Content note: Text uses the wartime slur 'Japs' and the coinage 'Nipponazis', printed as issued in 1942. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Carry On!
Company-issued patriotic sheet: a framed panel of service insignia with eight vignettes of 'Remember the men' episodes from 1779 to 1942, plus quotations from Roosevelt, Washington and Lincoln. Prestige of past heroes is carried onto the present war (transfer), and virtue words such as liberty and freedom stand in for specific claims.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- N. S. Meyer, Inc., New York (manufacturer and designer, Army and Navy insignia and accoutrement)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Corporation
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Reassure
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- 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)
N. S. Meyer, Inc.. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-560 (NAID 514039).
Text on the object
Carry On! Americans have nurtured liberty, have fought for it always, creating in our country a citadel where freedom for all is enshrined. This liberty has made us righteous, and strong in mind and body. We who have not flaunted this strength now call upon it to stamp out ruthless aggression in every quarter of the earth. To this cause we pledge our resources and our blood "that government of the people, by the people, for the people" may be the privilege of all men. This is a fight worth fighting. This will be our Victory! Remember the men at Wake Island—hard-pressed, holding off the Japs for days, well knowing no relief could reach them. Finally our Navy established contact . . . asked: "Is there anything you want?" Major Devereux's reply—crackling back over the wireless—was the kind of reply you can always count on free men to make when the chips are down and the going is tough: "Yes. Send us some more Japs!" Remember the men at Manila who camouflaged all our vital defense positions. Yet one post stood bare . . . MacArthur's headquarters, over which proudly flew the Stars and Stripes. When it was suggested that the flag might serve as a target for the bombers of the Nipponazis, the General declared: "We'll take every other normal precaution for the protection of headquarters! "But let's keep the flag flying!" Remember the men at Belleau Wood—June 4, 1918—waiting the zero hour to attack. As shells exploded overhead, whistles signaled the advance against the Germans. Above the din came the shout of Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Daly as he led his Leathernecks over the top: "Come on, you ______! "Do you want to live forever!" Remember the men at Mobile Bay—August 5, 1864. The memorable war for unity among the states. The Northern fleet stood by in the harbor under the guns of the Confederacy. Hesitation to expose the ships to the threatened bombardment gripped all until Admiral Farragut courageously ordered: "Damn the torpedoes! Go ahead!" Remember the men in the war of 1812. At the battle of Lake Erie, a signal, floated at the masthead of Commodore Perry's flagship, inspired the American fleet to victory. That signal: "Don't give up the ship!" was the ringing last words of Captain James Lawrence. Mortally wounded three months earlier, Lawrence had himself raised from the deck of his frigate, the Chesapeake, to point at the roaring Shannon and cry his deathless order: "Keep the guns going! Fight her till she strikes or sinks! "Don't give up the ship!" Remember the men on the Bonhomme Richard—sinking as broadside after broadside of round shot from the Serapis crashed her hull. Summoned to surrender on that fateful September day in 1779, John Paul Jones spurred his boarding party to the capture of a rich prize by his shouted, never-to-be-forgotten answer: "We have just begun to fight!" "With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God." —FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT December 8, 1941. "Remember, officers and soldiers, that you are freemen, fighting for the blessings of liberty, that slavery will be your portion and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men." —GEORGE WASHINGTON to the Continental Army, 1776. "Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." —ABRAHAM LINCOLN February 27, 1860. Prepared by N. S. MEYER, INC. New York A. A. Raeburn, President 1942 Manufacturer and Designer ARMY AND NAVY Insignia and Accoutrement Since 1868 COPYRIGHT 1942







