February 13, 2008

Book review: Bill Mauldin's Up Front

By Stan Dyer

I knew of Bill Mauldin, and I remember some of his cartoons, but I am a little too young to remember his work during World War II. Recently, while visiting a neighbor, I was presented with a volume to read, and it was Bill Mauldin's first book entitled Up Front.

In his book, Mr. Mauldin confesses that he is not a writer, but I disagree. Some writers use eloquent language to move their readers, and others can do it with one properly chosen adjective. Bill Mauldin does it with his art.

After joining the Army in 1940, Mauldin began drawing cartoons for the 45th Division News. In 1943, he took part in the invasions of Sicily and Italy, and, in 1944, began drawing for Stars and Stripes, where his comic art drew both praise from the dogface infantrymen and criticism from some of the brass. General George Patton sought to have Mauldin censored, but Eisenhower intervened and arranged a meeting between the two. After the meeting, Mauldin said, "I came out with my skin on. We parted friends, but I don't think we changed each other's mind." Mauldin continued to draw and, after Ernie Pyle wrote an article about him in 1944, signed with United Feature Syndicate, where he went on to win a Pulitzer in 1945 for "distinguished service as a cartoonist." He was the youngest to win the prize.

Mauldin later produced cartoons criticizing racism, the KKK and McCarthyism, but had a difficult time getting small-town papers to publish his work. He left the field and did not return until 1958, when he found a paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, willing to print his strong views. In 1959, he won another Pulitzer. In 1962, he drew one of the most famous American cartoons of all time that depicted a crying Abraham Lincoln lamenting the death of John F. Kennedy.

Of the six books Mauldin published, Up Front was his first. The book features many of Mauldin's cartoons and his two famous, dogface characters, Willie and Joe. To Mauldin and many other infantrymen of the Second World War, all the soldiers on the front line were "dogfaces." Willie and Joe personified the thoughts, the feelings and the emotions of all the dogfaces not permitted to have thoughts, feelings and emotions. Through his words and his cartoons, Mauldin uses comic relief to add levity, but also to show the side of war seldom seen by civilians and seldom acknowledged. Mauldin said, "Soldiers had legitimate complaints and grievances that needed to be addressed," and, "The surest way to become a pacifist is to join the Army." In some ways, he was to World War II what Adrian Kronauer was to Viet Nam, or what M.A.S.H. was to the Korean Conflict. The book definitely leaves the reader with an expanded view on War.

Mauldin's other books are 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). Bill Mauldin died in a nursing home in California on Jan. 22, 2003, but his thoughts, his feeling and his emotions live on through his cartoons and his two most famous characters, Willie and Joe.

I grade the book an "A+". If you think war is just about glory, you should look at this book. They may be cartoons, but don't let the comedy fool you. These cartoons are poignant and are all about the sacrifice, the destruction and the true cost of war. Mr. Mauldin's commentary and anecdotes serve well to drive the point home. Every president and every member of Congress should read this book before committing troops to battle.

Title: Up Front

Author: Bill Mauldin

Publisher: World Publishing Company, Cleveland, OH, 1945 (I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the Sixth Printing. I imagine many newer versions are available)