A 1938 U.S. Army recruiting poster shows a uniformed soldier before a flag with a pale Revolutionary minuteman behind him, under the line "Be a modern minute man." The text asks men leaving the Regular Army, under thirty-six and fit, to enlist in the Regular Army Reserve. NAID 515289.
What the sheet prints
A soldier in service dress stands with his rifle in front of a large flag. Behind him, drawn faintly in pale blue, is a militiaman of 1775. The text box below is practical. It names who qualifies and what to do.
REMAIN WITH The COLORS
Be A Modern Minute Man
If you are leaving the Active Service, or were Honorably Discharged from the REGULAR ARMY--
Are under Thirty-six Years of Age, and are Physically Qualified, it will pay you to Enlist in the REGULAR ARMY RESERVE
ENLIST IN THE REGULAR-ARMY-RESERVE
U. S. Army Recruiting Officer
[imprint: PC-21--RPB--12-20-38--50M]
Who issued it
The issuer line is the U.S. Army Recruiting Officer. The National Archives holds the sheet in Record Group 44 as 44-PA-1623. The imprint carries a printer's code; this page quotes it and does not decode it into a date or a print run. FRAME gives the purpose as recruiting and tags the poster for one device, transfer.
How to read it
The transfer is easy to see. The ghost of the minuteman stands behind the modern soldier, and the slogan joins them. The man of 1775 lends his name to the reservist of 1938.
The match is not exact, and the difference is worth a sentence. The figure in the background stands for the militia of 1775, as FRAME reads it. The reservist the poster wants is a former member of the Regular Army who agrees to stay on its rolls. Both are honorable. A militia and the reserve of a standing army are not the same institution, and the picture asks the viewer not to notice. That is what transfer does.
What the poster does not do is also worth noting. It does not threaten, picture an enemy, or invoke a law. It offers terms and says "it will pay you." A volunteer, once discharged, is asked to keep volunteering. Set beside the 1940 reprint of Flagg's Uncle Sam, it shows how plainly the prewar Army could ask.
Sources
- FRAME object record, Remain with the colors, be a modern minute man, 1938. U.S. Army Recruiting Officer.
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, NAID 515289 (44-PA-1623), retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).
