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   Bill Mauldin was a cartoonist who may have qualified as a "Leftest Radical" by today's standards. He dared to mock Patton on a number of occasions.  Patton's "Rummy Speaches"  "The troops are fresh and ready to go!"  would motivate Bill and the very next day people all over America would see a cartoon depicting a group of dog-faced G.I's who looked like s#$$%. Underneath would read the caption, "fresh and ready"  Yet Patton was unable to shut him down because so many people loved him.  How bout you??


http://flakmag.com/opinion/mauldin.html

David,

     Thanks for the intro to Bill Mauldin.  I used to love his political satire. I especially loved the following quote:
"I'm against oppression by whomever," Mauldin said. In civilian life as an editorial cartoonist, he was a hellraising liberal, attacking not only shabby treatment of veterans, but McCarthyism and the racism of the South. "Investigate them? Heck, that's my posse," says a sheriff in one cartoon with HOUSE UNAMERICAN ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE on his beer gut, pointing a thumb at a KKK member followed by a man labeled PROFESSIONAL BIGOT.

    The bottom line is this:  Soldiers,sailors, airmen, and marines in a combat zone don't often have the luxury of political distinctions, they are fighting for one another, as brothers in arms, regardless of the bigwigs' political pathology. Thanks for the clarification who the real heroes are, dogface and all. We ought to displace the Hollywood pretty boys and girls dysfunctional lives with a regular feature of folks who are the real heroes behind the scenes,including non-military ones. The teacher in the inner city and reservation, the firefighters, paramedics, the nurse in a remote missionary hospital. No wonder young people lack role models, as those folks are often not heard and seen, and most of all, valued. Guess we should'nt be surprised when Jesus says 'The world will hate (devalue) you.'

Wayne




PS:  I responded previously to your Joe and Willy dialog in a negative manner, thinking it was mocking military folks as dumb stooges. As that apparently was not your intent, I stand corrected. As always care with context of the message is essential.

Thanks, did you ever see "The Red Badge of Courage"  Bill was a supporting actor with fellow G.I. Audey Murphy!  He was great because he just played himself.