[Hammarlund] Bill Mauldin

[Joe Connor]

Richard's mention of Bill Mauldin is very appropriate for Veterans Day:
1. In 1945, Mauldin's cartoons won a Pulitzer prize. They appeared in the GI newspaper, Stars and Stripes, and were run in papers back in the States.
2. In his cartoons, Mauldin spoke for the ordinary GI and broke the balls of people like Patton. Patton wanted to throw Mauldin in the stockade, but Mauldin had a very important fan, a guy by the name of Eisenhower. Ike knew how important those cartoon were for morale. 
3. Mauldin was a soldier before he was a cartoonist. In his drawings, he was very meticulous in getting the details of the weapons and equipment just right. He felt that was part of his credibility with his GI readers.
4. In the last years before Mauldin's death in 2003, he had dementia and was in an assisted-living facility. The local WWII vets set up a duty list and made sure there was someone at his bedside 24/7. That's how important he was to them.
5. If you get a chance, check out Mauldin's book Up Front. It's fascinating. It's been reissued several times, and most libraries have a copy.
                                      Joe Connor