Available at Amazon.com. Willie & Joe: The WWII Years (Hardcover) Price: $26.00

http://www.amazon.com/Willie-Joe-Years-Bill-Mauldin/dp/1560978384/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Presenting the complete WWII cartoons of Bill Mauldin, the greatest cartoonist of the Greatest Generation.

"The real war," said Walt Whitman, "will never get in the books." During WW II, the closest most Americans ever came to the "real war" was through the cartoons of Bill Mauldin, the most beloved enlisted man in the U.S. Army. Here, for the first time, Fantagraphics Books brings together Mauldin's complete works from 1940 through the end of the war. This collection of over 600 cartoons, most never before reprinted, is more than the record of a great artist: it is an essential chronicle of America's citizen-soldiers from peace through war to victory.

Bill Mauldin knew war because he was in it. He had created his characters, Willie and Joe, at age 18, before Pearl Harbor, while training with the 45th Infantry Division and cartooning part-time for the camp newspaper. His brilliant send-ups of officers were pure infantry, and the men loved it.

After wading ashore with his division on the first of its four beach invasions in July 1943, Mauldin and his men changed—and Mauldin's cartoons changed accordingly. Months of miserable weather, bad food, and tedium interrupted by the terror of intense bombing and artillery fire took its toll. By the year's end, virtually every man in Mauldin's original rifle company was killed, wounded, or captured.

The wrinkles in Willie's and Joe's uniforms deepened, the bristle on their faces grew, and the eyes—"too old for those young bodies," as Mauldin put it—betrayed a weariness that would remain the entire war. With their heavy brush lines, detailed battlescapes, and pidgin of army slang and slum dialect, Mauldin's cartoons and captions recreated on paper the fully realized world of the American combat soldier. Their dark, often insubordinate humor sparked controversy among army brass and incensed General George S. Patton, Jr.

This is first of several volumes publishing the best of Bill Mauldin's single panel strips from 1940 to 1991 (when he stopped drawing). His Willie & Joe cartoons will be presented in a deluxe, beautifully designed two-volume slipcased edition of over 600 pages. The series is edited by Todd DePastino, whose Mauldin scholarship will be on full display in a biography of the artist coming in February 2008 from W. W. Norton. Willie & Joe will contain an introduction and running commentary by DePastino, providing context for the drawings, pertinent biographical details of Mauldin's life, and occasional background on specific cartoons (such as the ones that made Patton howl).

About the Author

Born in 1921, Bill Mauldin squeezed several lifetimes into his 81 years. In addition to cartooning, he acted in Hollywood movies, ran for Congress, piloted airplanes, wrote several books and hundreds of articles, and won two Pulitzer Prizes, the first for his wartime cartoons. He died on January 22, 2003. Todd DePastino is the author of Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America (2003). He also edited and introduced a lost classic, The Road by Jack London (2006). His biography of Mauldin, titled Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front, will be published by W. W. Norton in 2008. He teaches history and writes in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

From CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- At 107, Frank Buckles must know there is not much time for him to honor the memory of his comrades who served the United States during the first World War. He's the last surviving U.S. veteran of what then was called the Great War.

Buckles, during World War I, drove ambulances and later transported prisoners of war.

2 of 2 The old soldier comes to Washington Tuesday hoping to turn a run-down local memorial on the National Mall into something in keeping with other, permanent monuments to Americans who've sacrificed in other wars.

Buckles, who left the Army as a corporal, first visited the site back in March. "I think it was a very nice idea," he said from his wheelchair, after he and an aide had toured the gazebo-styled structure.

Buckles noted that the memorial is not national but was built primarily to honor about 500 veterans from the District of Columbia.

"I can read here that it was started to include the names of those who were local," Buckles said.

He has since joined a crusade to establish the site as a national memorial, which includes a legislative push from Texas Republican congressman Ted Poe. He and Buckles plan to announce details of their mission at a 2 p.m. news conference held at the D.C. memorial site.

Also pushing the overhaul and upgrade are the D.C. Preservation League and the World War I Memorial Foundation.

The site of the current monument -- in dense woods not far from the fresh and elaborate World War II memorial -- is hard to find, even in the dead of winter, when Buckles last visited.

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"We just saw it through the trees," tourist Regina Duffy told CNN back in March. "I was surprised when we got over here that it was a World War I memorial because I thought it would be more prominent."

With summer foliage fully in bloom, the city's monument is almost completely obscured.

Zeke Musa of Florida said it "looks like it's been neglected."

"If you just look at the walks here, all the stones are broken and everything. These guys served their country, you know? It's a shame," said Musa, a Vietnam veteran.

According to an autobiography released earlier this year by the Pentagon, Buckles was eager to join the war. Although only 16 in the summer of 1917, he lied about his age to get into the armed services.

He said his recruiter told him "the Ambulance Service was the quickest way to get to France," so he took training in trench casualty retrieval.

Buckles eventually was an officer's escort in France before joining a detail transporting German prisoners of war.

He now lives on his family's cattle farm near Charles Town, West Virginia.

Hope you like this Marion. Gotta get back to my duties!!

Sgtleo

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Received this today:

I'm looking for information about a WW I song that was revised in WWII, called Always.

Kathy

I can't find any references to a song simply called, ALWAYS. Does anyone have any information on the original WWI tune or its counterpart in WWII.

There are tons of songs with Always in the title, but not just ALWAYS. Thanks in advance.