This poster urging discretion during wartime was designed by John Philip Falter. Falter was already an established illustrator when he joined the U.S. Navy in 1943, creating advertisements for a range of magazines. This is one of more than three hundred propaganda posters he designed for the Navy during World War II, distributed by the government’s Office of War Information; his name and the letters USNR (United States Naval Reserve) can be seen in the upper register of the poster. Here, a young sailor carrying a huge bundle of canvas and ropes engages the viewer in his fate with a smiling backward glance.