Veteran Irving Sugarman emailed me this drawing made by another 304th Port Co. GI, Johnny Love. It illustrates a time when Irving didn't get any mail. It seems like every company in WWII had an artist in the ranks. Of course, there was the famous Bill Mauldin. Some of his cartoons can be seen on the Stars and Stripes website. And there was George Baker, creator of Sad Sack, published in Yank Army Weekly.
This week I found a very nice collection of cartoons drawn by William Schmitt (see envelope bellow). As far as I know his cartoon work was never published, but there is a collection of his decorated envelopes on the 488th Port Bn. History site. The illustration style is excellent, and I love that they were drawn by a fellow Port Company man. Note the T-5 patch on the guy's shoulder!
My grandfather and the other 519th vets have a number of amusing anecdotes that would translate well as cartoons. I'm using the Sad Sack comics and these envelopes as a style reference to create original cartoons for my upcoming book.
Oh, man. These are AWESOME!! As a WWII enthusiast this is quite a treat to see. As an artist (comic/cartoon artist I greatly appreciate this type of material. I can't imagine being a soldier being away for so long from home as well as dreading whether or not I would survive the night. I greatly admire these soldiers.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing these!