This is one of my favorite cartoons from my school days.
It was drawn for our school paper in December 1952.
The Korean War ended in July '53 - a month after we graduated. For those of us facing the draft it was a great relief. I volunteered for the draft a few years later in 1958.
The Editors asked me to do a cartoon honoring our graduates who were serving in the Korean War. One of my favorite cartoonists in those days was Bill Mauldin who drew for The Stars And Stripes during World War 2, and I wanted to draw something similar to his work.
I did not copy his work - I simply tried to draw like him. The only thing copied in this cartoon is a wisp of smoke in the background that goes from one side to the other. Milton Canniff drew it in a Steve Canyon comic strip and I liked it.
An art teacher went around telling everyone I copied the cartoon - he was wrong!