---
title: 'These Boys Will Look Up to You: Tell Them What It Means to Be an American Soldier'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/these-boys-will-look-up-to-you-1917/
description: An officer with his back to the viewer speaks to three boys, one of whom he holds by the tie, within a red circle.
section: Collection
---

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3. These Boys Will Look Up to You: Tell Them What It Means to Be

[![These Boys Will Look Up to You: Tell Them What It Means to Be an American Soldier, 1917 US poster: An officer with his back](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/these-boys-will-look-up-to-you-1917.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/these-boys-will-look-up-to-you-1917.jpg)

# These Boys Will Look Up to You: Tell Them What It Means to Be an American Soldier

An officer with his back to the viewer speaks to three boys, one of whom he holds by the tie, within a red circle. The caption speaks to soldiers, telling them that boys will watch them and that they should explain what being an American soldier means. The tell is the fusion of the soldier's personal conduct with a national role, set as a duty owed to the young.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/)

## Text on the object

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

```
SERVICE SERIES No. 14

These Boys Will
Look Up To You
Tell Them What It Means To Be
An American Soldier

Gordon Grant
Capt. U.S.A.
```

[← The World Cannot Live Half Slave, Half Free: The Prussian Blot](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-world-cannot-live-half-slave-half-free-1917/) [These New Yorkers Volunteered Last Week. Is Your Name on This List? →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/these-new-yorkers-volunteered-last-week-1917/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [A Little American's Promise](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/a-little-americans-promise-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Identity fusion, Transfer)
- [All Together! Enlist in the Navy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/all-together-enlist-in-the-navy-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Bandwagon, Identity fusion)
- [Members of U.S. Food Administration: America Has Promised to Feed the Hungry Millions of Europe, Waste Nothing](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/america-food-pledge-20-million-tons-1917-1919/) (United States · 1917 · Identity fusion)
- [Do Your Duty. Join the U.S. Marines. Help Them Defend America on Land and Sea](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/do-your-duty-join-the-us-marines-1917-1919/) (United States · 1917 · Glittering generalities, Identity fusion)
- [50-50 (The Job of Beating Up the Hun)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/fifty-fifty-service-series-11-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Name-calling, Identity fusion)
- [Food Will Win the War: Member of United States Food Administration (Pledge Card)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/food-will-win-the-war-member-pledge-card-1917-1919/) (United States · 1917 · Identity fusion, Bandwagon)
- [Hit the Bull's Eye! Are You on This List? Get Your Name in the Circle: It's the Ring of Liberty](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hit-the-bulls-eye-ring-of-liberty-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Bandwagon, Identity fusion)
- [I Am a Soldier of the United States (Service Series No. 12)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/i-am-a-soldier-of-the-united-states-service-series-no-12-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)