this man is your friend. He fights for freedom. Poster of a digger.

[chippler]

Ever since I saw an example of this on diggerhistory.info I wanted one. Luckily last year I managed to find an original one dated 1942. I have read conflicting reports about the purpose of these... one version I have read is that they were distributed among the people of a liberated town so they know who is their friend. I have also heard they were given out to American soldiers so they could recongise their allies and avoid friendly firing incidents. I know there are several versions of this poster... ones showing Chinese, Russian, Canadian and British servicemen and were made and printed by the US Government. Does anyone know what they were for?

- Chris

[chippler]

if you hold it up to the light you can see a watermark of the American forces eagle.

[Mark Gibson]

Chris,
I've never heard about these being used a recognition for allied forces but it's very possible. I have seen them and just guessed that they were used as flyers which were dropped into enemy held territory. Of course this was only my guess and quite possibly wrong.
The recognition use for other allied forces seems to be a very plausible theory.

Mark

[Wouter J]

Are there any features on these posters to distinguish an original from a reprint? Not long ago there was a similar poster with a Dutch sailor on it on ebay.

[Strider]

They can't be for liberated countries; they wouldn't be English!

[Wouter J]

I mean a similar one, for use in the USA with a sailor on it from the Royal Netherland Navy that operated from Britain at that time.

[Lone Pine]

Maybe they were put up inside the pubs here in Australia where the Yanks used to drink, after the big blue the Aussies and the Americans had during the war?. Seriously, you might have to find someone that was there and ask them If they remember anything about them. Sometimes thats the best way to learn.
Bruce

[Mark Gibson]

Ahhh Bruce, the good old 'Battle of Brisbane'.
We might have to expand upon this one to let our yank cousins know a little bit about it.

[Strider]

Here's the other posters in this series:
http://www.nh.gov/ww2/allies.html

According to the link:

Office of Facts and Figures. 1942. 10 x 7. Americans had not traveled abroad in great numbers when WWII began. The Office of Facts and Figures issues the "This is your friend" series of posters showing some of America's allies in the war effort to make our allies recognizable to Americans at home.

[Wouter J]

What about this one?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?....cWAT.m240.lVI

[chippler]

thanks a lot for your replies, fellas. That one on eBay looks genuine, Wouter. Mine isn't a full sized one but is definitely period and 1942 stamped. I don't know much about them but a seller on eBay was selling a bunch of these a couple of years ago and it seemed like it was an old collection so I took my chances and snapped the Aussie one up.

- Chris

[Gene]

It was distributed to some idiot Yanks so they wouldn't confuse Australian with Austrian