---
title: A strange sort of prayer
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/a-strange-sort-of-prayer-1941/
description: 'Navy war-production poster: a grimed, kneeling serviceman with a carbine on a sandy battlefield strewn with a buried body, a machine gun and a helmet.'
section: Collection
---

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3. A strange sort of prayer

**Content note:** Shows a buried body and a grimed, grieving serviceman on a battlefield. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![A strange sort of prayer, 1941 US poster: Navy war-production poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/a-strange-sort-of-prayer-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/a-strange-sort-of-prayer-1941.jpg)

# A strange sort of prayer

Navy war-production poster: a grimed, kneeling serviceman with a carbine on a sandy battlefield strewn with a buried body, a machine gun and a helmet, above a first-person prayer asking that people at home keep sending blood and working on the job. The soldier's voice is a testimonial; the prayer form lends the request religious weight.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
A STRANGE SORT OF PRAYER
WELL, GOD, here we are.
You up there. Me down here, with a burning sun, a mess of insects, too much ocean, and other buddies just as lonely as me.
Oh, God, how nice it must be back home, with Germany licked, and the folks humming, and some of the boys all finished with the fighting.
But I guess that wasn't meant for me, was it? And tomorrow and tomorrow I'll still be dodging bullets, still feeling lost in the middle of the night.
Well, no hard feelings.
I'll go wherever You say, and do whatever You want me to. For You know what's best for me.
But say, if You can only get the people back home to remember me, maybe they'll still bear down. Maybe they'll still send us their blood, still stay on the job, still keep making the stuff we need.
You see, God, I'd like to get home, too.
[signature: JOHN FALTER]
[imprint: OFFICIAL NAVY POSTER, INDUSTRIAL INCENTIVE DIVISION, [number illegible]]
[imprint: U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, [rest illegible]]
```

[← 'A stitch in time saves coupons' (British Board of Trade clothes-rationing poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/a-stitch-in-time-saves-coupons-1941/) [A watched job never spoils →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/a-watched-job-never-spoils-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)