description
Object description
whole: the image occupies the majority. The title is separate and placed across the top edge, in white, set against a
black background. The main text is separate and located across the bottom edge, in white, set against a black background, and in the lower
left, in black. Further text is integrated and positioned over the majority, in black, in black cursive script, and in red cursive script.
All set against a white and red background.
image: a depiction of a letter being written by a serviceman. Only his hand is visible as he writes. Underneath the letter are dozens of
newspaper clippings reporting the sinking of Allied ships and the activities of enemy spies and saboteurs, and warning of the dangers of
'careless talk'.
text: YOU BE THE CENSOR!
[newspaper clippings have various text]
Don't be Responsible for This!
[text of letter follows]
No 24 G.R. Squadron
Sandmore
Thursday
Dear Bill,
Sorry I haven't written lately, but we've been busy on R.D.F. tests. Jack is on final leave, and will probably look you up next week. He
sails from down there on Friday, and we're expecting to have a job of work then on convoy operations. By the way, Jack passed top in his
'Wings' examination first out of fifty is not bad. They tell me he got the highest marks out of the 500 tested so far this year. Our new
Kites arrive next week and the work on the runway is almost
What is wrong with this letter?
How many errors from a security point of view can you find?
(a) Never give the number and type of your unit in the address. Write care R.N.Z.A.F. STATION, SANDMORE, not No.24, G.R. Squadron, Sandmore.
(b) Never refer to shipping movements or air operations.
(c) Never give any indication of the strength or movements of air personnel or units.
(d) Don't attempt to show you're in the know. In attempting to tell your friends how much you know about the Air Force, the equipment, or
projected operations, you may give the enemy vital clues to important war plans.
(e) Always remember that it is part of your job as a member of the Service to keep these things from the enemy.
WHEN IN DOUBT ... LEAVE OUT.
You can never tell ...
You don't know into whose hands your letters may fall, or how far the information you give may go. You must be more than cautious in what
you put in the letters you write.
Make sure that they don't contain information which might help the enemy.
It's easy to be careless ...
It's hard to pay the cost of carelessness!!!
You, personally, are liable to severe punishment, but severe punishment will not pay for the lives which YOUR carelessness may have lost.
WATCH YOUR PEN ... AND YOUR TONGUE.
E.V. PAUL, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, WELLINGTON.
IS THEIR A LEAKAGE IN YOUR PEN?
