---
title: 'Pershing Says: The S.O.S. Shares the Success With Us'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pershing-says-sos-1918/
description: A morale poster for AEF supply personnel quotes General John J. Pershing by name, thanking the Services of Supply for its 'prompt response' to every…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Pershing Says: The S.O.S. Shares the Success With Us](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/pershing-says-sos-1918.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/pershing-says-sos-1918.jpg)

# Pershing Says: The S.O.S. Shares the Success With Us

A morale poster for AEF supply personnel quotes General John J. Pershing by name, thanking the Services of Supply for its 'prompt response' to every wartime demand and calling it 'hearty congratulations.' Pershing's personal authority as commander stands in for any accounting of what the S.O.S. actually delivered.

- **Date:** 1918
- **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi)
- **Made by:** American Expeditionary Forces (Services of Supply)
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=military)
- **Regime:** [Wilson Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=wilson-administration)
- **Leader:** [Woodrow Wilson](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=woodrow-wilson)
- **Audience:** [Own forces](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=own-forces)
- **Purpose:** [Reassure](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=reassure)
- **Theme:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military)
- **Event:** [World War I](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-i)
- **Techniques:** [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Pershing_says,_%22I_want_S.O.S._to_know_how_the_First_Army_appreciates_the_prompt_response_made_to_every_demand_for..._-_NARA_-_512615.jpg), retrieved September 26, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (per Wikimedia Commons) U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA 512615)

## Text on the object

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

```
Pershing Says:

"I want the S.O.S. to know how the First Army appreciates the prompt response made to every demand for men, equipment, supplies, and transportation, necessary to carry out the recent operations. Hearty congratulations. The S.O.S. shares the success with us."

Oberhardt [artist's signature beneath the portrait]
```

[← ...per la Patria i miei occhi! per la Pace il vostro denaro. Prestito Nazionale (For the Fatherland my eyes, for Peace your money)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/per-la-patria-i-miei-occhi-prestito-1918/) [Pershing's Crusaders →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pershings-crusaders-1918/)

## Using the same techniques

- [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/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [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/) (1099 · Testimonial)
- [Bande Mataram (Paris), memorial page to Madan Lal Dhingra, 17 August 1909](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bande-mataram-paris-dhingra-memorial-1909/) (Aug 17, 1909 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Australia's imperishable record. Australians! The empire needs you (Farmer's, Sydney)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/australias-imperishable-record-1915/) (1915 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Ireland & Poland (recruiting appeal quoting the Rev. William P. Burke)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ireland-and-poland-1915/) (1915 · Fear appeal, Testimonial)
- [Mr. John Dillon, M.P., on recruiting in Ireland. Join an Irish regiment to-day](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/john-dillon-on-recruiting-in-ireland-1915/) (1915 · Testimonial, Semantic hijacking)
- [Wer Kriegsanleihe zeichnet, macht mir die schönste Geburtstagsgabe! (Whoever Subscribes to the War Loan Gives Me the Finest Birthday Present!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hindenburg-geburtstagsgabe-1917/) (1917 · Testimonial)
- [Reinforcements. Our scrap of paper, honor it. Vote Yes. Referendum (Australia, 1917)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/reinforcements-referendum-vote-yes-1917/) (1917 · Testimonial, Transfer)