Content note: Shows a buried body and a grimed, grieving serviceman on a battlefield. This object is shown as it was published. Why
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
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Navy, Industrial Incentive Division (artist John Falter)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front, Religion
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Navy, Industrial Incentive Division. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-294 (NAID 513741).
Text on the object
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]]
