---
title: I'd have been a goner
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/id-have-been-a-goner-army-nurse-corps-1944/
description: 'Army Nurse Corps recruiting sheet: a full-page photograph of a wounded infantryman in a hospital bed with a plasma line in his arm.'
section: Collection
---

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3. I'd have been a goner

**Content note:** Photograph of a badly wounded soldier in a hospital bed receiving plasma and transfusion. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![I'd have been a goner, 1944 US poster: Army Nurse Corps recruiting sheet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/id-have-been-a-goner-army-nurse-corps-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/id-have-been-a-goner-army-nurse-corps-1944.jpg)

# I'd have been a goner

Army Nurse Corps recruiting sheet: a full-page photograph of a wounded infantryman in a hospital bed with a plasma line in his arm, a nurse's profile at upper left and his first-person account below. Headline: "I'd have been a goner . . ." The technique is testimonial, a named soldier vouching for the nurses.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
"I'D HAVE BEEN A GONER . . ."
[photograph caption:] STAFF SERGEANT JOHN SCHUSTER, infantryman from Stelton, New Jersey
"'Hit the ditch, boys; here come the Jerries.' Like the rest of the men I dove for the nearest hedgerow in a Normandy field on the road to St. Lo. The low-flying planes dumped their bombs along the road. Only one missed and that one hit near me. I was badly wounded by the shell fragments and the next thing I knew I was in an evacuation hospital and an Army nurse was giving me blood plasma. If it hadn't been for that I'd have been a goner. I'm an old hand at plasma for I've had it twenty times. Now they're giving me whole-blood transfusions. There were Army nurses with me all the time and, tired as many of them were, they'd spend their off-duty time with us wounded men, helping to bring us back to where we thought things were really worth fighting for. We need all the nurses we can get. If you can, join the Army Nurse Corps."
MORE NURSES ARE NEEDED
U. S. ARMY NURSE CORPS
[imprint:] P-153--RPB--9-5-44--20M
```

[← "I'd given up hope . . ."](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/id-given-up-hope-army-nurse-corps-1944/) [I'd Rather Be with Them - Than Waiting →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/id-rather-be-with-them-than-waiting-1944/)

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- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) (Great Seljuk Empire · 1099 · Testimonial)
- [Estoire d'Eracles page with Bernard of Clairvaux preaching the Second Crusade in the initial (Walters W.137, fol. 180v)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eracles-bernard-preaching-second-crusade-w137-1275/) (France · 1275 · Testimonial)
- [Opening page of the Estoire d'Eracles (William of Tyre in French), with the Crucifixion and Pope Urban II preaching the First Crusade in the initial (Walters W.137, fol. 1r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eracles-urban-ii-preaching-first-crusade-w137-1275/) (France · 1275 · Testimonial, Transfer)