May 23, 20224 yr Old timers here will probably remember Bill Mauldin and his WW2 cartoons and his book 'Up Front'. It was published in 1945 and is collection of his cartoons and his experiences and writings about what it was like to be a 'dog face', a front-line infantryman. I've had the book for years and from time to time I like to browse through it and look at the cartoons. Only very recently have I started to read the test. Most combat books are about the fighting and the campaigns and the personal experiences. Mauldin paints word pictures of the life the common infantryman. Down to earth and personal. Like a truck speeding down a road spraying mud on an infantry slogging down the road and that same platoon coming up on that truck a mile down the road, stuck in the mire, and the driver wondering why they won't stop and help push him out. The infantryman having finished his meal going out of the tent and dumping the remains of his meal into the pail of a poor Italian boy standing before the GI cans where you wash out your mess gear. And then going back through the line again and coming out and dumping the full meal into that Italian boy's pail. Getting chewed out on a trip to the rear echelon for wearing a dirty uniform and scruffy boots and not wearing rank on his sleeve. They don't wear rank up on the line because German snipers take aim first on the guy with the most stripes on his sleeve. About sleeping in water filled fox holes and finding heaven in a barn full of hay they can burrow into or throw on top of themselves to keep warm. Mr. Mauldin isn't with us anymore, but WW2 lives on in his book. I think it's still in print or you can find a free PDF copy on the internet. Noel Edited May 23, 20224 yr by birdguy The tires are worn. The shocks are shot. The steering is wobbly. But the engine still runs fine.
May 24, 20224 yr Author They're almost all favorites Mike. I never tire of looking at them. I've had the book since high school. About the only thing I've kept from my boyhood days. I don't know why I took so long reading it instead of just thumbing through the cartoons. Noel The tires are worn. The shocks are shot. The steering is wobbly. But the engine still runs fine.
May 24, 20224 yr Schultz used to have the same theme every veterans day. Snoopy going to Bill Mauldin's house to see what the moody old maudlin Mauldin was reminiscing over on the holiday. 5800X3D, RTX4070, 600 Watt, one or two 1440p 32" screens, 64 GB RAM, 4 TB PCle 3 NVMe, Warthog throttle, VKB NXT EVO stick, Honeycomb Alpha yoke, CH quad, 3 Logitech panels, 2 StreamDecks, Desktop Aviator Trim Panel. Crystal Light VR.
May 24, 20224 yr Willie and Joe...you gotta love 'em . Edited May 24, 20224 yr by W2DR Kant spel Intel 10700K @ 5.1Ghz, Asus Hero Maximus motherboard, Noctua NH-U12A cooler, Corsair Vengeance Pro 32GB 3200 MHz RAM, RTX 2060 Super GPU, Cooler Master HAF 932 Tower, Thermaltake 1000W Toughpower PSU, Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit, 100TB of disk storage. Klaatu barada nickto.
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.