6/2/2023 0 Comments Bill mauldin a life up front![]() A move to the Mediterranean edition of the newspaper Stars and Stripes, whose circulation was much larger, followed. Mauldin’s fame spread after the division deployed to the Mediterranean for the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. As Mauldin honed his wit and his brush skills, his legendary characters also began to take shape. ![]() While the outfit prepared for the coming war, Mauldin’s drawings-trenchant commentaries on the training regimen- began to appear in the 45th Division News. This in turn led to ROTC training at his Phoenix, Arizona, high school and, after several twists, to the Arizona National Guard and the 45th Infantry Division. A natural gift for drawing and a response to a magazine ad for a cartoonists’ school was his ticket out of his hardscrabble existence. Mauldin grew up in troubled circumstances, in a family that today would be labeled dysfunctional. This fine new biography of their creator, cartoonist William Henry “Bill” Mauldin, does full justice to the man and his work. To millions of stateside readers and, most importantly, to GIs in foxholes from Anzio to the Bulge, Willie and Joe, grubby veterans of the Italian campaign and the western front, were the spokesmen for the American soldier. ![]() The two most famous American combat soldiers of World War II never existed. ![]()
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