Second World War Recruitment Poster - "Together" (tactile)
Synopsis
This poster was used throughout the Empire and Commonwealth to recruit people to fight with Britain in the Second World War. Men and women came to the UK to work in industry, nursing and the armed forces as volunteers. Over 3 million people supported the UK in the armed forces of the Commonwealth.Almost 2.5 million Indians volunteered to help Britain fight. This is the largest volunteer army in history.
Just under half of today's black and Asian population in the UK originate from cultural and ethnic groups that served and worked here during the Second World War.
Description of the poster
This coloured recruitment poster looks like a painting and shows seven fully uniformed members from the Commonwealth marching together under a flying Union Jack flag. The head-to-waist images of the men are shown in three diagonal rows - three at the front, two in the middle and two at the back. All are facing towards the right of the poster and are carrying rifles over their left shoulders with the rifle butt supported by their left hands.
The front row, from left to right, has a Canadian airman (blue uniform), an Australian soldier (khaki uniform), and a British Navy sailor (navy uniform). The middle row, from left to right, has a South African soldier (cream uniform) and a New Zealand soldier (khaki uniform). The back row, from left to right, has a West African soldier (cream uniform) and an Indian soldier (khaki uniform). All men are white and clean-shaven, except the West African soldier, who is black, and the Indian soldier, who dark skinned with a beard. It is each man's uniform hat that distinguishes him and his country.
Colour is used in the poster to represent the red, white and blue of the Union Jack and the colours on the men's uniforms. The poster has a white border with a large black band across the bottom that contains the word "together" in yellow capitals. The only other readable words on the poster are "Canada" on the sleeve badge of the Canadian airman and "H.M.S. Victory" on the headband of the British Navy sailor.