"Up Front" & "Bill Mauldin's Army"

Duty Honor Country

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Both books are about Bill Mauldin's comics of WWII. Bill Mauldin's Army is 383 pages of comics while Up Front is Mauldin's story along with a few comics.

Here is a quote from the beginning of Up Front. "I Haven't tried to picture this war in a big, broad-minded way. I'm not old enough to understand what's all about, and I'm not experienced enough to judge its failures and successes. My reactions are those of a young guy who has been exposed to some sort of it, and I try to put those reactions in my drawings. Since I'm a cartoonist, maybe I can be funny after the war, but nobody who has seen this war can be cute about it while it's going on. The only way I can try to be a little funny is to make something out of the humorous situations which come up even when you don't think life could be any more miserable. It's pretty heavy humor, and it doesn't seem funny at all sometimes when you stop and think it over." From there, Mauldin tells how he created "Willie and Joe"(2 average American soldiers), how he became a cartoonist for the Stars and Stripes and his Army experience. Since he drew his cartoons how he saw it, he drew fire from General Patton because Willie and Joe were filthy. Ike told Patton to lay off since Mauldin's comics were so popular with the average joe.

I have posted a link to some of his comics. If you know anything about being in the military, you'll enjoy them. Last week, I brought Bill Mauldin's Army to my company and people were asking me where to get it.

WILLIE AND JOE
 
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