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Willie and Joe are IG troopers

 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 11:39 pm 
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For the naval types out there: ?They say that an officer loses 25% of his brain with every stripe on his shoulderboards. [Captain, USN looks at his shoulder, with 4 full stripes] ?I'm in trouble.


I shall, treat this comment with the disdain it deserves. ?I may mention it to the other chaps around the Wardroom Bar later though as an example of the narrow-minded chaps who cant see the bigger picture :p ? :D

Well at least I still have 37.5% of mine left!  Assuming I got a rebate when I changed to the Navy from the Army (an act for which I reckon I should get a full extra 100% for showing such good judgement!)

Back to Mauldin, I seem to recall that he wasnt well liked by the US Military heirachy who barely tolerated his satire because it was so popular with the rank and file. ?Is that correct?




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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:18 am 
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I know Patton had some concerns about it ... but also remember, even though sometimes the current general "feeling" is that "the Greatest Generation" were all volunteers ... that is far from accurate.  The exact figure I can't remember, however over 50% were drafted to fight the "Great Crusade" against the "Hun" and the "Jap".  And after a time of being told what to do and seeing too many of your buddies getting wasted ... most would "cop an attitude" towards their superiors.  More than once ... I wondered why I volunteered and what the Hell I was doing there !  :;):  And I was an Officer ! :oops:   (Ignores Sailor's obvious attempt at slander towards the Army !)   :D :p :laugh:

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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:20 am 
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The most famous General that wanted Mauldin;s head was Patton.  He tried to get Mauldin courtmartied and the Stars and Stripes banned from his army for having the cartoons.  Ike prevented it from happening.

There is a famous story of Sgt Mauldin being summoned to have a "discussion" with Patton.  

The comment I like about the meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, was when his CO asked him how it went.  Mauldoin said hat "He failed to convivnce the general to his point of view"

Hey Tas,

There is a great one about the navy that I can't find on the web but I will scan it and post it here.

It shows Willie and Joe talking to a Navy guy, they are embarked on a tarnsport for an invasion, Mauldin took part in three or four,

They are saying to the navy guy that they should cary some dirt aboard ship to dig some fox holes thta way the GI would fell safer on board the ship.


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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 11:43 am 
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That would be great CC - thanks!

Was it Mauldin that did the characture of Patton leaving swastikas as footprints after striking the soldier in Italy?

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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 4:28 pm 
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Hi Guys,

Great comics. The GIs in WWII loved 'em...

My favorite is the one where the GIs have to put their Jeep "to sleep"...

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:50 pm 
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Quote (Tas @ 22 Jan. 2006 (03:43))
Was it Mauldin that did the characture of Patton leaving swastikas as footprints after striking the soldier in Italy?


No.  I don't think he ever did that. ?I'm not sure if that really happen historically or it was just for the movie. ?

Patton just felt that Mauldin should the American soldier looking no better than a homeless bum and that rubbed him wrong. ?Along with the under currect on insubordination that was an element in his work. ?

Patton's 3rd army of course infamous for the very tight restrictions they had on apperance in the rear areas. ?Ties and shaves were required and soldiers would be fined for not being in proper attaire or presentable.


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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:50 pm 
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I don't think Mauldin did that cartoon Tas ?  IIRC, it was Sicily.  My Dad was with the 90th ID, part of Patton's 3rd Army in France.  When the movie came out when I was a kid, he took us to see it ... and the rest is history ! :;):

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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:55 pm 
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He is a sample from his book where he talks about the inteview

(2) Bill Maudlin wrote about his meeting with General George Patton in his book, The Brass Ring (1971)

There he sat, big as life even at that distance. His hair was silver, his face was pink, his collar and shoulders glittered with more stars than I could count, his fingers sparkled with rings, and an incredible mass of ribbons started around desktop level and spread upward in a flood over his chest to the very top of his shoulder, as if preparing to march down his back too. His face was rugged, with an odd, strangely shapeless outline; his eyes were pale, almost colorless, with a choleric bulge. His small, compressed mouth was sharply downturned at the comers, with a lower lip which suggested a pouting child as much as a no-nonsense martinet. It was a welcome, rather human touch. Beside him, lying in a big chair, was Willie, the bull terrier. If ever dog was suited to master this one was. Willie had his beloved boss's expression and lacked only the ribbons and stars. I stood in that door staring into the four meanest eyes I'd ever seen.

Patton demanded: "What are you trying to do, incite a goddamn mutiny?" Patton then launched into a lengthy dissertation about armies and leaders of the past, of rank and its importance. Patton was a master of his subject felt truly privileged, as if I were hearing Michelangelo on painting. I had been too long enchanted by the army myself to be anything but impressed by this magnificent old performer's monologue. Just as when I had first saluted him, I felt whatever martial spirit was left in me being lifted out and fanned into flame.

If you're a leader, you don't push wet spaghetti, you pull it. The U.S. Army still has to learn that. The British understand it. Patton understood it. I always admired Patton. Oh, sure, the stupid B$%^#$# was crazy. He was insane. He thought he was living in the Dark Ages. Soldiers were peasants to him. I didn't like that attitude, but I certainly respected his theories and the techniques he used to get his men out of their foxholes.


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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:59 pm 
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Neat, never read that ! :D

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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:10 pm 
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I really like what he wrote here...

(4) Bill Maudlin, Up Front (1945)

The surest way to become a pacifist is to join the infantry. I don't make the infantryman look noble, because he couldn't look noble even if he tried. Still there is a certain nobility and dignity in combat soldiers and medical aid men with dirt in their ears. They are rough and their language gets coarse because they live a life stripped of convention and niceties.

Their nobility and dignity come from the way they live unselfishly and risk their lives to help each other. They are normal people who have been put where they are, and whose actions and feelings have been molded by their circumstances. There are gentlemen and boors; intelligent ones and stupid ones; talented ones and inefficient ones.

But when they are all together and they are fighting, despite their bitching and griping and goldbricking and mortal fear, they are facing cold steel and screaming lead and hard enemies, and they are advancing and beating the hell out of the opposition.

They wish to hell they were someplace else, and they wish to hell they would get relief. They wish to hell the mud was dry and they wish to hell their coffee was hot. They want to go home. But they stay in their wet holes and fight, and then they climb out and crawl through minefields and fight some more.


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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:21 pm 
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Thanks for the extracts CC, very interesting reading.  I have read a l,ot about Patton (one of my heroes) but I hadnt seen any detail on the Mauldin "interview" before.

And yes there really was a cartoon of him with swastika footprints!

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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 11:59 pm 
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Amen ... never heard it put that well ... and I'm a former Infantryman, as many already know ...   And yes, Tas I remember that cartoon too, it was even in the movie ...  :D

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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:15 pm 
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Like I said, Tas, that joke was told at a Change of Command, with the Captains' boss (a 1-star admiral) standing on the stage behind him.

'f an ossifer sez i', i' mus' be true! :p

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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:20 pm 
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Hey adding some pictures I could not find on the net.  This one is for Tas.


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 Post subject: Willie and Joe are IG troopers
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:22 pm 
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The rest of these is for all the treadheads out there.


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