NONFICTION

War and humor are an unlikely fit. At best the connection is dark or mordant -- think "M*A*S*H."

But humor is as necessary in wartime as CARE packages, and Todd DePastino's "Bill Mauldin," a biography of the cartoonist, persuasively reminds us just how big a morale booster Mauldin's cartoons were in World War II.

Generously illustrated, this is an affectionate tribute to a sergeant who never led his troops in battle but was the champion of his fellow enlisted men . Aging veterans, DePastino notes, still remember how Mauldin's cartoons "saved my soul in that war," "kept my humanity alive" and "supported the enlisted man." Born in 1921, Mauldin grew up in the Southwest. His parents, owners of a hardscrabble New Mexico farm, were always poor. His mother probably was bipolar, but she recognized and encouraged Mauldin's genius. He drew before he talked, though he was also academically bright. Mauldin, whose his ideas of art were "derived entirely from the cartoons in popular magazines and newspapers," believed his drawings would make him successful.

Though his drawings began to sell in the mid-1930s, Mauldin was persuaded by a friend in early September 1940 to join the Arizona National Guard as an infantryman. His decision was based on practical concerns -- his drawings did not pay much -- as well as dreams of glory: "I had a crazy notion that maybe there would be some way in which I could combine my artistic and soldierly talents."

This decision may not have been as crazy as it seems, for the Army made Mauldin famous. His talents were soon recognized, and as he accompanied his battalion from North Africa to Italy, his cartoons of typical GIs, such as Willie and Joe sitting, unwashed and wet, under gunfire won him a Pulitzer Prize, the affection of his fellow soldiers and personal wealth.

The Army brass was less enthralled. Though Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered that Mauldin's cartoons be left alone, Gen. George S. Patton thought they undermined morale. Summoned to meet Patton, Mauldin was subjected to a lecture, with references to antiquity, on the importance of military morale. Mauldin recalled it was "as if I was hearing Michelangelo on painting."

This book offers perceptive insights into an artist whose heroes were the foot soldiers of war and peace, and it's not just for old soldiers.
Judith Chettle is a Richmond-based book reviewer and writer.