Content note: Caricature of a goose-stepping, saluting Axis officer with a swastika armband drawn inside an eye as the 'foreign body'. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Foreign body in eye?
Navy first-aid safety poster: a large drawn eye with a goose-stepping, saluting caricature of an Axis officer (swastika armband) standing in the pupil, with the headline 'Foreign body in eye?' and the line 'Next step get first aid or infection may result!'. The enemy figure stands in for the speck, and the warning rests on fear of infection.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Navy, Navy Department safety poster; artist Chuck Thorndike
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Health, 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)
U.S. Navy. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-822 (NAID 514317).
Text on the object
FOREIGN BODY IN EYE? NEXT STEP GET FIRST AID OR INFECTION MAY RESULT! [signature: Chuck Thorndike] NAVY DEPARTMENT SAFETY POSTER
