Let Me Draw You a (Funny) Picture...

(Sent from my own 'better 'ole!)

My recent posting on '“Dirt and Its Military Uses” included a Willie and Joe cartoon from World War Two by Bill Mauldin (1921-2003).  Bill was a member of the 45^th Infantry Division of the Army National Guard as it was federalized and called out for service in that war.  His talent for cartooning surfaced and he was soon illustrating his division’s experiences in the Louisiana Maneuvers, leading to an offer to have his cartoons appear in the Army newspaper Stars and Stripes.

Not everyone approved of his dirty, scruffy GIs – General George Patton was a strident critic of them and the cartoons in which they appeared.  Nevertheless, Bill – and Willie and Joe – went on to a lengthy career that included a visit to Korea during that conflict and moving on to doing editorial cartoons in major US newspapers (I saw them regularly growing up in St Louis).  He also had to endure regular visits from Snoopy as they reminisced about their war service on Memorial Day, Veterans Day – and who knows for sure how many other days.

This cartoon inspired me to always remember an extra pair of dry socks in my reenactor kit bag!

Expressing a sentiment shared by many still serving in Italy as the Allies landed in Normandy.

Bill Mauldin’s Willie and Joe had some company while serving in North Africa.  A British cartoonist in uniform, Jon Jones (1913 - 1992), presented “The Two Types” representing two officers of the British Desert Army – the 8^th Army from 1943 to 1946.  They both wore a hodgepodge of mismatched uniform parts that were apparently typical in the desert with its daytime and nighttime temperature extremes.  Both Field Marshal Montgomery and General Alexander objected to the cartoons but reportedly Jones persuaded Alexander that if he banned the cartoons, he would only prove what the Two Types said about humorless generals.

On a more musical note.

The First World War British Army had its own “Bill Mauldin” named Bruce Bairnsfather (1887-1959).  Bruce produced “Old Bill” (aided by his pals Bert and Alf) which appeared in the weekly magazine The Bystander.  Many of these later appeared in published collections both during and after the war.  He would return to service (like many did) during the second war and resumed his cartooning – even doing a series of drawings about the US GIs training in Northern Ireland early in the war which accompanied a series of newspaper articles by Ernie Pyle.

Possibly the most famous “oles” of the First World War.

Back in uniform, Old Bill found himself often explaining things about Northern Ireland (as well as Scotland, England, and Wales) to the newly arrived Yanks.

Author Cord Scott and the Marine Corps University Press present a history of US Marine Corps cartoonists in the Great War in “The Mud and the Mirth", published in 2022. I picked out two examples from that collection that struck cords for me.

This brought back memories of Fort Knox back in the early 1970s as well as some serious reenactments as a member of the reenacted Irish Brigade some thirty years later.

Also called “puttees” in the British Army, I’ve had this experience as well reenacting the British Army and as an Irish Volunteer!

But military humor found its way into cartoons even before the First World War.  I found some French cartoons dating from before that war in an antique store some twenty years ago and a subsequent visit to the Musee de La Marine in Paris and its museum shop turned up full color reprints of a set by the artist – Henri Gervese (1880-1959).  Gervese did a broad range of work, but he particularly relished the French Navy apparently.  These two below apparently date from about 1912, but he also did one based upon his visit to the Balkan front during the First World War in which he captured the diversity of the scene presented by the Allied armies represented there: https://www.artlexicon.mk/foreign-painters-in-macedonia/gervese-henri/

(14 Juillet defile) This brought back memories of parades especially as a reenactor!

(Column in countryside) A naval landing party and their cannon on a training march before the Great War.

Frank R Grey was an English illustrator for various magazines including Punch, which appears to have published this personal favorite reflecting the absurdities of peacetime maneuvers.

(Detachment of Tanks) Another reminder of training exercises and field maneuvers!

Ernest Howard Shepard (1879-1976) was a Punch magazine cartoonist who sometimes wandered into military topics (when not illustrating Wind in the Willows or Winnie the Pooh).  His work for Punch included some drawings based upon the military maneuvers of the Edwardian years before the First World War made such activities deadly business.  His self-portrait shows that he knew that side of things, too.

“Settled down to a an exchange of highly colored badinage” to the great amusement of the boy diverted from his errands by the chance to watch the soldiers taking a break in their exercises but keeping up the spirit of the thing.

There are other modern counterparts to these artists and illustrators but that will be for another day. Meanwhile, I’m off for some celebratory root beer!