It's an old American custom: keep clean. Take a bath every day you can

Army hygiene poster: three soldiers wash in a jungle field shower rigged from a drum and timber, one naked under the water, two bare-chested with towels, smiling. The caption calls bathing 'an old American custom', framing the order as ordinary habit shared by the men depicted (plain-folks).

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Plain folks

Date

1944

Period

Second World War

Made by

U.S. War Department, Army Service Forces (Graphic Training Aid 8-1)

Region

North America

Country

United States

Medium

Poster

Issuer type

Military

Regime

Roosevelt Administration

Leader

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Audience

Own forces

Purpose

Mobilize or secure compliance

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. War Department. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1123 (NAID 514650).

It's an Old American Custom
KEEP CLEAN
THESE
GUYS RIGGED
UP THIS SHOWER
48 HOURS AFTER
MAKING A
BEACH-HEAD
Take a bath every day you can
[imprint:] Distribution: Continental: In accordance with Part II, ASF Cir. No. 313, 1944 and Section I, ASF Cir. No. 181, 1944. Overseas: T of Opns (10), Depts (10), SvC (10), Base Comds (10), Island Comds (10), Def Comds (10), Sectors (10), Base Sectors (10), Armies (1); Corps (1); D (1); R (1); Sep Bn (1).
[imprint:] ☆ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944—O—619219
[imprint:] Approved War Department Graphic Training Aid 8-1
WAR DEPARTMENT · 10 OCTOBER 1944
Reproduction without permission prohibited