Bill, Willie & Joe @ the Post Office
03 04 10 - 11:33 Bill Mauldin was a hero to most of the guys that fought in WW2, because his cartoons evoked the often dark sense of humor felt by Infantrymen across Europe. This young kid's characters, Willie & Joe, made the "grunts" feel that their voice was heard outside of the trenches & even back home. His 1st of 2 Pulitzer Prizes came in 1945 for his work in Stars & Stripes.
Now his efforts are being memorialized by the US Postal Service on a new 1st Class stamp. The stamp, designed by Postal Service art director Terrence W. McCaffrey, shows Mauldin in uniform and helmet sketching, based on a photo taken in 1943 in Italy by Life magazine photographer John Phillips. Mauldin’s image is looking toward his Willie and Joe in full combat gear from a cartoon that is now in the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City.
More on Bill, Willie & Joe in our Forum
Twenty million of the stamps will be produced in self-adhesive sheets of 20. Buy 'em for Dad or buy 'em for Grandpa, they'll probably tell you some great tales from the time they spent abroad.
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