No guesswork. The right lubrication guide for your equipment
Army equipment-care poster: a grinning cartoon soldier holds up War Department Ordnance lubrication guides, with arrows from a guide for a quarter-ton truck to a black circle reading 'No guesswork: the right lubricant, the right place, the right time'. A puzzled soldier at an engine appears below. The technique is faint; the friendly cartoon soldier is a plain-folks device for a practical instruction.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. War Department, Army Conservation Program
- 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
- War and the military, Science and technology
- 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-1410 (NAID 515074).
Text on the object
[reproduced guide:] WAR DEPARTMENT ORDNANCE / LUBRICATION GUIDE / DEPARTMENT / No. 501 / TRUCK, 1/4 TON, 4x4 (FORD-WILLYS) / [guide table and notes, fine print illegible] No GUESSWORK the RIGHT Lubricant the RIGHT Place the RIGHT Time The Right LUBRICATION GUIDE for Your Equipment War Department LUBRICATION GUIDES are issued for ENGINEERS and ORDNANCE equipment, and MUST accompany that equipment at all times. If the applicable lubrication guide is not with your equipment, requisition one immediately, showing War Department Lubrication Guide number or, if not known, give correct nomenclature, model, and serial number. Write THROUGH CHANNELS FOR ORDNANCE to | COMMANDING OFFICER, FORT WAYNE ORDNANCE DEPOT, DETROIT, MICH. ENGINEERS to | SPARE PARTS BRANCH, ENGINEER SUPPLY SECTION, COLUMBUS ARMY SERVICE FORCES DEPOT, COLUMBUS, OHIO [logo:] U.S. ARMY SAVE CONSERVATION PROGRAM [on cans:] GO / OE / OG [imprint:] ARMY CONSERVATION PROJECT No. 9-0-1 [imprint:] ☆ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943 — O — 553976
