Foremost! The Engineers Need Skilled Mechanics and Tradesmen
A column of helmeted soldiers in silhouette marches toward a smoking horizon above the headline 'The Engineers,' with an offer to put a civilian trade to use in uniform. The tell is the pairing of the skilled-trades appeal with the marching column: the recruit's existing identity as a mechanic is carried into the army. Contact details for enlisting are printed at the lower right.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (First Replacement Regiment of Engineers, Washington Barracks)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Themes
- War and the military, Labor
- Event
- World War I
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 4 (U.S. Food Administration), World War I Posters (NAID 512439), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-30.
Text on the object
FOREMOST! THE ENGINEERS NEED SKILLED MECHANICS AND TRADESMEN Serve Your Country and Follow Your Trade at the Same Time. ENLIST NOW IN THE FIRST REPLACEMENT REGIMENT OF ENGINEERS FOR INFORMATION ADDRESS POST COMMANDER WASHINGTON BARRACKS D.C. [printer's line at bottom edge, partly legible: CONTRIBUTED BY NATIONAL ... CO. N.Y.]
