Bill Mauldin's Army

[ragnarok_2012]

I'd heard of Bill Mauldin when he passed away in '03, so when I saw a copy of the book Bill Mauldin's Army at Barnes & Noble, I had to read it.

It's a quick read, and fun. For those that don't know, Mauldin is a pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist who drew a comic for Stars and Stripes during WWII. By showing infantrymen who grumbled about orders, went unshaven, and generally endured the hardships that infantrymen confronted at the front everyday, he gained a loyal following. In the inside cover of the book, they reprint a Peanuts comic dedicated to Bill Mauldin.

I agree with the author's preface. It would have been nice if the comics had been put into chronological order (at the time, he had organized the comics by subject).

I ran a search and didn't come up with any posts mentioning Mauldin. Which is a shame. At any rate, I felt like sharing.

[Kan-Man]

If I remember correctly, each Veteran's Day, Peanuts was dedicated to him. Snoopy is usually drinking a root beer in his honor.

I've never read any of his stuff, though.

[Slam_Bradley]

I'm a big fan of Bill Mauldin. And we had a pretty nice thread here when he passed. I've read a number of his books. His work was poignant and a bit subversive (apparently Patton despised him and thought he should be court-martialed).

[ragnarok_2012]

If I remember correctly, each Veteran's Day, Peanuts was dedicated to him. Snoopy is usually drinking a root beer in his honor.

I've never read any of his stuff, though.

Here are some examples of his work:

http://ww2.pstripes.osd.mil/02/nov02/mauldin/

And the Peanuts comic on the inside cover of the book is the one that they put up each Veteran's Day.

From his wikipedia entry (re: Patton):
"I always admired Patton. Oh, sure, the stupid bastard was crazy. He was insane. He thought he was living in the Dark Ages. Soldiers were peasants to him. I didn't like that attitude, but I certainly respected his theories and the techniques he used to get his men out of their foxholes."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mauldin

[Sir Tim Drake]

Mauldin was an excellent political cartoonist. He's most famous for this:

http://www.tuxjunction.net/mauldin/lincoln.jpg

It was published the day President Kennedy was assassinated. It was printed on the front page of certain newspapers below the fold (or, in another account, on the back page), and the newspapers were sold with the cartoon facing up.

I also like this cartoon, which he used as the cover of a book:

http://i.biblio.com/b/356m/40294356-0-m.jpg