Two soldiers in steel helmets crouch low in the grass. The nearer one has a fuel tank strapped to his back and holds the nozzle of a flamethrower out in front of him, and the fire it throws fills the top half of the poster in a wall of orange and yellow. His partner kneels beside him, pistol raised, watching the smoke. White lettering above reads Keep pouring it on… with hot! scrawled across the flames in script. An orange band at the foot carries the campaign message: 7th War Loan Drive starts today.
The drive after V-E Day
The Seventh War Loan opened on 14 May 1945, six days after Germany surrendered, and ran to 30 June. Its timing worried the Treasury. The war loans were the great fundraising events of the home front, with every town given a quota and bond booths in every store and cinema, and the fear was that Americans would treat the victory in Europe as the end of the war and close their wallets. The posters of the Seventh War Loan were therefore aimed squarely at the Pacific. The best known used Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima under the line Now, all together. This one chose a harsher image of the same war.
The flamethrower war
By 1945 the portable flamethrower had become the signature weapon of the island campaigns. Japanese defenders dug into caves, bunkers and coral ridges on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and the man-pack M2 flamethrower, along with flame tanks, was often the only way to clear them. The Okinawa campaign began on 1 April 1945 and was still being fought when this poster went up; it ended on 22 June, a week before the drive closed. The flamethrower operator was a marked man, carrying seventy pounds of fuel and pressure tanks on his back, which is why the poster shows a second soldier covering him. “Keep pouring it on” asked the public to do at home what the men in the picture were doing at the front.
The result
The fear proved unfounded. The Seventh War Loan raised more than $26 billion, the largest total of the eight wartime drives, against a goal of $14 billion. Over the course of the war, 85 million Americans bought bonds worth about $185 billion, and the loan drives accounted for more than $156 billion of that.
The poster
It was printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office in 1945 for the Treasury Department’s War Finance Division, in a large two-sheet format of about 30 × 44 inches for billboards and the sides of buildings. No artist is credited on the print or in the auction records we have found. The painterly handling of the fire and the figures is in the manner of the magazine illustrators the Treasury commissioned for its later drives, but the name has not come down to us.
The restored edition
Our edition was restored from a photograph of an original print. The colour was cleaned and brought back, with folds, stains and wear removed, while the lettering is kept from the original. You can compare the archival source with the restored edition in the before and after slider on the product page. It is available as a paper print in three sizes or framed in black, white or natural wood, printed to order in the USA.
Frequently asked questions
Who made the Keep Pouring It On Hot poster?
It was printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office in 1945 for the Treasury’s Seventh War Loan. The artist is not credited.
When was the Seventh War Loan?
From 14 May to 30 June 1945, starting six days after Germany’s surrender. It raised more than $26 billion, the most of any wartime bond drive.
What weapon is shown?
A man-pack flamethrower, the weapon used to clear caves and bunkers on Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945. The second soldier is covering the operator with a pistol.
How big was the original poster?
About 30 × 44 inches, a large two-sheet size for billboards and building walls.
What sizes are the prints?
Paper prints are 11.7 × 16.5, 20 × 28 or 23.4 × 33.1 inches; framed prints are 12 × 17, 20 × 28 or 23 × 33 inches, in black, white or natural wood.