75 years ago today, this ad in the March 2, 1942, issue of Life magazine reminded readers that there was a war to be won, and the United States Marines were busy doing just that. And you can’t win a war without making sure your duplicating needs were taken care of.

The Marine shown here “stands for no nonsense, asks no quarter and gives none when the honor of the Corps is at stake. But he keeps a fatherly watch on the young recruits, start them off on the was to promotion and pay, sees that they stay on the track.”

Corps equipment, like the Corps itself, had to be rugged and ready. And that’s why the busiest, most trusted means of communications in the Corps was the Mimeograph duplicator. It had accuracy and speed, and its black-and-white crispness stodd up when the going got tough. “With its integrated stencil sheets and inks, it is on duty wherever Marines are stationed.”