7th War Loan is a 1945 poster distributed by the Office of War Information for the Treasury Department and signed by Graham Kaye. Four Marines raise a flag on rocky ground beside a large "7th" and the words "War Loan" (NAID 515385).
What the poster prints
Four Marines in camouflage helmets push a big flag upright on a height of rock. Behind them a "7th" in red and yellow takes up much of the sheet. The only other words are the drive's name and the credit lines.
7th
WAR
LOAN
Distributed by OWI for
Treasury Department
[signature:] Graham Kaye
[imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1945-O-637716
Who issued it
The sheet names two agencies. The Treasury owned the loan. The Office of War Information handled distribution. The same role appears on other sheets, such as the 1944 security poster, which the OWI distributed for the issuing agencies. The painter signed as Graham Kaye. The archive lists no other details about him, and this page adds none.
How to read it
The poster makes no request in words. There is no "buy," no quota, and no price. The flag and the four men are the whole argument. The archive tags it transfer and glittering generalities, since the battle scene stands in for every reason a buyer might have.
The pose may look familiar. The record does not name the battle, the photograph, or the island the painting follows, and this page will not supply them from memory. What can be said is that the image of a flag going up was borrowed for a loan drive. Borrowing a real feat of arms to sell bonds is not a lie in itself. It does ask the buyer to feel first and do arithmetic later.
The archive dates the poster 1945 and files it under the Roosevelt administration. Earlier drives on this site are the 6th War Loan stretcher sheet and the 5th. The Victory Bonds homecoming poster followed. The OWI's distribution system is covered on the Office of War Information hub and in the domestic-branch case study.
Sources
- FRAME object record, 7th War Loan, 1945. Office of War Information for the U.S. Treasury Department; artist Graham Kaye. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, NAID 515385, 44-PA-1715, retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).
