---
title: Seeing It Through (Woman fire fighter)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-seeing-it-through-fire-fighter-1944/
description: 'A tribute poster issued under the London Transport roundel: a uniformed woman of the National Fire Service (badge ''NFS London'') at the wheel of a vehicle.'
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Seeing It Through (Woman fire fighter)

[![Seeing It Through, 1944 UK poster: A tribute poster issued under the London Transport roundel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-seeing-it-through-fire-fighter-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-seeing-it-through-fire-fighter-1944.jpg)

# Seeing It Through (Woman fire fighter)

A tribute poster issued under the London Transport roundel: a uniformed woman of the National Fire Service (badge 'NFS London') at the wheel of a vehicle, with a verse of thanks. The tell for glittering generalities is the verse's praise terms ('bravely', 'master of a trying trade', 'you carry on'), which are virtue words with no figures or stated task, and the poster asks for no action beyond appreciation. It is a morale and gratitude piece for the home front, not a call to act.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

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

## Text on the object

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

```
SEEING IT THROUGH

Thank you, fire fighters, harnessing your hoses,
   Busy at your pumps, or patiently at play.
Once upon a time we used to throw you roses:
   You don't see quite such a cloud of them today.

Some of us remember the blitz and the burning,
   The black-faced force in the red and the blue,
St. Paul's in peril and the Hun returning,
   The tanks all dry and the night half through.

When they sound the sirens, some of us are sleeping,
   Some of us turn over, some of us complain,
But you are on the job still, we are in your keeping,
   And one fine night we'll be glad of you again.

A. P. Herbert

[imprint:] 144-123 S-1500. 42625-THE BAYNARD PRESS
```

[← Seeing It Through (Bus driver)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-seeing-it-through-bus-driver-1944/) [Seeing it Through \[1\] (Thank you, Mrs. Porter) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-seeing-it-through-mrs-porter-1944/)

## 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)