O/T Up Front by Bill Mauldin

[JNG]

When my father passed away I received his copy of Up Front. Great book. Well today I went to the Post Office and they had a Bill Mauldin stamp. I bought a few and put them in my book. Just thought some folks would like to know.

Joe

[Hobie]

That is a great book AND a great idea. I passed it on to some of my collector buddies. Thank you.

[Pisgah]

That is a great book! My dad tells me that when he was recuperating from wounds in hospital and word reached them of Mauldin's death in the South Pacific, fellows broke down and cried. If ever a GI had a friend, it was Bill Mauldin.

[Rusty]

Thanks I'll have to get some as well.

Don't forget that they are selling T-shirts with Willie and Joe on them to raise money for the Wounded Warrior's project.

[awp101]

That is a great book! My dad tells me that when he was recuperating from wounds in hospital and word reached them of Mauldin's death in the South Pacific, fellows broke down and cried. If ever a GI had a friend, it was Bill Mauldin.

Ernie Pyle died in the Pacific. Mr Mauldin was with us until 2003.

[Ben_Rumson]

Agreed.. Great reading...

[2571]

When Bill died, Chicage Tribune ran an editorial cartoon of Willie & Joe as ghosts, standing looking at the bier, with tears in their eyes.

[don Tomás]

One of my favorites:

[Pisgah]

That is a great book! My dad tells me that when he was recuperating from wounds in hospital and word reached them of Mauldin's death in the South Pacific, fellows broke down and cried. If ever a GI had a friend, it was Bill Mauldin.

Ernie Pyle died in the Pacific. Mr Mauldin was with us until 2003.

Exactly right, of course! I'll go take my OldTimer's meds now.

[piller]

If I remember correctly, Bill Mauldin actually went where the soldiers were, and many times was also in harms way. We are seriously in need of men like him and Ernie Pyle today.

[awp101]

That is a great book! My dad tells me that when he was recuperating from wounds in hospital and word reached them of Mauldin's death in the South Pacific, fellows broke down and cried. If ever a GI had a friend, it was Bill Mauldin.

Ernie Pyle died in the Pacific. Mr Mauldin was with us until 2003.

Exactly right, of course! I'll go take my OldTimer's meds now.

No biggie, I suffer from it as well at times...

[Mitch1352]

I have his book "The Brass Ring: Sort of a memoir". It is his autobiography from birth to being mustered out after WW2. Very tongue-in-cheek. An excellent read.

[OJ]

Mauldin was sure our hero during WW II - I'm in the process of re-reading it again and I had forgotten some of his truly brutal observations of rear echelon "garritroopers" - who siphoned off new equipment at the expense of the real combatants up front who really needed the upgraded boots, field jackets, and such.

I was able to speak to him once in Santa Fe - contact being a friend of a friend - he was the real deal.

[Charles]

I grew up with a copy of Up Front and wore it thin with my eyes. About three years ago, I picked up two first editions and gave them to my kids as part of their Christmas. In the Mid-80 when I lived in El Paso, I ran into Bill a couple of times in Starkey's Gun Shop. He lived in Las Cruces New Mexico, up the road 45 miles and liked guns allot.

[OJ]

If I remember correctly, Bill Mauldin actually went where the soldiers were, and many times was also in harms way. We are seriously in need of men like him and Ernie Pyle today.

Actually, there was a big difference between Mauldin and Pyle - Mauldin was a enlisted soldier in the infantry and Pyle was a civilian correspondent covering the war.

[Ysabel Kid]

I'm going to have to do that as well! Great idea!!!

My Dad had an old Mauldin cartoon blown up and hung it in his office. It was the two GI's, sitting in a foxhole with a German tank parked on them. Joe says into the radio something like "I've got a target for you, but you'll have to be patient." He figured this was the story of an undercover agent's life!

[BAGTIC]

Look for the book 'Bill Mauldin's Army'. It has ALL of Mauldin's 'Willie and Joe' cartoons and is in a large format.

One of my favorite Mauldin cartoons was a post-war political cartoon for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. It shows two side by side guillotines. Eisenhower is in one and Kruschev in in the other. Each man is holding the trip rope controlling the other's fate. The caption was 'The problem is how to let go without letting go.'