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Prepared from the source scan: surroundings removed and the sheet levelled where required. The source record remains available below.
The Posters That Went to War · The Home Front
You'll Be Happy Too, and Feel So Proud Serving as a WAVE
Unknown (the NARA record names no artist) · U.S. Navy, Women's Reserve (WAVES), 1942–1945
Format
Archival pigment giclée on museum-grade matte art paper, color-managed to the source scan — the flat inks and stone grain intact. The 40×60 is the room-changer.
Size
$39.00
What it is
A Navy recruiting poster for the WAVES, dated between 1942 and 1945, held by the National Archives as 44-PA-2512 in its World War II Posters series.
Why it matters
Roosevelt signed the WAVES into law on 30 July 1942, and the reserve went on recruiting women for the Navy's shore posts for the rest of the war.
What to notice
The word too: the headline takes for granted that the women already in uniform are happy, and offers the reader the same.
Happiness, listed among the terms of service.
Provenance
- School
- The Second World War Poster (United States and the world)
- Designer
- Unknown (the NARA record names no artist)
- Campaign
- Enlist · Women at War
- Service
- Women’s services
- Format
- Political poster
- Poster published
- U.S. Navy, Women's Reserve (WAVES), 1942–1945
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, World War II Posters series (NAID 516239, local id 44-PA-2512), NARA scan via DPLA and Wikimedia Commons · NARA NAID 516239 · 44-PA-2512
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. government work (the WPA Federal Art Project, the wartime agencies), any year. Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-11-02. National Archives catalogue re-read 2026-11-02 (NAID 516239, 44-PA-2512): use restriction Unrestricted, access Unrestricted.
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