Content note: Painted image of a wounded, shirtless sailor with a bloody bullet wound held by an officer. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Dare you to say or think you do not feel
Painted scene of a naval officer in a peaked cap holding a shirtless wounded sailor with a bloody bullet wound, barbed wire behind them. The verse beneath asks workers whether they dare take time off from the job. The tell: wounded servicemen shown as the cost of absence, with 'then we are lost... and YOU!' as the closing threat.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- General Cable Corporation (artist signature: e. c. beall)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Corporation
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Labor, War and the military
- 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)
General Cable Corporation. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-625 (NAID 514103).
Text on the object
DARE YOU TO SAY OR THINK YOU DO NOT FEEL THE BULLET THAT HAS PIERCED THE FLESH OF HIM WHO FOUGHT SO GALLANTLY, WITH FIERY ZEAL, WHILE THINKING NOT OF LOSS OF LIFE OR LIMB? DARE YOU DENY TO THOSE WHO ENTER HELL, FOR WAR IS HELL FOR ALL OUR FIGHTING CREW, THE HOURS OF STICKING ON YOUR JOB? THINK WELL- FOR-IF YOU DARE, THEN WE ARE LOST... AND YOU! [imprint:] COPR. 1943 GENERAL CABLE CORPORATION [signature:] e. c. beall
