Recreation and Athletics
Wall chart in red and black with a dozen small photographs and pictured manuals: volleyball, a soldier play, outdoor film screenings, USO singers, Red Cross interviews, mess halls, song books. Text blocks list what Special Service provides for troops. The technique is faint: it lists only services provided, a mild card-stack of one side of the record.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. War Department, Army Special Service Division
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- 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, Army Special Service Division. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1620 (NAID 515285).
Text on the object
RECREATION and ATHLETICS ATHLETICS Special Service issues athletic equipment through Service Commands and in kits for overseas troops. It also provides training manuals and instructional materials on athletics and physical conditioning. Supplies for games, whether simple or requiring full equipment, are provided by Special Service. Publications and materials are issued to help produce good soldier plays, such as "The Women", illustrated above. Army Motion Picture Service operates 800 theaters for soldiers in the U.S.A. and distributes films to troops abroad. The routing of USO, Camp Shows, Inc., and other soldier entertainment is a responsibility of Special Service. Men come to the Red Cross directors with personal problems relating to themselves and their families. WELFARE Liaison with civilian organizations, such as Red Cross and USO, is through Special Service. It issues regulations directing welfare and other allied services. FACILITIES Special Service designs, furnishes and equips buildings such as libraries, theaters, Service Clubs, and Guest Houses. It also supplies funds and issues regulations for control of hostesses and librarians. MUSIC Special Service Officers, assisted by trained Music Officers, provide plans and materials for developing musical activities including training song leaders, organizing and training orchestras and bands. [Pictured document and book covers, partly legible: "TM 21-220 War Department Technical Manual Sports and Games"; "Care and Maintenance of Athletic Equipment"; "At Ease" Volume I Comedy Sketches; "At Ease" Volume II Minstrel Shows; Music and Lyrics for Musical Comedies and Revues, being "At Ease" Volume III, USO-Camp Shows, Inc., 1943; War Department, Personal Affairs of Military Personnel and Aid for Their Dependents, January 1943; Army Hit Kit; Army Song Book; A List of Choral Music; Pocket Guide for the U.S. Army Song Leader; GUEST HOUSE (sign)] [imprint: U.S. Government Printing Office, remainder illegible]
