United States Navy Reserve was Lieutenant. Ruttan, a qualified pilot, was temporarily assigned to the U.S.S. Melville, which was a supply and repair ship for seaplanes at Ponta Delgada. Here, Ruttan was designated by the Navy Department as the official artist of the flight. His experience with painting naval aviation scenes on the Western Front secured him the position. His paintings were compiled for the U.S. Navy Department historical archives. They depicted scenes of bombing raids at Zeebrugge, Paris, and other locations. In 1918, Ruttan was stationed at the U.S. Coastal Air Station at Montauk, New York.

After the war, Ruttan illustrated a series of paintings which depicted the first successful crossing of the Atlantic by a flight of Navy Curtiss NC seaplanes.

In 1917, Ruttan's World War I poster for the U.S. Navy was released. It featured a man in uniform walking with suitcases in his hands. Behind him is a ship surrounded in yellow and orange light. The poster reads: "A wonderful opportunity for YOU. United States Navy." The message conveyed was that by joining military service, young men were able to travel the world and gain experiences they wouldn't have had before.