---
title: Match their courage with your responsibility
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/match-their-courage-with-your-responsibility-1943/
description: Painting of three helmeted soldiers firing a machine gun amid shell bursts, with the headline and a block of slogans asking those who pack overseas
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Match their courage with your responsibility

[![Match their courage with your responsibility, 1943 US poster: Painting of three helmeted soldiers firing a machine gun amid](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/match-their-courage-with-your-responsibility-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/match-their-courage-with-your-responsibility-1943.jpg)

# Match their courage with your responsibility

Painting of three helmeted soldiers firing a machine gun amid shell bursts, with the headline and a block of slogans asking those who pack overseas shipments to mark them correctly. The soldiers' courage is set beside the packer's task (transfer). A six-panel strip below shows crates marked wrong and a one-line RESULT for each.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
MATCH THEIR COURAGE...
WITH YOUR
Responsibility
OVERSEAS
SHIPMENTS
MUST BE
MARKED RIGHT
*
THE ARMY MARKING
SYSTEM IS EASY TO
APPLY IF YOU FOLLOW
INSTRUCTIONS
...
IF YOU DON'T KNOW
ASK THE BOSS
[signature: SCHLAIKJER 1943]
(c) WAR DEPARTMENT, U. S. A.
THIS IS
WHAT HAPPENS
WHEN
SHIPMENTS
ARE MARKED
WRONG ->
WATCH SERVICE COLORS
Quartermaster shipped typewriter. Quartermaster color is green, by mistake corners painted Ordnance Yellow. The word "Typewriter" is illegible.
RESULT: Tank unit expects tank parts; Gets typewriter instead!
CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK OVERSEAS ADDRESS--
This equipment belongs to Air Force Combat Unit 1234-A, but careless marking sent it to Air Force Administrative Unit 1324-A. RESULT: Squadron Headquarters has no use for items received, while the Unit they were intended for-some 3,000 miles away, can't get them soon enough.
BE SURE TO STENCIL CONTENTS
The Half Moon indicates Subsistence, but who can tell what's inside when contents aren't marked on the box.
RESULT: They wanted canned peaches-- Found corn starch instead.
MARK THE SET MARKS
Two boxes started on this journey, but the marker forgot to stencil Set Marks, and boxes became separated. RESULT: The X-Ray machine arrived, but it is useless without the tube shipped in the second box.
NOMENCLATURE MUST BE COMPLETE
Whoever marked this box put down "OIL" and stopped short. One kind of oil is no substitute for another.
RESULT: These boys can't run their vehicle on salad oil when Medium Lubricating Oil is needed.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING!
Old container was used, but old markings were not obliterated. Different service colors incorrectly placed are confusing. True weight isn't shown. Contents and overseas destination typed on a small label and no where else, and no packing list attached to show actual mixed items inside container.
RESULT: Hungry soldiers want butter - Find bandages instead.
[crate markings in the panels, partly legible: WT-50 CU-10; WT-150 CU-12 A-8 FOR-1324-A; HQS 1st SQN; WT-120 CU-10 MACHINE X-RAY STOCK # 60880 (LESS TUBE) FOR-BOBO-MED II-A68; WT-60 CU-8 OIL; PRESERVED BUTTER (CARTER'S SPREAD); PORT STOCK]
[imprint: BROWN & BIGELOW, ST. PAUL, MINN. PRINTED IN U.S.A.]
```

[← Marine heroes America will never forget](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/marine-heroes-wake-island-1943/) [Materials Are Precious! Let's Make Every Piece Count! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/materials-are-precious-alexander-1943/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [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)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
