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Posted on 10/24/2003 3:53:18 AM PDT by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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 Sergeant, United States Army and Cartoonist Many people have described their wartime experiences in letters home. But very few have chronicled war for the people doing the fighting. Bill Mauldin, World War II's most famous cartoonist, is one of them.  "Radio th' ol' man we'll be late on account of a thousand-mile detour." William Henry Mauldin was born October 29, 1921 in Mountain Park, New Mexico. Though he did not graduate from high school, he took a correspondence course in cartooning, and later attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In 1940, just five days before the National Guard was federalized, Bill Mauldin enlisted in the Arizona National Guard. This is truly where his career as the world knows it began. While serving in Oklahoma Mauldin began doing drawings for the Oklahoma City newspaper, and the 45th Division News. Sergeant Bill Mauldin, K Company, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division was with the division when it shipped out for combat duty in the European Theater of Operations in 1943, when he was 21. Upon his arrival in Sicily, he joined the Stars & Stripes, while still drawing for the 45th Division News.  "So I told Company K they'd just have to work out their replacement problem for themselves." After Ernie Pyle, America's most popular journalist in the Second World War, wrote an article about the work of Mauldin, he was picked up by United Feature Syndicate in 1944 and his cartoons began appearing in newspapers all over the United States. He later recalled that: "I drew pictures for and about the soldiers because I knew what their life was like and understood their gripes. I wanted to make something out of the humorous situations which come up even when you don't think life could be any more miserable."  Mauldin earned a 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." When Mauldin received the Purple Heart for his injury 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.  "Nonsense. S-2 reported that machine gun silenced hours ago. Stop wiggling your fingers at me." Willie and Joe, Mauldin's now famous cartoon characters, were two combat hardened dogfaces. These were muddy and exhausted, but their spirit was never broken. They hated every second of sitting in rain filled foxholes, trudging through hills and valleys loaded down with rifle and pack, and facing enemy fire, but they never gave up.  "Able Fox Five to Able Fox. I got a target but ya gotta be patient." Mauldin's characters were the average GI. He depicted their boredom, rebellion against bad food, lousy living conditions, and clueless officers. Willie and Joe came to be loved by the lower ranks, and by their families back home. In his classic book "Up Front," Mauldin wrote that the expressions on Joe and Willie are "those of infantry soldiers who have been in the war for a couple of years. If he is looking very weary and resigned to the fact that he is probably going to die before it is over, and if he has a deep, almost hopeless desire to go home and forget it all; if he looks with dull, uncomprehending eyes at the fresh-faced kid who is talking about all the joys of battle and killing Germans, then he comes from the same infantry as Joe and Willie."  Mauldin draws Pvt. Robert L. Bowman in May 1944. A notable exception to the American love of Bill Mauldin's Willie and Joe was General George Patton. In 1945 he wrote a letter to the Stars & Stripes threatening to ban the newspaper from Third Army if it did not stop carrying "Mauldin's scurrilous attempts to undermine military discipline."  "Awright, awright — it's a general! Ya wanna pass in review?" General Dwight Eisenhower did not agree and was concerned that any attempt at censorship would undermine morale. In hopes of reconciling the differences he set up a meeting between Mauldin and Patton. Mauldin went to see Patton in March 1945. He had to endure a lengthy lecture on the dangers of producing "anti-officer cartoons". Mauldin's response was the rightful argument that the soldiers had legitimate grievances that needed to be addressed.  Bill Maudlin wrote about his meeting with General George Patton in his book, The Brass Ring (1971) There he sat, big as life even at that distance. His hair was silver, his face was pink, his collar and shoulders glittered with more stars than I could count, his fingers sparkled with rings, and 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. His face was rugged, with an odd, strangely shapeless outline; his eyes were pale, almost colorless, with a choleric bulge. His small, compressed mouth was sharply downturned at the comers, with a lower lip which suggested a pouting child as much as a no-nonsense martinet. It was a welcome, rather human touch. Beside him, lying in a big chair, was Willie, the bull terrier. If ever dog was suited to master this one was. Willie had his beloved boss's expression and lacked only the ribbons and stars. I stood in that door staring into the four meanest eyes I'd ever seen. 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. Patton was a master of his subject felt truly privileged, as if I were hearing Michelangelo on painting. I had been too long enchanted by the army myself to be anything but impressed by this magnificent old performer's monologue. Just as when I had first saluted him, I felt whatever martial spirit was left in me being lifted out and fanned into flame. If you're a leader, you don't push wet spaghetti, you pull it. The U.S. Army still has to learn that. The British understand it. Patton understood it. 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. Frederick S. Voss wrote about the meeting between Bill Maudlin and George Patton in his book, Reporting the War (1994) Pulling from a drawer some clipped samples of Mauldin's work, he asked their creator to justify their anti-officer tone. In doing so, Mauldin thought he acquitted himself fairly well. By making soldiers laugh at their grievances and letting them know that someone else understood them, he said in effect, he was helping them to let off steam in a relatively harmless way and thereby preventing the mutiny that Patton was so sure he was causing. Patton was clearly unconvinced. "You can't run an army like a mob," he declared when Mauldin was done, and after a handshake and a smart parting salute from Mauldin, the interview was over. Official recognition for his work came in 1945, when Mauldin was awarded his first Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. The award read, "For distinguished service as a cartoonist, as exemplified by the cartoon entitled, 'Fresh, spirited American troops, flushed with victory, are bringing in thousands of hungry, ragged, battle-weary prisoners,' in the series entitled, 'Up Front With Mauldin." Bill Mauldin was 23 years old at the time.  Fresh, spirited American troops, flushed with victory, are bringing in thousands of hungry, ragged, battle-weary prisoners. The first collection of cartoons "Up Front" was published in 1945 in book form, and later republished for it's 50th Anniversary in 1995. His first collection of postwar cartoons was entitled "Back Home" and was published in 1947. These cartoons focused on the plight of the GI upon returning to the States, and the political situations that abounded.  "He thinks the food over there was swell. He's glad to be home, but he misses the excitement of battle. You may quote him." Mr. Mauldin became a national phenomenon for awhile. He was on the cover of Time magazine, acted in two movies in 1951 -- "The Red Badge of Courage" and "Up Front". He wrote about the war in Korea for Collier's magazine, and unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic candidate for Congress from the state of New York. As a member of the United Feature Syndicate Mauldin's cartoons attacking racism, the Ku Klux Klan and McCarthyism appeared in newspapers all over the United States. Mauldin's cartoons were unpopular with the newspapers in small towns and he had difficulty getting them published. Disillusioned, Mauldin gave up cartooning.  He returned in 1958 and found a home with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1958. He proceeded to win his second Pulitzer prize the following year. In this prize winning cartoon, Mauldin was commenting on the plight of Soviet author Boris Pasternak. One prisoner in a Siberian camp says to another, "I won the Nobel Prize for literature. What was your crime?"  The year 1962 found Mauldin working for the Chicago Sun-Times. While there, one of his best-known cartoons was created. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy this cartoon (showing Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial, with his hands covering his face) was published.  During his career Mauldin wrote and illustrated more than twelve books. This included Up Front (1945), Back Home (1947), Mud and Guts (1978), Hurray for B.C. (1979), Bill Mauldin's Army (1983) and Let's Declare Ourselves Winners and Get the Hell Out (1985). On Wednesday, January 22, 2003 Bill Mauldin died of complications from Alzheimer's disease, including pneumonia, at a Newport Beach nursing home, said Andy Mauldin, 54, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, one of the cartoonist's seven sons. "It's really good that he's not suffering anymore," he said. "He had a terrible struggle." He was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Section 64, Grave 6974. Accordingly, he is now at rest among his beloved GI's. For many years on Veteran's Day, Charles Schulz, the "Peanuts" creator, had Snoopy dress in his old uniform and go over to Bill Mauldin's house to reminisce and quaff a few root beers. Symbolically, this was a tribute to all veterans, their sacrifice, their loss of innocence. Snoopy would become sentimental and sometimes end up in tears. It was also a tribute to Mauldin and his importance to the G. I.s of World War II. Schulz himself had been a machine gunner in Europe. Mauldin didn't romanticize war. His was a war of rain and mud, hunger and stupidity, arrogance and ignorance, and Willie and Joe did their best to just keep going.       |
Veterans Day is right around the corner.
It only takes a few minutes to write a letter to the kids and share a story of why you served.
If you aren't a Veteran then share your thoughts on why it is important to remember our Veterans on Veterans Day.
It's an opportunity for us to support our troops, our country and show appreciations for our local veterans. It's another way to counter the Anti-Iraq campaign propaganda. Would you like to help? Are there any VetsCoR folks on the Left Coast? We have a school project that everyone can help with too, no matter where you live. See the end of this post for details.
Three Northern California events have been scheduled and we need help with each:
Friday evening - November 7th Veterans in School (An Evening of Living History, A Veterans Day Ice Cream Social)
Saturday - 11 a.m. November 8th: Veterans Day Parade (PDN & Friends parade entry)
Sunday November 9, 2003 Noon to 3:00 PM Support our Troops & Veterans Rally prior to Youth Symphony Concert
Each of the WebPages above have a link to e-mail a confirmation of your interest and desire to volunteer. These are family events and everyone is welcome to pitch in. We'd really appreciate hearing from you directly via each these specific links. This way, we can keep you posted on only those projects you want to participate in.
Veterans in School - How you can help if you're not close enough to participate directly. If you are a veteran, share a story of your own with the children. If you have family serving in the military, tell them why it's important that we all support them. Everyone can thank them for having this special event. Keep in mind that there are elementary school kids.
Help us by passing this message around to other Veteran's groups. I have introduced VetsCoR and FreeperFoxhole to a number of school teachers. These living history lessons go a long way to inspire patriotism in our youth. Lets see if we can rally America and give these youngsters enough to read for may weeks and months ahead. If we can, we'll help spread it to other schools as well.
May he rest in peace. I love Mauldin's cartoons. Thanks for the thread, Snippy.
I wish I had 14 hours straight to sleep. LOL
We used a dozen of these B-26's in preparation for the Bay of Pigs:
SPECIFICATIONS (Typical for late block A-26B)
Span: 70 ft. 0 in.
Length: 50 ft. 8 in.
Height: 18 ft. 6 in.
Weight: approximately 41,800 lbs. gross take off weight
Armament: Two .50-cal. machine guns in a dorsal barbette, two .50-cal. machine guns in a ventral barbette (sometimes omitted in favor of an extra fuel cell), eight forward firing .50-cal. machine guns in the nose and six .50-cal. machine guns in the wings plus provisions for 6,000 lbs. Of bombs (4,000 lbs. internal and 2,000 lbs. external on wing racks). Fourteen 5 in. rockets could be carried in place of the wing-mounted bombs.
Engines: Two Pratt & Whitney R-2800-27 (or -71 or -79) radials of 2,000 hp. ea.
Crew: Three - Pilot, navigator, gunner
Had Kennedy approved Gen. Cabell's request to make one final attack with these on Castro's three .50 cal.-armed T-33's on the ground prior to the invasion, it would have succeeded in establishing a base and provisional government, giving the requisite cover for U.S. assistance when requested.
Kennedy's failure here led to the "missile crisis" which he "solved" by promising not to invade Cuba, and by removing U.S. Pershing missiles from Turkey.
The invaders were cut to ribbons and to secure the release of the captured survivors Kennedy gave Castro an ungodly amount of jeeps and yankee dollars.
Sensing weakness, Khruschev built the Berlin Wall.
My dad finished his WWII service on USS Saratoga (CV-3) and came back to run the press clipping business his father established.
He hired as his mailroom man an Army veteran of Italy service who had cartooned for Army publications.
Harry Heidinger was never too busy to draw me in a tank or halftrack when Mom would bring me by.
And he gave me a USA hand grenade which fascinated me with its simplicity.
They all went down and enlisted after Pearl, and they all came back to work afterwards, except of course the one's God volunteered.
MAULDIN, left, beside a German tank in Italy.
Let's head over to the Foxhole and quaff a few root beers.
Awwwww. Thanks Phil. ;)
The Bay of Pigs was a military disaster that should never have happened, assets were in place to ensure success but politicians once again lascked the will to do what needed to be done and the men on the ground paid for that lack of will.
Great nose art on those B-25's, a wonderful tribute to what Mauldin's Willie and Joe meant to the troops in theater.
P.S. I've seen that picture of Mauldin next to a "tank" always mislabeled. It's not a tank, it's an Assault Gun. Based on the road wheels in the picture I'd say a Sturmgeschutz III.
Let's head over to the Foxhole and quaff a few root beers.
Thanks for one of the best honors given to the Foxhole. I'm gonna steal it for a tagline. ;-)
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