EveningStar
07-30-2002, 04:18 PM
This morning, I read this article in my local newspaper. I was greatly moved. I do indeed remember Bill Mauldin.
I then went to the paper's website and found the article. I wanted to post an excerpt from the article and link it back to the paper's site. Unfortunately, the article does not have a permanent link. The page gets overwritten whenever the author posts a new column.
I called the author and left a voice message requesting that he give me permission to post this online in its entirety. He returned my call and graciously gave me his permission to "put it on the Net and send it out to anybody you want to."
Herewith, is the article in its entirety:
Calling all WWII vets for a vital mission
By Gordon Dillow
The Orange County Register (http://www.ocregister.com/local/dillow.shtml)
July 30, 2002
He's an old man now, frail and sick and lying in a bed in an Orange County nursing home. But there was a time when he was a friend to millions of Americans, a man who brought laughter to countless guys who had precious little to laugh about.
His name is Bill Mauldin - yes, the Bill Mauldin. And now he's in need of some help from his buddies of long ago.
For those too young to remember, Bill Mauldin was one of the most famous Americans of World War II. Starting out as an Army infantry private who drew military-life cartoons on the side, he later became a full- time cartoonist for Stars and Stripes, the GI newspaper. His cartoons also appeared in syndication in newspapers across the United States.
Mauldin's two main cartoon characters were a couple of dogface infantrymen named Willie and Joe. Dirty, unshaven, squatting in muddy foxholes and griping all the while, they represented the millions of ordinary citizen-soldiers for whom the war wasn't a path to glory, but rather a hard, miserable job that simply had to be done. And yet, like so many GIs, Willie and Joe somehow found humor in even the toughest situations.
High-ranking officers, who were frequently the targets of Willie and Joe's foxhole jokes and gripes, may not have approved of Mauldin's anti-authoritarian outlook and stand-up-for-the-little- guy tone. But ordinary GIs loved Willie and Joe - and loved Bill Mauldin for creating them.
So did millions of other Americans. Sgt. Bill Mauldin became one of the most popular cartoonists in American history, and in 1945, at age 23, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
After the war Mauldin was a political cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and later the Chicago Sun-Times, where he was noted for his biting cartoon attacks on racial segregation and the Ku Klux Klan. He covered the war in Korea, won another Pulitzer in 1959 and published a number of books. But he was never again quite as famous as he'd been in World War II. He retired in 1991.
And now, at age 80, he's fallen on hard times. Severely burned in a household accident while visiting here from his native New Mexico last year, Mauldin's physical health is waning - and perhaps even worse, his mental capacities are diminished. Lying on his bed in the Orange County nursing home, he sometimes goes days without speaking, locked away in his own world.
Don't misunderstand: The famous Bill Mauldin hasn't been abandoned. Thrice married, with eight children, he has family members who love and support him, and he's in a good private facility. But he needs something more.
That's where his old Army buddies of long ago, even ones who never met him personally, can help. And maybe you are one of them.
Staff members at the nursing home have noticed that when Bill has been visited by World War II veterans, especially those who served with him in the fight against Nazi Germany, he seems to light up. World War II was the most important time of his life, and it's as if hearing stories of those days in Sicily and Italy and France, even from a stranger, somehow reconnects him to the world. He may or may not be able to talk back, but for those moments his eyes come alive again.
The problem is, Bill's family members and health-care providers haven't been able to arrange for enough World War II guys to visit him. They don't want flocks of people coming in to see him unannounced - that's why I'm not saying which care facility he's in - but they would like World War II vets to volunteer for scheduled visits. They think it would improve Bill's life.
So with their permission, I'm making this request: If you're a World War II veteran, especially if you served in the European Theater, and you're willing to spend a few minutes with Bill Mauldin, give me a call at the number below.
Or if you're just someone who remembers him and liked his cartoons, and you want to send him a card, send it to me care of the Register and I'll make sure he gets it.
Once again, I don't want to make it sound worse than it is. According to his family members, Bill was always a proud man, and he's had a long and colorful and successful life. He wouldn't want anyone's pity.
Still, the GIs of World War II were always important to him. And it seems only right that before he leaves this life, Bill Mauldin should get to spend a little time with the guys who used to be Willie and Joe.
-----
Gordon Dillow may be reached at (714) 796-7953 or via e-mail at gldillow@aol.com
I then went to the paper's website and found the article. I wanted to post an excerpt from the article and link it back to the paper's site. Unfortunately, the article does not have a permanent link. The page gets overwritten whenever the author posts a new column.
I called the author and left a voice message requesting that he give me permission to post this online in its entirety. He returned my call and graciously gave me his permission to "put it on the Net and send it out to anybody you want to."
Herewith, is the article in its entirety:
Calling all WWII vets for a vital mission
By Gordon Dillow
The Orange County Register (http://www.ocregister.com/local/dillow.shtml)
July 30, 2002
He's an old man now, frail and sick and lying in a bed in an Orange County nursing home. But there was a time when he was a friend to millions of Americans, a man who brought laughter to countless guys who had precious little to laugh about.
His name is Bill Mauldin - yes, the Bill Mauldin. And now he's in need of some help from his buddies of long ago.
For those too young to remember, Bill Mauldin was one of the most famous Americans of World War II. Starting out as an Army infantry private who drew military-life cartoons on the side, he later became a full- time cartoonist for Stars and Stripes, the GI newspaper. His cartoons also appeared in syndication in newspapers across the United States.
Mauldin's two main cartoon characters were a couple of dogface infantrymen named Willie and Joe. Dirty, unshaven, squatting in muddy foxholes and griping all the while, they represented the millions of ordinary citizen-soldiers for whom the war wasn't a path to glory, but rather a hard, miserable job that simply had to be done. And yet, like so many GIs, Willie and Joe somehow found humor in even the toughest situations.
High-ranking officers, who were frequently the targets of Willie and Joe's foxhole jokes and gripes, may not have approved of Mauldin's anti-authoritarian outlook and stand-up-for-the-little- guy tone. But ordinary GIs loved Willie and Joe - and loved Bill Mauldin for creating them.
So did millions of other Americans. Sgt. Bill Mauldin became one of the most popular cartoonists in American history, and in 1945, at age 23, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
After the war Mauldin was a political cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and later the Chicago Sun-Times, where he was noted for his biting cartoon attacks on racial segregation and the Ku Klux Klan. He covered the war in Korea, won another Pulitzer in 1959 and published a number of books. But he was never again quite as famous as he'd been in World War II. He retired in 1991.
And now, at age 80, he's fallen on hard times. Severely burned in a household accident while visiting here from his native New Mexico last year, Mauldin's physical health is waning - and perhaps even worse, his mental capacities are diminished. Lying on his bed in the Orange County nursing home, he sometimes goes days without speaking, locked away in his own world.
Don't misunderstand: The famous Bill Mauldin hasn't been abandoned. Thrice married, with eight children, he has family members who love and support him, and he's in a good private facility. But he needs something more.
That's where his old Army buddies of long ago, even ones who never met him personally, can help. And maybe you are one of them.
Staff members at the nursing home have noticed that when Bill has been visited by World War II veterans, especially those who served with him in the fight against Nazi Germany, he seems to light up. World War II was the most important time of his life, and it's as if hearing stories of those days in Sicily and Italy and France, even from a stranger, somehow reconnects him to the world. He may or may not be able to talk back, but for those moments his eyes come alive again.
The problem is, Bill's family members and health-care providers haven't been able to arrange for enough World War II guys to visit him. They don't want flocks of people coming in to see him unannounced - that's why I'm not saying which care facility he's in - but they would like World War II vets to volunteer for scheduled visits. They think it would improve Bill's life.
So with their permission, I'm making this request: If you're a World War II veteran, especially if you served in the European Theater, and you're willing to spend a few minutes with Bill Mauldin, give me a call at the number below.
Or if you're just someone who remembers him and liked his cartoons, and you want to send him a card, send it to me care of the Register and I'll make sure he gets it.
Once again, I don't want to make it sound worse than it is. According to his family members, Bill was always a proud man, and he's had a long and colorful and successful life. He wouldn't want anyone's pity.
Still, the GIs of World War II were always important to him. And it seems only right that before he leaves this life, Bill Mauldin should get to spend a little time with the guys who used to be Willie and Joe.
-----
Gordon Dillow may be reached at (714) 796-7953 or via e-mail at gldillow@aol.com