Mauldin, Bill

(1929.10.29-2003.01.22)  Cartoonist, writer.

Lived in Phoenix

Graduated from Phoenix Union High School

Bill Mauldin's senior class photo as it appeared in the 1939 Phoenician, yearbook of Phoenix Union High School.  1-03.

Willie and Joe were the cartoon embodiment of the American infantry soldier in Europe during World War II.  They made their first appearance in Stars and Stripes, a publication produced by and for servicemen.  Unlike General Patton, GIs loved the irreverent characters and Willie made the cover of Time magazine.

The creator of Willie & Joe attended Phoenix Union High School.  His picture appears in the 1939 yearbook with the graduating seniors, but Bill was destined not to graduate with them because of failing grades in some essential courses.  He wound up in the army where his lack of a high school diploma proved to be no impediment to being assigned to the Stars and Stripes staff.

In spring, 1945 when he was still a soldier in Europe, Bill received a large envelope from Phoenix Union High School.  Inside was a genuine PUHS diploma.

After the war, the United Features Syndicate picked up Willie and Joe, and in 1949 Bill was hired by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  When Bill was 24, he became the youngest winner of Pulitzer prize, an award which he won twice.  In 1962 he moved to the Chicago Sun-Times where stayed until he retired in 1991.