"God help me if this is a dud!" His life is in your hands
A helmeted soldier in mid-throw with a grenade, on a red and white ground under the quoted headline 'God help me if this is a dud!'. The caption 'His life is in your hands' addresses the munitions worker. The fear-appeal is the soldier's life at stake; the quoted first-person line works as a testimonial from the front.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ordnance Department, U.S. Army (artist John Vickery)
- 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, Labor
- 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)
Ordnance Department, U.S. Army. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-904 (NAID 514409).
Text on the object
"God help me if this is a dud!" HIS LIFE IS IN YOUR HANDS [signature:] JOHN VICKERY [imprint:] U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1942—O-477498 [imprint:] ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT, U. S. ARMY KEEP 'EM SHOOTING!
