Minute man banners awarded to shipyard workers

Photographer

Kadow, Francis M.

Date

• February 17, 1943

Summary

• Stamped with the date “Feb. 17, 1943” on the back, this photograph taken in the “Town Hall” auditorium of radio station WOMT in Manitowoc, Wisconsin documents a ceremony at which representatives of ten departments at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company received awards for achieving a high rate of employee participation in the war savings bond program. The men, wearing suits and ties, stand in two rows against a wall on which five large war bond advertising posters are displayed. A large United States flag is partially visible at the right rear. Some of the men hold fringed banners displaying a “minute man” image circled by stars or, in the case of the center banner, superimposed over a “target” symbol. Others hold framed certificates that also feature the “minute man.” Defense savings bonds and stamps, often called war bonds and war stamps after Pearl Harbor, were introduced by the U.S. Treasury Department in 1940. During World War II they were promoted widely as a way for everyone from school children to factory workers to personally invest in their country and help finance the war effort. A patriotic image of a Revolutionary War minuteman, based on the sculpture “The Minute Man of Concord” by Daniel Chester Friend, served as the symbol for the war bond program. Firms and organizations in which at least 90% of the members or employees purchased war bonds were awarded banners and certificates. Left to right: Leonard Woytal, Earl Levenhagen, Florian Jankowski, Paul Mahlik, Joe Hoyer, Ed Soukup, Ray Staudt, Oscar Bieberitz, Harold Hall, Jerome Kaminski, Henry Laughlin, Ralph Orth, Ova Gibbs, Art Perrodin, Rembert Broechert, Charles Sykora, Joe Revolinsky.