NM Artistic Hero

Native New Mexican, Bill Mauldin is recognized by many as American history’s greatest wartime cartoonist.

The self-proclaimed “hillbilly from New Mexico” gained national fame at an early age through his Pulitzer Prize winning cartoon series about 2 average soldiers named Willie & Joe. This Purple Heart recipient now rests in Arlington National Cemetery but his piquant artistic works continue to inspire and educate soldiers, veterans and civilians alike.

When acquired, it was worth $29,000 and remains on display in the New Mexico Veterans’ Memorial Museum.

‘Cavalry Sergeant’

One of Mauldin’s first pieces “Calvary Sergeant” was his favorite sculpture and cartoon. It depicts a “grieving Calvary master sergeant shooting his beloved disabled Jeep, just as a grieving cowboy would once have shot a beloved disabled horse.”