These were men, like Bill, who were highly intelligent but were marginalized and forced to live on the fringes of society. He was especially relevant to the men of the 180th Infantry as this unit contained more Native Americans than any other infantry regiment. Mauldin brilliantly drew just enough in his strips so that the infantry completely understood his meaning while the brass was left in the dark. Accuracy in a dogface’s boots, clothing, tents, rifles, packs, deportment, and demeanor were critical. Bill therefore, was meticulous in his artistry and the details contained in his drawings. Harrison was keenly aware that the 45th Division News could be shut down by his superiors if he or Mauldin appeared to promote insubordination in any form. In his defense of Mauldin, Harrison informed his superiors that “soldiers need outlets for their gripes, and if they can pick up a paper and see somebody griping for them they can go back to work feeling better.” Mauldin and Harrison continued to walk the fine line of depicting the truth of the dogfaces (infantrymen) while not pushing the brass too far. Harrison, that his irreverence had not gone unnoticed.

He was warned by his editor, Colonel Walter M. Pushing the Brassīill’s support of the enlisted depicted officers and practices within the camp as inane. There he was able to utilize his talents after he secured a position on the 45th Division News as a cartoonist where his drawings spoke to and for the enlisted men.

His division was dispatched to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He returned to Phoenix in 1940 and as a means by which to subsist, joined the Arizona National Guard. His talent as an artist was evident at a young age and seeking to hone his skills and find some semblance of success in his otherwise dismal life, he abandoned high school in his senior year to attend the Chicago Academy of Arts in 1939. While in the Valley of the Sun, Bill attended Phoenix Union High School where he promptly joined the ROTC. When their parents permanently separated in July 1936, Bill and Sid left the family home for Phoenix, Arizona.

He and his older brother Sid were frequently left alone for days at a time while their mother, Katrina, went on harsh drinking binges. He survived a nomadic and impoverished childhood as a sickly child with a young mother and frequently unemployed father. William Henry Mauldin was born Octoin the New Mexico’s Sacramento Mountains in a town named, Mountain Park. Actor Don Adams was in the Marines and the only member of his unit to surivive a WW II battle-Truth! & Unproven! Mauldin's Background

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