Use your skill to build and fight
Corps of Engineers recruiting poster: a torn white sheet lists about 80 trades (blacksmiths, bridge builders, crane operators, welders and others) above a crane boom, with 'Men 18-38 by voluntary induction' and 'Men 38-50 by voluntary enlistment'. The long list of ordinary trades tells each tradesman there is a place for him; the technique is faint and mostly plain-folks, with the war work shown as construction and combat.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers (Recruiting Publicity Bureau)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Themes
- War and the military, Labor
- 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 Corps of Engineers. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-257 (NAID 513699).
Text on the object
Use Your Skill to BUILD AND FIGHT MEN 18-38 By VOLUNTARY INDUCTION MEN 38-50 By VOLUNTARY ENLISTMENT Corps of Engineers * U.S. Army [trade list in four columns: Acetylene plant operators; Automobile mechanics; Blacksmiths; Blasters or powdermen; Bridge builders; Cabinetmakers; Camoufleurs; Carpenters; Clerks, statistical; Construction foremen; Crane operators; Diesel mechanics; Diesel operators; Draftsmen; Earth auger operators; Electricians; Electric motor repairmen; Engine lathe operators; Enginemen; Filter operators; Firefighters; Firemen, stationary boilers; Forging press operators; Foundry foremen; Furnacemen, heat treaters; Half-track drivers; Highway machinery operators; Hoist operators; Instrument repairmen; Jackhammer operators; Lathe operators; Linemen; Lumberjacks; Lumber graders; Machine shop foremen; Machinists; Machinist foremen; Master mechanics; Millwrights; Molders; Motorboat operators; Oxygen plant operators; Patternmakers; Photographers; Pipefitters; Pipe line pump station repairers; Plumbers; Power shovel operators; Quarrymen; Radio operators; Repair shop foremen; Riggers; Rock crusher operators; Salvage inspectors; Sawyers; Section foremen, railway; Sheet metal workers; Stationary engineers; Stonemasons; Structural steel workers; Surveyors; Timber cruisers; Tool dressers; Toolmakers; Toolroom keepers; Tractor drivers; Tractor mechanics; Utility repairmen; Warehouse foremen; Water supply foremen; Welders; Well drillers; Woodworking machine operators; Yard foremen] * Eligible men may also volunteer at any Navy Recruiting Station for service with the Navy Seabees. . This announcement is made with the approval of the Joint Army and Navy Personnel Board. AVIATION ENGINEERS * PORT CONSTRUCTION * FORESTRY * CAMOUFLAGE * MAINTENANCE * ROAD BUILDING * REPAIR * TOPOGRAPHY * COMBAT - AND MANY OTHERS [signature: Cooper] APPLY AT ANY U. S. ARMY RECRUITING STATION OR AT ANY U. S. ENGINEER OFFICE [imprint: P-65-RPB-6-14-43-25M]
