Posted on 08/19/2002 5:56:31 AM PDT by robowombat
Monday, August 19, 2002
Cartoonist Mauldin seriously ill; GIs, veterans urged to send well-wishes
By Patrick J. Dickson, Stars and Stripes European edition, Wednesday, August 14, 2002
WASHINGTON — Bill Mauldin, who won a Pulitzer Prize for cartoons he drew while covering World War II for Stars and Stripes, is seriously ill, and friends are asking that servicemembers, particularly veterans, send word.
Bob Greene, a Chicago Tribune writer and former colleague of the 80-year-old Mauldin, wrote in an Aug. 11 column that Mauldin “needs visitors, and he needs cards of encouragement.”
Greene said in a phone interview with Stripes that “cards are being read to [Mauldin], and he responds to them.”
Greene worked with Mauldin at the Chicago Sun-Times during the late 1960s and ’70s.
In 1944, Mauldin became a full-time cartoonist for the Stars and Stripes. His cartoons often featured two infantrymen named Willie and Joe.
Mauldin ran afoul of Gen. George Patton for his irreverent portrayals of tired infantrymen struggling to get through the war.
He wrote about his meeting with Patton in his 1971 book, “The Brass Ring”:
“There he sat, big as life even at that distance … his collar and shoulders glittered with more stars than I could count … an incredible mass of ribbons started around desktop level and spread upward in a flood over his chest to the very top of his shoulder, as if preparing to march down his back too. …
“Patton demanded: ‘What are you trying to do, incite a goddamn mutiny?’ Patton then launched into a lengthy dissertation about armies and leaders of the past, of rank and its importance. …
“I had been too long enchanted by the army myself to be anything but impressed by this magnificent old performer’s monologue. …
“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.”
Patton threatened to pull Mauldin’s work from the Stars and Stripes. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower did not agree and feared that any attempt at censorship would undermine morale.
So Mauldin stayed on, and his work was rewarded with the 1945 Pulitzer for editorial cartooning, the youngest to ever earn it. Mauldin was featured on the cover of Time magazine that year, and went on to a successful career in syndication while drawing for various U.S. newspapers.
Greene said Mauldin is cheered by visitors, and asks that veterans who will be in the area contact him or another columnist, Gordon Dillow, via e-mail about arranging a meeting.
Greene can be reached at bgreene@tribune.com; Dillow at gldillow@aol.com.
“When people show up with [WWII] medals, or copies of his book, he brightens up,” Greene said.
Greene asked his syndication company to allow any newspaper to carry this column.
“When the idea is to get cards and letters to Bill, why not widen it as much as you can?” he said.
Greene writes:
“Bill Mauldin brought hope, and smiles in terrible hours, to millions of his fellow soldiers. If you were one of them, and you’d like to repay the favor, this would be the time.”
Send cards to Mauldin in care of Gordon Dillow at the Orange County Register, 625 N. Grand Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92701.
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