---
title: The Sentry Quits His Post Only When Properly Relieved
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-sentry-quits-his-post-only-when-properly-relieved-1917-1919/
description: A soldier in profile stands guard with a rifle on his shoulder before a large American flag and rows of tents.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. The Sentry Quits His Post Only When Properly Relieved

[![The Sentry Quits His Post Only When Properly Relieved, 1917 US poster: A soldier in profile stands guard with a rifle on his](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/the-sentry-quits-his-post-only-when-properly-relieved-1917-1919.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/the-sentry-quits-his-post-only-when-properly-relieved-1917-1919.jpg)

# The Sentry Quits His Post Only When Properly Relieved

A soldier in profile stands guard with a rifle on his shoulder before a large American flag and rows of tents. The only text is the maxim that a sentry leaves his post only when properly relieved, set as a general rule of duty. The poster makes no explicit request; its tell is the association of the flag and the soldier with an abstract virtue of steadfastness.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
SERVICE SERIES No. 9

THE SENTRY
QUITS HIS POST ONLY
WHEN PROPERLY RELIEVED
```

[← The Prayer of Millions (Suffering Europe)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-prayer-of-millions-suffering-europe-1917/) [The World Cannot Live Half Slave, Half Free: The Prussian Blot →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-world-cannot-live-half-slave-half-free-1917/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [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)
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Royal Museums Greenwich version), oil on panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i-greenwich-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
