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Bill Mauldin's Star Spangled Banter 1944


338thRCT
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This copy of Bill Mauldins Star Spangled Banter was on the shelves of the local Junior College library back in the early 1970's. I checked it out and had a copy made of the whole thing. I really contemplated telling them I had lost it and then paid the couple of bucks for it....honesty,honesty!It has a collection of pre-war and combat cartoons. I always had a partiality for the pre-war 45th Division ones.post-70300-1332615404.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

You never really see Bill's work on the pre Pearl Harbor Days, where these done in that time, in 1941, or done afterwards to reflect the life and times of the pre war federalize National Guardsman ?

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You never really see Bill's work on the pre Pearl Harbor Days, where these done in that time, in 1941, or done afterwards to reflect the life and times of the pre war federalize National Guardsman ?

Good Question!

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hbtcoveralls

If you get his book "news of the 45th" He has a lot of pre-war cartoons. Bill started cartooning for the 45th Division newspaper during the training camp days before pearl harbor. It's interesting to see how the characters that we know from his wartime cartoons got their start. He has the same eye for detail and the same sardonic humor but applied to the uncertain times in the camps after the guard was federalized. Worth looking for a copy which I'm told are somewhat scarce.

Tom Bowers

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If you get his book "news of the 45th" He has a lot of pre-war cartoons. Bill started cartooning for the 45th Division newspaper during the training camp days before pearl harbor. It's interesting to see how the characters that we know from his wartime cartoons got their start. He has the same eye for detail and the same sardonic humor but applied to the uncertain times in the camps after the guard was federalized. Worth looking for a copy which I'm told are somewhat scarce.

Tom Bowers

 

Thank's for the info, my only knowelge on his early period before the war started was that he would draw for a few cents, little charactors on the backs or maybe the fronts of fields Jackets some of his platoon and later Company mates.

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hbtcoveralls
Thank's for the info, my only knowelge on his early period before the war started was that he would draw for a few cents, little charactors on the backs or maybe the fronts of fields Jackets some of his platoon and later Company mates.

 

There's a pretty good biography out now about Bill's life and career. He was actually a very talented cartoonist before the National Guard was federalized. He enjoyed his time in the national Guard prior to the war and I think this love of soldiers and soldiering transferred to his training camp and later WWII work. Fascinating guy.

Tom Bowers

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Does anyone have or can find a image to post here of Bill Mauldin's last ? drawing of Willie and Joe, now as old men at the 1981 Funeral of General Omar Bradley ? I tried looking but had no luck.

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There were three books by the same title. the first was a collection of 'toons from the 41 war games. Good luck finding one, they go for hundreds of dollars. The one you copied was a 1944 book with the same title, but not the same content. They also did a pamphlet version of the latter book that was handed out to troops. Those are harder to find. the 1944 book is pretty easy to get.

I have what some would call a very comprehensive Mauldin collection and have written/leactured on the man on several occasions. I'll be assisting some people on a TV documentary on Mauldin that should be filmed sometime later this year. I also appeared on

a few years ago.

Todd Depastino's biography on Mauldin is an excellent book, and he's edited two compilations of his WW2 and postwar work that are must-haves for any Mauldin fan. Here are the links to these:

Bill Mauldin: a life up front

Willie and Joe: the war years (I suggest the hardbound 2-book set edition)

Willie and Joe: Back home

I wrote an article on Mauldin collecting for Army motors in 2003. I have the PDF file of it, if you want a copy, PM me with your e-mail.

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Though not military related, here's Bill Mauldins autobiography, Sort of a Saga, written in 1949. He details his childhood in New mexico and Arizona. A wonderful tale with many great drawings of his family and his adventures. Noy quite as encompassing as The Brass Ring, but mainly relates to his pree-teen days.post-70300-1340302126.jpg

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