Willie and Joe

Willie and Joe are stock characters representing United States infantry soldiers during World War II. They were created and drawn by American cartoonist Bill Mauldin from 1940 until 1946. He regularly added additional drawings until 1998. They were published in a gag cartoon format.

Mauldin was an 18-year-old soldier training with the 45th Infantry Division in 1940. He cartooned part-time for the camp newspaper. Near the end of 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the USA entered World War II. Mauldin was sent to combat, influencing his cartoons. They gradually became darker and more realistic in their depiction of the weariness of the enduring miseries of war. He extended the bristles on their faces and the eyes – "too old for those young bodies", as Mauldin put it – showed how much Willie and Joe suffered. In most cartoons, they were shown in the rain, mud, and other dire conditions, while they contemplated the whole situation.

While Mauldin was praised for his realistic depictions of what most soldiers felt during war-time, he was less popular with some officers. General George S. Patton, Jr. in particular felt offended by the cartoons. Mauldin was ordered to meet him in March 1945 in Patton's quarters in Luxembourg, where Patton complained about the scruffiness of the characters and blamed Mauldin for disrespecting the army and "trying to incite a mutiny". But Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander European Theater, told Patton to leave Mauldin alone, because he felt that Mauldin's cartoons gave the soldiers an outlet for their frustrations. The War Department supported their syndication. The cartoons helped publicize the ground forces and showed the grim side of war, demonstrating that victory would require repeated sacrifices.

Stephen Ambrose, author of Band of Brothers, praised Mauldin's work: "More than anyone else, save only Ernie Pyle, he caught the trials and travails of the GI. For anyone who wants to know what it was like to be an infantryman in World War II, this is the place to start – and finish."

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