This image was drawn the week after the 9/11 attacks on the request of a dear friend of mine who was stationed at the Pentagon. He told me that I had to do a good one, and although many could do better, I was satisfied with the results. There is resolve on the Sailor’s face because that is what the employees of the Pentagon showed by returning to work on 9/12 as the building was still burning. The day is seared in our brains. So much has happened since that terrible day. Young people are joining the military now who…

Do you believe that angels walk among us? I can’t speak with authority on this, since cartoonists are not often consulted on deep subjects, but if they do, Betty Mohlenbrock might be one of them. Betty is the founder of the insanely successful nonprofit called United Through Reading. It provides the equipment and method for deployed troops to read children’s books to their kids. Their children can watch their deployed parents as they read to them, allowing them to bridge the physical separation while they are gone. It has been a wonderful program for years and has helped millions of…

What would you say if you could write a letter to America? How would you sum up your feelings toward this country, this home of ours? I contemplated that as we traveled across the west, and – almost certainly influenced by the fantastic video, “Dear Basketball” – I found it more difficult than you would think. Dear America, I’m sorry it has taken so long to write. I would want to tell it how impressive it is. How beautiful its countrysides are. How impressive its mountains and its coastlines are. What a thrill it is to sail its waters and…

By now you have heard the news that Mort Walker, the cartoonist who drew Beetle Bailey for over six decades, passed away this weekend at the age of 94. At the time of his death, over 200 million people read his cartoons every day in some 1,800 newspapers around the world. Of all the people who have attempted to draw military-themed cartoons over the years, only two – Mort Walker and Bill Mauldin – have become synonymous with the term military cartoonist; the only difference being that while Mauldin drew Willie and Joe for about six years, Mort drew Beetle…

Happy Veterans Day.

Happy Birthday to the United States Marine Corps! If you want some real insight about what Marines are all about, you need to watch this video.