Born October 29, 1921

Mountain Park, New Mexico

Died January 22, 2003

Newport Beach, California

Cartoonist

"Bill Mauldin …as a young Army rifleman during World War II gave newspaper readers back home a … foxhole-level view of the front with his drawings of weary, dogface GIs Willie and Joe."
—From the Arlington National Cemetery Web site
Bill Mauldin. Getty Images. Reproduced by permission.

Bill Mauldin was one of the twentieth century's outstanding editorial cartoonists. The Pulitzer Prize-winning artist portrayed World War II's (1939–45) grim reality, laced with his own brand of humor, and in so doing he immortalized the American serviceman. He was considered a great reporter and was also credited with being a positive influence on morale for the armed services during the war.

Mauldin's cartoon characters, Willie and Joe, slogged their way through battle-scarred Europe surviving the enemy and the elements with their humor intact. They mirrored the lives of...