No glory

The other day Miss Mox and I were at the bookstore, a favorite hangout.  Among other things, I ended up getting a copy of Bill Mauldin's Back Home.  Maybe it was subconscious, but it was an appropriate purchase for Veteran's Day.

I was introduced to Mauldin's work by my father, and I have several of his books.  Not many people know of him now, but he was famous for awhile.  He drew cartoons about the average soldier during WW2.  He was not a fan of officers, or of war, and got in some trouble for that.  He used sometimes-biting humor to show the real people involved in an awful situation.  He ended up winning a Pulitzer, and went on to a long career as an editorial cartoonist.  He drew this after Kennedy was assassinated.

Dad was in the Army back when there was a draft.  As bad as the draft was, it was a kind of equalizer, drawing in men from all walks of life.  Sure, some could get out of it, but it was much more fair than the way the volunteer military recruits.  (I'm not being nostalgic; I don't want to go back to the draft, and I remember reluctantly registering for it.)  Dad used to kid that he was a guard at Ft. Knox; he was stationed there, and pulled guard duty, but not in any glamorous setting.  He was infantry attached to the Armor School, so essentially his job was to pretend to get killed by tanks.  He was lucky, in that he got out just as Vietnam was starting.  I remember him soberly telling me about watching the rest of his unit board planes for Vietnam, and later visiting the memorial wall finding names.

I'm a little late, because life is, as usual, busy, but I just wanted to post this for Veteran's Day, to honor the vets.  They don't have much choice about where they go.  War, and even peace, isn't glorious for the average soldier.  It's something they have to slog through , survive, to get back to their regular life and dreams.

Mauldin shows that in practically every panel.  There is humor, often wry and dark.  And there is boredom, and sadness.  This was probably Dad's favorite- it's funny, but not when you think about it much.