Postal Service set to honor World War II cartoonist Bill Mauldin with commemorative stamp

Stamp honors World War II cartoonist Bill Mauldin

SANTA FE, N.M. — The U.S. Postal Service is set to honor one of the nation’s favorite cartoonists during World War II.

A dedication and first-day-of-issue celebration for the stamp commemorating Pulitzer Prize cartoonist Bill Mauldin is planned Wednesday at the auditorium of the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe.

Mauldin became known during World War II for his Willie and Joe characters in cartoons that took a humorous look at military life through the eyes of infantrymen.

Mauldin won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1945 for distinguished service as a cartoonist. His second came in 1959 for a cartoon portraying the author of Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak, as a Soviet prisoner.

Mauldin was a New Mexico native. He died in California in 2003 at the age of 81.