Content note: Ethnic slur ('Jap') in the slogan; the Japanese enemy is drawn as a snake being bombed. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Salvage Scrap to Blast the Jap
An eagle marked with the U.S. Army Air Forces star drops a bomb on a snake in a red cap with the rising-sun emblem, coiled over a globe region labelled 'Occupied Territory', above the banner 'Salvage scrap to blast the Jap'. The enemy is drawn as a snake and named with the slur, so the label and the animal carry the message.
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- WPA Art Project poster for the Thirteenth Naval District, U.S. Navy
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- Name-calling
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (POS - WPA - WASH .P45, no. 1), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work: WPA Federal Art Project poster for the U.S. Navy)
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Work Projects Administration Poster Collection (digital id cph.3b49009). Library of Congress rights statement: 'No known restrictions on publication.'
Text on the object
WPA OCCUPIED TERRITORY SALVAGE SCRAP TO BLAST THE JAP THIRTEENTH NAVAL DISTRICT ★ UNITED STATES NAVY 20
'WPA' is at upper left in the illustration and the number '20' appears at lower right in the margin. Small marks at lower left of the artwork are not legible.
