"America's Front Line Soldier, 1944" Topic

"Bill Mauldin was the most famous cartoonist of World War II. His Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoon characters "Willie and Joe" humorously depicted the everyday trials, tribulations and triumphs of the American combat soldier. The majority of these front-line fighters were citizen-soldiers longing to return home to the normality of their former lives.

Mauldin's artistic talent and fondness for cartoons developed early in his life, but the tough times of the Depression didn't provide any avenue for him to apply his talent. He joined the Army in 1940 at the age of eighteen. Mauldin became part of the 45th Division that saw action in Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. Mauldin began drawing cartoons depicting Army life for his Division's newspaper. Once he was overseas, his cartoons appeared in the Army's Stars and Stripes newspaper as well as numerous newspapers back home in the states.

His "no holds barred" characterizations of everyday life on the front line were an immediate hit with the solders he depicted. However, his cartoons occasionally drew the wrath of his superior officers. He was once chewed out by General George Patton and ordered to cease drawing his soldiers in what the general considered an "unsoldierly" appearance. This admonishment had little effect on Maudlin who continued to draw his subjects as before…"
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Amicalement
Armand

I have a first edition of "Up Front," complete with several "Willie and Joe" cartoons cut out of a newspaper and saved between the pages.

Anyone wanting to get his head even partially into the head of the GI should read this outstanding book--not least for the magnificent examples of Mauldin's artistry and understanding of American servicemen.

A most remarkable man….

TVAG

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand