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Snoopy In Combat
(March 6, 2010) |
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June 11, 2007 -- Everyone is familiar with the Peanuts character Snoopy. Snoopy has
been known to fight the WW I flying ace, the Red Baron in many
battles over the skies of France for years in the Peanuts comic
strip. He would get shot down by the Baron and cry "curses, foiled
again." Snoopy spent hours in French bars drinking root beer
remembering his time at "the front." There was even a hit song 30
plus years ago on the radio about Snoopy and the Red Baron.
Charles Schulz, the artist who created and drew the Peanuts comic
strip for over 50 years, died in February 2000. That was the end of
any new Peanuts cartoons but the old comic strips are re-run in
syndication. With the comic strip running for 50 years in 2600
newspapers and in 75 countries there is a lot of material that can
be re-seen and enjoyed as if it was a new production. | |
Van E. Harl |
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What has been appearing in the papers recently is Snoopy in the Army
during WW II. He just landed 8 June on Omaha Beach and is now
fighting his way through France. Snoopy versus the Red Baron was
mostly a light hearted outlook at war, but the Snoopy of WW II is
not. Snoopy's infantry soldier persona is a much more serious
character, because unlike the WW I fighter pilot (which Schulz was
not,) Schulz was a WW II combat infantryman.
Charles Schulz was an infantry squad leader in the US Army during WW
II. He was in the 20th Armored Division. Schulz was drafted into the
Army in 1943 and took part in the manning of the 20th Armored
Division as it was being formed at Ft. Campbell, KY. The Division
shipped out for Europe and was fighting in Germany in that terrible
cold winter of 1945. As an infantryman he saw war up close and
personal. He was drawing cartoons during this time but unlike Bill
Mauldin of Willie & Joe comic strip fame, Schulz did not become
nationally know until Oct 2, 1950 when Peanuts first appeared in
newspapers. It went on to become the most popular comic strip of all
times.
Even after Schulz's death the comic strip lives on. Because of the
popularity of Peanuts, Schulz is the second highest paid deceased
person in the country, only after Elvis Presley. Snoopy is the most
famous character and the only one to spend time in the military, two
wars in fact.
One of the WW II Snoopy comic strips that recently ran in the paper
is of Snoopy sitting in his foxhole. It is cold and rainy and he is
manning his .30 caliber machinegun. The caption reads "Dear Mom Just
a note to tell you I am well. They say we will be home by Christmas.
I hope so."
Home by Christmas was and still is the dream of every frontline
combat troop. Schulz was not going for humor in these comic strips.
He was using his influence of the mass media to show the sadness and
high stress factor that a combat troop (like him) endures in war.
You could easily take Snoopy out of his WW II foxhole, place him in
a desert camouflage uniform, riding a top a Hummer vehicle in
Baghdad and the above caption would still convey the same meaning.
Charles Schulz understood the infantry soldier in combat.
I attended a memorial a few years ago in New Mexico where they
honored Bill Mauldin. They had a bronzed jeep statue that looked
like the jeep in the Willie & Joe comic strip. One of Mauldin's
relatives told a story about Charles Schulz and Snoopy. On many a
Veteran's Day in the Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy dressed as a WW II
soldier would go to Bill Mauldin's house to drink root bear and tell
war stories. Schulz would even take the original hand drawn comic
strip and send it to Mauldin. Mauldin did not really understand why
he was being honor both in the newspaper comic strip and having the
extremely valuable artwork given to him, until he finally met
Charles Schulz.
These men where two old WW II combat veterans, who had a common bond
in life: war. Mauldin had worked for Stars & Stripes drawing his
comic strip but he was wounded by artillery fire at Anzio Beach and
received the Purple Heart. Bill Mauldin's artwork honored and
remembered the combat troops during WW II. Charles Schulz's artwork
even after his death, quietly through Snoopy, without upsetting the
politically-correct, continues to honor our combat veterans.
The 4th of July is this week, brought to you by a combat veteran. | |
By
Van E. Harl
Copyright
2007 About Author:
Major Van E. Harl, USAF Ret., was a career police officer in the U.S. Air
Force. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the
Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. Major Harl is a graduate of
the U.S. Army Infantry School, the Air Force Squadron Officer School and the Air
Command and Staff College. After retiring from the Air Force he was a state
police officer in Nevada.
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