Up Front by Bill Mauldin
Nine
dogfaces gathered in the enlisted men’s latrine to discuss WW II, POWs and
aircraft crashes on American soil, and what Ernie Pyle called “the finest
cartoonist the war had produced.” Bill
Mauldin’s work provided insight into “the tiny percentage of our vast Army who
are actually doing the dying.” The
doggies grunted as follows:
Charlie: It was a wonderful book. It got me to thinking, how good was it
without the cartoons – and I think it was still good. The book gave me insight into what the poor guy
in the infantry was thinking. Very
sympathetic, well written. A
Mike: This book gave me the feeling that a
publisher came to Bill Mauldin and said, “Hey, you have some great cartoons,
and we’d like to publish a collection of them.
Why don’t you write a paragraph or two about each one?” Not a book for a book club, nor would I
recommend it other than as a collection of Mauldin’s cartoons. However, he did capture some of his defense
of the dogface. C+
Ron B: I agree but for a higher grade. Stephen
Ambrose was a better writer of the war experience, true. But I found something compelling in Mauldin’s
text. I appreciated his insights, e.g.,
French vs Italiano. He was not cynical
in his views like Tony Hillerman (in his autobiography). I was touched by the ending story: the medics wounded, one dying. He put a human face on the war. I found it engaging. A
Kenny G: I agree with Mike and Rob. It wasn’t great literature. This is the first book we’ve read with
cartoons. This put me in the trenches
with the foot soldier. It made me pull
out my WW II books, and made them more interesting. B+
Bob Woods: I give it an A. Historically interesting. I wish one of Caesar’s legionaries had
written something like this – wouldn’t that have provided a great perspective. The cartoons were fascinating, but I found it
very interesting why he chose to draw that subject.
Keith: The US has issued a Bill Mauldin stamp
featuring Willie and Joe. For a prize,
when was it issued, where was the First Day of issue, and what was the rate on
the stamp? (answer after the poem).
The Dog
Face Soldier Song
I
wouldn’t give a bean
To be a fancy pants Marine
I’d rather be a
Dog face soldier like I am
I
wouldn’t trade my old ODs
For all the Navy’s dungarees
For I’m the walking pride
Of Uncle Sam.
On
Army posters that I read
It says “Be All That You Can”
So they’re tearing me down
To build me over again
I’m
just a dog face soldier
With a rifle on my shoulder
And I eat raw meat
For breakfast e’v’ry day
So
feed me ammunition
Keep me in the Third Division
Your Dog Face Soldier’s A-Okay!
[This song is still sung every morning by the Third Division. See here and especially here and elsewhere on YouTube and Wikipedia.] [answer
to quiz: 31 March 2010, Santa Fe NM, 44 cents]
Tom G: I liked the writing and the point of view
better than the cartoons. The insight on
the GIs was powerful, the cartoons to me were not humorous. Ron’s word excellent: I was engaged from the first several
pages. I came away with a strong sense
of mud. A lot of the war was just sitting
around in very uncomfortable venues. A-
Dick J: As I said during our earlier discussion, I
read this book as a child many times, and thus I wondered what my feelings
would be reading it this time, as an adult.
The cartoons were still wonderful.
A-
Bob Simon: I liked it also. A- An
interesting expression of his experiences.
Next year we will be reading Kit Carson’s autobiography, as my Univ of
Texas professor impressed on us the importance of primary source history. This book provided a direct experience of
what it was like to be in the war. As a
direct expression of his experience is why I chose it. We will be dealing with direct experience for
the next two years, with Jack Kerouac’s Dharma Bums (in 2017).
… and from well outside
the combat zone …
It's very impressive what Mauldin did, via his cartooning, in WWII. Give him A+ for that. To me, though, the book got a bit tedious, repetitive as it went along. I didn't finish it, even though I took it on my recent road trip. My grade: B
Cartoons that particularly got my attention:
p. 59 - one of many cartoons demonstrating soldier-comradeship. Every time I see WWII vet
reunions on TV, it's so obvious and heart-warming how much the remaining few
love each other. In a different era, my cousin, Ross, is an example.
He was a Navy pilot in Vietnam, got shot down, was quickly helicopter-rescued.
He and his band of brothers get together annually. When I see Ross,
he loves to talk about these reunions, show me photos, videos, ... He
tears up, I tear up.
p. 13 - This one brings
to mind the helmet-penetrability project I was on a couple of years ago. That
soldier must have had a heck of a helmet liner - or skull. It also
illustrates a recurring theme for Mauldin about the disconnect between the foot
soldiers and the brass above them. Hillerman's autobiography had a lot on
that theme. His main beef, as I recall, was that Intelligence was nearly
always wrong.
Sorry to miss the
meeting, but I've long been a Suzy Bogguss fan. I first saw her about 30 years ago when she opened here for The
Statler Brothers. She never made it up to the Rheba, Loretta, Patsy
level, nationally, but she's persevered and I'm still a fan, have been to
several of her appearances over the years, including one in Placitas (not
Placates, damn you SpellChecker!) 3-4 years back.
Until December!
__________________
Sorry to be missing
the meeting but with the temperature about eighty and the surf
breaking outside my doors I am surviving.
Bill Mauldin says at
the start he is a cartoonist not a writer, and I agree. The cartoons are
great but most of the text was probably not necessary and not particularly
amusing. Therefore a B for the book, since I think we are judging
the literature not the illustrations.
