Cartoonist Bill Mauldin #640: Edwin Keith Thomson Papers

Published October 20, 2026 at 6:00 AM MDT

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Bill Mauldin cartoon portraying infantrymen Willie and Joe, in a trench during World War II. Box 10, folder 4, Edwin Keith Thomson papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Bill Mauldin cartoon portraying infantrymen Willie and Joe, reviewing the papers of a new infantryman. Box 10, folder 4, Edwin Keith Thomson papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

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Bill Mauldin cartoon portraying a typical scene during World War II. Box 10, folder 4, Edwin Keith Thomson papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Bill Mauldin was one of the outstanding military cartoonists of World War II.Mauldin enlisted at the age of 17 and spent a year as a rifleman. In 1943, he joined the staff of The Stars and Stripes in Italy. He was a champion of the common soldier. He visited the front lines, where he found inspiration.

Much of his work lampooned officers, which offended some. Others claimed Mauldin was “the greatest single morale factor in Italy and France next to food and clothing.”

Mauldin created two cartoon infantrymen named Willie and Joe who represented the average American G.I. His cartoons were grim and real. Willie and Joe were unwashed, unshaven and unsmiling. Mauldin won the Pulitzer Prize for his cartoons. It was a significant achievement for a man who was only 22 at the peak of his wartime cartooning.

See a book of Bill Mauldin’s World War II cartoons in the Edwin Keith Thomson papers at UW’s American Heritage Center