Elaine Raines has been the librarian at the Arizona Daily Star for almost 30 years. While she does not claim to be a historian, she does have access to a treasure trove of great historical information.
"Tales from the Morgue" is a way to share some of that information with readers.
If you have an idea for a tale from Tucson's past that you would like to share, please e-mail morguetales@ azstarnet.com.
Willie and Joe cartoonist, Bill Mauldin, needed a bottle of ink
06/08/2009 08:00 PM Elaine Raines
During World War II, Bill Mauldin was both an infantryman and a cartoonist. That combination produced Willie and Joe, two ‘dogfaced’ soldiers who appeared in the pages of Stars and Stripes. Mauldin, who grew up in Phoenix, was a frequent visitor to Tucson where his mother lived.
Star files A cartoon from “Bill Mauldin’s Army.”
“Look at the infantryman’s eyes and you can tell how much war he has seen,” said Mauldin. His cartoons from the front, captured that look in the eyes. His work won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1945, at the age of 23.
After the war, he became a political cartoonist. He worked at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and won his second Pulitzer. Later, he joined the Chicago Sun Times and was syndicated in over 300 papers in the 1960s.
1963 Star files Natalie Mauldin, left, and her husband Bill, at the Old Adobe Patio with his mother, Mrs. C. H. Curtis.
In 1963, on a trip to visit her, Mauldin stopped at the Star looking for a bottle of ink. It was a bottle of Higgins ink that he was after, and fortunately, the Star cartoonist Tom Ellinwood, had a spare bottle to share.
While he was here, the Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist spent time talking with the Star staff. He told the story of getting his high school diploma.
Mauldin joined the Army without receiving his diploma. It seems there was some prank involving a biology class skeleton smoking a cigarette. After he received his first Pulitzer, Phoenix Union High School contacted him and said they had been rechecking their records. Work he had done on the high school annual provided him with enough credits to graduate. So although he should have graduated in 1940, he became a member of the PUHS class of 1945.
In the mid-1960s, Mauldin spoke at the Sunday Evening Forum at the UA. He said admitted that he thought a lot about his cartoons while taking a hot bath every morning.
Star files A Mauldin cartoon depicting two Soviet soldiers fighting in Afghanistan.
At the age of 64, Mauldin published another book “Let’s Declare Ourselves Winners … and Get the Hell Out.” It was his first collection in 20 years and included cartoons from the Carter and the first four Reagan years, as well as international events and leaders.
Bill Mauldin died in 2003 at the age of 81. Many of his cartoons are available at the Stars and Stripes website.
In my book, Bill Mauldin was the greatest commentator on a soldier’ life in any war. What was important and what was just crap. While everyone else followed the senior personnel, he depicted things through soldiers’ eyes. I have his book and everytime I go through it, it is as interesting as the first time. It is hard to forget “Willie, you saved my life. Here is my last pair of dry socks”
In my book, Bill Mauldin was the greatest commentator on a soldier’ life in any war. What was important and what was just crap. While everyone else followed the senior personnel, he depicted things through soldiers’ eyes. I have his book and everytime I go through it, it is as interesting as the first time. It is hard to forget “Willie, you saved my life. Here is my last pair of dry socks”
— Jim 06/09/2009 12:49 AM #