On March 31, 2010, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Postal Service issued a 44-cent stamp commemorating Bill Mauldin, one of America's favorite cartoonists. During World War II, readers got a knowing laugh from Mauldin's characters Willie and Joe, who gave their civilian audience an idea of what life was like for soldiers. After the war, Mauldin became a popular and influential editorial cartoonist.
Terrence W. McCaffrey, art director of the US Postal Service, designed the stamp. McCaffrey chose to honor Mauldin through a combination of photography and an example of Mauldin's art. John Phillips, a photographer for Life magazine, took the photograph of Bill Mauldin in Italy on December 31, 1943. Mauldin's cartoon, showing characters Willie and Joe, is used courtesy of the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Ashton Potter printed 20 million stamps using the offset process with microprint 'USPS,' issuing them in a pressure-sensitive pane of twenty stamps.
