Doing my small part

I doubt few besides ourselves have ever seen a Bill Maulding cartoon.

I trained with one of those wooden rifles.
They were "bolt action" in that they used a gate latch for a bolt.
The only M1 we saw during training was on the Marine Rifle Range.

Thanks for visiting.

Re. Bill Mauldin, you're right, and it's sad. It's a measure of that ignorance that I never heard the news that he was in a nursing home, that he had Alzheimer's that he had died in 2003. At least, fittingly, he's buried at Arlington. Although he leaned to the left, he attacked stupidity, hypocrisy and bigotry no matter where he found it.

For me, a 38-year-old, to know Bill Mauldin is truly a happy accident. I liberated a paperback copy of The Brass Ring from my parent's yard sale when I was 11. I was quite the little WWII historian at the time, anyway.

(There's a cartoon I'm sure you've seen of a G.I. (pre-war with leggings and WW1-style helmet) pulling the lanyard on a hillbilly kid's little pop-cannon. In the background is a lumber contraption marked something like 75MM ANTI-TANK WEAPON, and the kid says "It's a swap if you throw in yer tin hat." He also had some funny stories about old salts, new guys, and the M1.)

I plan on doing a post here on B.M. in the not-too-distant future, maybe for Veterans Day. In the Greatest Generation, he was a great one.

If any of my audience of 3 or 4 people are wondering who we're talking about, do yourself a favor, get down to the library (remember those?) and find copies of The Brass Ring and Back Home, and read them in that order. You'll be a fan for life.

MyOpine, are you a WWII Vet? Can you tell me your story? Did you see Mauldin's stuff back when it was fresh?

Thanks for stopping by.