Content note: Photo captions use the period wartime term 'Jap' for Japanese forces, as printed; one photo shows a wounded soldier receiving plasma. This object is shown as it was published. Why
U.S.A. in Action: Official Pictures from World Battlefronts
A photo montage under 'U.S.A. in Action' shows a medic giving plasma to a wounded soldier while Sicilian women and a child look on, a jeep on railway wheels, a signal sergeant in the jungle, rows of 1,000-lb bombs, and a Japanese decontamination suit on display. Captions credit American supply for saved lives and equipment; the pictures chosen show supply succeeding.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Reassure
- 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. Army. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-392 (NAID 513843).
Text on the object
U.S.A. IN ACTION OFFICIAL PICTURES FROM WORLD BATTLEFRONTS AID FROM AMERICA. This great war photograph, taken half a mile behind the front lines at Santa Agata, Sicily, catches the dramatic moment when plasma sent from home may mean the difference between life and death for an American soldier. Having sufficient medical supplies when they are needed has cut the mortality rate among our wounded to an all-time low. Here's a case where the supply line is a true lifeline. TRANSPORTATION 'DOWN UNDER.' (Above) We thought we'd seen everything in Jeeps until this picture arrived from Australia. Equipped with railway wheels, this busy Jeep hauls freight cars in an Air Depot, saving time and equipment. (Saves rubber tires, too!) COSTUME BY JAP. (Right) Chemical Warfare Service man wears a Japanese decontamination suit captured in the Solomons. Suit is thick, heavy rubber throughout, and of one-piece construction. Gloves and gas mask at his feet are the only separate items. HOLD THE LINE. (Left) Outside of Salamaua, a sergeant relays instructions from an advance fire control center to mortar batteries firing on the Japs. Signal Corps equipment of all sorts is worth its weight in gold in keeping contact with groups of our soldiers fighting their way through dense jungle on this far-off front. WAR BIRDS' NEST. (Right) These 1,000-lb. "eggs" will soon be carried over Jap-held territory by American eagles and dropped where they'll do the most good. Just arrived from an Ordnance Depot in the U. S., they are shown here in temporary storage in an outdoor dump "somewhere in Australia." U. S. ARMY OFFICIAL POSTER AN ARMY IS AS STRONG AS ITS SUPPLY LINE [imprint: U. S. Government Printing Office : [year illegible]]
