Remember Bill Mauldin?

[PALADIN85020]

I came across some cartoons today penned by Bill Mauldin, whose "Willie and Joe" characters were enshrined in the WWII publication Yank. Bill, for those of you too young to know about him, was a proponent of the quintessential enlisted "dogface soldiers," the guys on the front line doing the fighting.

He often took the opportunity to poke fun at the brass, which enraged Gen. George Patton, who told him in no uncertain terms to knock that off. Word reached Patton's superior, Gen. Eisenhower, of that order, and Ike told Patton that Mauldin could pen anything he wanted! His cartoons were immensely popular during the war.

Mauldin lived until 2003, sadly dying suffering from Alzheimer's disease. A steady stream of letters came to him then, and a long line of visitors was at his hospital bedside before he died, most of them veterans who loved his work. He was buried in Arlington Cemetery.

Here's a wartime photo of Bill:

And here's some of his work. I'll lead with my personal favorite:

Now this one's a little esoteric, but funny nonetheless:

Bill, God rest your soul. You were one of a kind.

John

 

[Iggy]

My Dad had a paper back book of his cartoons when I was a kid. It disappeared over the years.

Fellow forumite Davwingman sent me a hard cover book by Mauldin a couple of years ago. It is one of my favorite things and sits next to the S&W Bible on the shelf next to my safe.

 

[Len]

I'd always been a fan of Mauldin's cartoonist work...and was shocked, when after watching the "Red Badge of Courage" for about the tenth time last week, to realize that Bill Mauldin actually appeared in the movie with Audie Murphy! It never dawned on me that it was the same guy!

Remarkable guy, a soldier's soldier.

Len

 

[RonJ]

The YODEL one is over my head, or am I missing the obvious?

 

[PALADIN85020]

The YODEL one is over my head, or am I missing the obvious?

Someone else please 'splain this to Ron - I don't want the censors here to smack me again....

John

 

[rwsmith]

Yes, I believe it is obvious

The YODEL one is over my head, or am I missing the obvious?

I don't they he really wanted her to teach him to yodel.


========

The war was over 10 years before I was born but you could appreciate 'Willie and Joe' without being a soldier, though they would, I'm sure, appreciate them the most. Besides the great humor and irony was the sheer situation these guys were in, making the best out of something they'd rather not have been involved with. One of Eisenhower's great military decisions was not to let Patton censor Bill Mauldin.

------------------

From a mud hole with artillery shells falling all around yelling into the walkie-talkie. "We've got to have air support!!!".... "What's that?"...... "The password is 'fragrant flower!"

 

[mjr]

My dad admired Bill Mauldin during (and after) WWII and had a hardback copy of Up Front. It was either the first or second book on that war I read as a boy, and it was truly educational.

Years later in a used book store I bought a copy of Mauldin's less successful book Back Home, also featuring Willie and Joe.

 

[Maddmax]

Looking at him sitting in the Jeep. Hard to believe we were all that young once. Great cartoonest. Loved his work.

 

[shouldazagged]

I had copies of Up Front and Back Home, but they seem to have been lost, probably in a divorce. Now copies cost the proverbial arm and leg, but I do have a copy of Bill Mauldin's War, a collection of cartoons dating from before he went overseas, some of them showing GI's wearing the old WWI-style helmets and carrying Springfields.

He became an extremely successful and popular syndicated editorial cartoonist later in his career.

One of my all-time favorites was one that shows Willie and Joe huddled under an improvised pup tent shelter in pouring rain and sloppy mud. Standing outside the entrance is a little skinny, ribby, shivering dog with his tail drooping. And Willie says, "Let him in, Joe, I want to see something I can feel sorry for."

He pulled no punches and took no manure, and was totally loved by the grunts. It was only the stuffier officers and ego cases like Patton who disliked him.

 

[JRD]

My Grandfather was a veteran of the 26th Infantry Division and appreciated the Willie and Joe cartoons. I appreciate them too.

To put things in perspective, the 90 year old WWII vets who are still around were once just as young as the "kids" who are coming home from Afghanistan.

 

[JayCeeNC]

When I was a kid in the 1950's my grandparents had a copy of Up Front and I used to lay on their living room floor and look at the cartoons on Sunday afternoons. Good memories.

 

[OLDSTER]

Oh yes. I have his book "Up Front"

 

[Texas Star]

I had a copy of Up Front and saw some of his postwar newspaper cartoons.

My favorite photo of him shows him wearing his .45 pistol.

Note he seems to be wearing bloused paratrooper boots in the photo. Was that authorized?

 

[WuzzFuzz]

Wasn't Bill credited with giving... "Killroy was here"... and the picture of Killroy peeking over what ever his picture was on???

Or am I thinking of someone else?


WuzzFuzz

 

[Stephanie B]

His autobiography, "The Brass Ring", is worth a read, as well.

 

[Straightshooter2]

John, thank you again for such a great story. I'm pretty sure your favorite cartoon influenced a scene in an episode of M.A.S.H. I can't remember exactly what it was but something happened to Colonel Potter's jeep. Colonel Potter, being an old WW I cavalry man, took out his .45, walked over to the jeep and shot it.

CW

 

[TACC1]

Thanks again, John.
When things get really .. bad, sometimes a sense of humor
is a Godsend.
TACC1

 

[dswancutt]

He also did a book called "a sort of a saga" about his childhood in the southwest during the depression. Funny as all getout but really gives an idea about how tough times were.

 

[Buford57]

Another classic is the artilleryman who has decorated a field piece with his helmet and raincoat explaining in the downpour that he won't have to wipe himself down with an oily rag after the rain.

 

[jlrhiner]

Somewhere down in the bookcases I have a two book set of all his cartoons. I got it from my sister for my 50th birthday. His work is timeless. R.I.P. Bill.

 

[Bat Guano]

Being a history buff since I was old enough to crack a book, I sort of grew up knowing who Willie and Joe were.

All the cartoons were good. During a particularly rough few years at work I had one of them prominently posted up. It was the one in which Willie and Joe are cutting out paper dolls. An officer says "I'm counting on you old timers to set good example and steady up the new replacements." We weren't quite at the paper doll stage but you could see it coming...

Bill's postwar writings and editorial cartoons were a bit uneven at times, but his hatred of cruelty and pomposity came through loud and clear.

A good man.

 

[PALADIN85020]

Bill's postwar writings and editorial cartoons were a bit uneven at times, but his hatred of cruelty and pomposity came through loud and clear.

A good man.

I remember one postwar editorial cartoon he did that was extremely touching. It was just after the JFK assassination, and it was of the Lincoln statue in the Lincoln memorial - Lincoln with his head in his hands, obviously in grief. There was no caption; the illustration said it all.

John

 

[V-35]

John,
I remember well that drawing of Lincoln with his head in his hands in greif. It was the most poignant & moving thing I have ever seen in a newspaper and, as you said, without captions. That guy really knew how to touch a nerve in a way that we ourselves couldn't express. Thanks for reminding us of this Outstanding American.

We were living in Dallas when the JFK assasination happened. My wife was working downtown, had just viewed the parade, then got the bad news when she returned to work. It was Unbelievable!

RIP Bill Mauldin, we are not likely to see your kind of talent again.


Art

 

[kimporter]

I had a copy of Up Front and saw some of his postwar newspaper cartoons.

My favorite photo of him shows him wearing his .45 pistol.

Note he seems to be wearing bloused paratrooper boots in the photo. Was that authorized?

was authorized by the airborne for him,he was also given his own jeep,

 

[Stephanie B]

John, thank you again for such a great story. I'm pretty sure your favorite cartoon influenced a scene in an episode of M.A.S.H. I can't remember exactly what it was but something happened to Colonel Potter's jeep. Colonel Potter, being an old WW I cavalry man, took out his .45, walked over to the jeep and shot it.

I think that Frank Burns drove a tank over it, by accident. Ol' Ferret Face got the tank going and then couldn't control it

 

[P&R Fan]

I've been re-reading Up Front for the last week or so. My favorite is also the one where he shoots the Jeep with his 1911. Have it bookmarked, and just showed it to Missus P&R Fan the other day. She was, believe it or not, a tank mechanic in the Army, (back when I was just getting out of Jr, High). Then after she got out, became a fashion model. She liked that one too.

My other favorite is on page 152. Joe is holding a 1911 on a rat and Willie has a flashlight and advises him "Shoot between th' eyes, Joe. Sometimes they charge when they're wounded".

Lots of other good ones too in there. Skeeter Skelton wrote a nice article about Mauldin. It's in one of his books.
Jim

 

[HERMAN.40]

I remember Bill drew a cartoon for Skeeter. It was a takeoff on the Jeep cartoon. It showed Skeeter shooting his old truck with a single action. I think it was in the Shooting Times issue when Skeeter passed away.

 

[mjr]

was authorized by the airborne for him,he was also given his own jeep,

Another unit once presented Mauldin with what he called (I'm quoting from memory, so I'm really paraphrasing), "...a real Chicago gangster tommygun, with forward handgrip and 50-round drum," which made him "the best armed cartoonist in the army." Eventually he felt the Thompson could be better employed by a real combat unit, so he traded it to some serious fighters for an ordinary M1 rifle, which he carried in his jeep for the rest of the war.

 

[QuickDrawMcGraw]

Howdy' John*
Been a long time admirer of Mr. Mauldin's work
as well as several others, you can sure recognize
his style right off the bat.
You should see my collection of downloaded online
vintage cartoons both still's & video going back to
the teen's & 20's.
Here is the one you mentioned from my collection.

~ Joe

 

[29aholic]

My best friends dad had a copy of the book I really enjoyed. About 10 years ago I was able to find a 1st printing of it. The dust cover is about gone but I have reread it about 10 times since. My favorite is the rat on the sleeping bag, and second is the cavalry man and the jeep.