I admit to a secret vice. Okay, not so secret. I LOVE military cartoons. They appear in newsletters in all services in all conflicts.
Back before Blogs, Captain George Rarey documented his service career in a series of cartoons. Above is one of them...he was so happy when his wife let him know she had given him a son, he drew cartoons of his joy. Here is the commentary from the letter at the time... click on the image to see it full size.
"Rarey's Letter: March 28, 1944. May I compliment you, Madame, on your wonderful courage. You carried the whole thing off beautifully - as we Englandicized Anglo-Saxons say, “Good show, my deah, cheahs!” I mean it, Betty Lou. I’m awfully proud of you...Now I’m in possession of a few facts - 8 pounds, 6 ounces - what a man! What a husky little brute! That’s fine. Wish I could have done something to help - I hope you had an easy time of it...We chipped in some hogs and Gator Kline flew up to Scotland to get us some scotch. They didn’t have any so he brought back 36 quarts of rum in his belly tank (no foolin”).
A lot more pictures may be found here on Rarey's sons tribute web site. George Rarey was KIA in June of 1944. I presume that is the son who is illlustrated in the picture above. grin! Sadly, even the son has passed away, but the artwork remains! Please visit it. The human dimention is often overlooked in wartime propaganda, and George Rarey is one of the "keepers".
http://www.rareybird.com/index.html
http://www.rareybird.com/cadet.html
2 comments:
I love it! The letter to Betty Lou is priceless.
I can't help but wonder how the rum tasted after being in an airplane's belly tank. I bet there was quite a bit of gasoline ended up in that rum!
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