A life up front

Writing in the LA Times Clancy Sigal reviews a new book of Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front by Todd DePastino about the renowned war cartoonist Bill Maudlin. Maudlin, who died in 2003, is most remembered for his World War II cartoons although he later worked in Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War.

If he were alive today, this pint-size, waggle-eared, pugnacious correspondence-course cartoonist, who carried a rifle along with his sketchpad as a combat infantryman in Company K, 180th Regiment of the 45th (“Thunderbird”) Division, would probably be drawing furiously behind some sandbagged outpost in Anbar province, not tormenting the Iraqi foe but poking fun at his favorite targets, publicity-mad U.S. generals and rear-echelon soldiers far from battle. His love — there is no other word for it — for the ordinary enlisted man exalted his art and tumultuous life. link