Just got this from cartoonist-person Bob Foster…
So I'm watching the Toronto Blue Jays/New York Yankees game and it's time for the 7th inning break (20 minutes ago) and they're getting ready to honor our military. A couple of guys are escorting some old military guy in full uniform to home plate. The old guy looks like he's about 94 years old. Then I hear the announcer introduce the old guy as Addison Morton Walker who is, indeed, 94 years old. As pure luck would have it, I had my trusty Canon Power Shot handy and grabbed as many shots as I could right off the TV screen. They were throwing out information that I didn't catch. Something about his service in WWII.
Addison Morton Walker is better known to most of you as Mort Walker, creator-artist of Beetle Bailey and, with others, Hi and Lois, Boner's Ark, Sam and Silo and about 97,000 other newspaper strips. (97,000 may be a slight exaggeration. The number is more like eight but it seems like 97,000.)
According to Wikipedia, "In 1943, Walker was drafted into the United States Army and served in Italy, where he was an intelligence and investigating officer and was also in charge of a German P.O.W. camp. After the war he was posted to Italy where he was in charge of an Italian guard company. He was discharged as a first lieutenant in 1947." Wikipedia is accurate about 88% of the time but this feels like it's in the 88%, except that I don't think he was "in charge" of a German P.O.W. camp. Makes him sound like Colonel Klink. He might have been "in charge" of liberating it or spying on it or something.
Mort is one of the most widely-read cartoonists who's ever lived and based on my few encounters with him, a very nice man who loves his profession dearly. Nice to see him being honored and they should do that for Private Bailey, too. He's certainly put in enough years.