Mauldin at War, 1943-1945
One of the first, and sometime the
only, things people think about when they hear the name Bill Mauldin
is World War II. His characters Willie and Joe, created for the
45th Division News in 1940, extended to the Mediterranean
edition of the Stars and Stripes in November 1943. Mauldin
officially transferred to the Mediterranean edition of Stars
and Stripes early in 1944 and his editor arranged for syndication
by United Feature Service as Up Front at the same time.
He won his first Pulitzer for cartooning in 1945.
Mauldin always called it as he saw it. During the war that led
him to more than one confrontation with the military brass, including
a famous one with General George Patton. In 1944, while technically
AWOL in Paris, Mauldin was set up to meet the famous general who
did not appreciate the scruffiness of Willie and Joe. In March 1945,
he drove up to Luxembourg, to Patton's quarters. Mauldin recounts
the meeting in The Brass Ring, in which Patton harangued
him:
"Now then, sergeant, about those pictures you draw of those god-awful
things you call soldiers. Where did you ever see soldiers like that?
You know goddamn well you're not drawing an accurate representation
of the American soldier. You make them look like goddamn bums. No
respect for the army, their officers, or themselves. You know as
well as I do that you can't have an army without respect for officers.
What are you trying to do, incite a goddamn mutiny? You listen to
me sergeant, the Russians tried running an army without rank once"....
"Sergeant," he said, "I don't know what you think you're
trying to do, but the krauts ought to pin a medal on you for helping
them mess up discipline for us."
Mauldin was permitted to speak his mind to Patton. As he left
the general's office, he found Will Lang perched outside. "I said
Patton had received me courteously, had expressed his feelings about
my work, and had given me the opportunity to say a few words myself.
I didn't think I had convinced him of anything, and I didn't think
he had changed my mind much, either."
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Bill Mauldin at work,
ca. 1945
Silver gelatin photograph
LC-DIG-ppmsca-03235 (digital file from original)
Unprocessed item
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"Bill Mauldin at work: Cartoonist Bill Mauldin, in his fur-lined mountain cap,
surrounded by his combat trophies, sits in his office on the
fourth floor of Il Messagero building in Rome-one
floor above the main editorial offices of The Stars and
Stripes. Bill mostly worked at night, until the wee hours,
on drawings made from innumerable sketches made up front with
the combat troops. Here, drawing with his left hand, he takes
time out to grimace at the intruding photographer." |
Mauldin earned at Purple Heart at Cassino. He did not spend
all of his time cartooning and working for the 45th Division
News during the war. He made sure he spent time with
K Company, his fellow infantrymen. In fact, around Christmas
1943, while sketching at the front, a small fragment from
a German mortar hit his shoulders, as he noted in The
Brass Ring, "My only damage was a ringing in my ears
and a fragment in my shoulder. It burned like a fury but was
very small. The wound hardly bled." Mauldin received a Purple
Heart for his injury, and when he protested that he had "been
cut worse sneaking through barbed-wire fences in New Mexico,"
the aid told him to take the medal, which might get him discharged
earlier at the end of the war. |
"Didn't
we meet at Cassino?"
[between 1943 and 1945]
Ink over pencil with white-out
LC-DIG-ppmsca-03236 (digital file from original)
LC-USZ62-119293 (b&w film copy neg.)
CD 1 - Mauldin, no. 191 (A size)
Copyright by Bill Mauldin. Reproduced with Permission of the
Estate of William Mauldin.
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"I ast her to teach me to
yodel. She taught me to yodel"
[between 1943 and 1945]
Ink over pencil with white-out
Inscribed on verso: Passed by Fd. Press Censor.
LC-DIG-ppmsca-03238 (digital file from original)
CD 1 - Mauldin, no. 187 (A size)
Copyright by Bill Mauldin. Reproduced with Permission of the
Estate of William Mauldin.
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Mauldin's first wife Jean bears a striking resemblance
to the European lass who teaches the soldier to "yodel." |
Hi'ya Pop,
1945
Silver gelatin photograph
LC-DIG-ppmsca-03237
(digital file from original)
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Star
Spangled Banter by Sgt. Bill Mauldin, 1944
Washington, D.C.: Army Times Publishing Co., 1944
Copyright Deposit
LC-DIG-ppmsca-03240 (digital file from original)
D745.2.M33 1944
and pp. 26-27
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