A most unusual "Peanuts" cartoon.

Cartooniverse · July 25, 2006, 1:44am

There I am, leafing through a Peanuts cartoon book. I turn the page and am completely caught off guard.

The Peanuts cartoon for June 6, 1944 is not an illustration. It is two photographs. One of a few soldiers, one of Ike talking to a group of soldiers. On the right lower corner of the main panel is Snoopy, in uniform.

I am not a connesseur of Peanuts and do not know if Schultz commemorated any other events with photographs or if this was a one-timer.

Sure was moving. Anyone know the back-story if there is one, aside from the obvious ? Did he have family involved that day? Suffer a loss?

Cartooniverse

Julius_Henry · July 25, 2006, 2:04am

I can’t say for sure if he ever used photographs before, but I believe he often commemorated D-Day in his strip. He served in Europe in the second World War, but I seem to remember he was stationed there after Normandy.

Nonsuch · July 25, 2006, 2:14am

Schulz was a prominent donor to the D-Day Memorial, and drew that strip on June 6, 1997 (not 1944—Peanuts didn’t begin until October 1950) to commemorate the event and raise awareness for the memorial. Link (scroll down).

Cartooniverse · July 25, 2006, 2:19am

Thank you so much for that cite, it’s perfect. I kept doing a Goole Image search for the cartoon, and so missed finding stuff like this. Brilliant !!

Didn’t know what year the strip began either. Well, this surely explains why he did that strip.

mobo85 · July 25, 2006, 3:12am

Schulz marked the anniversary of D-Day in his comic each June 6 from 1993 to 1999. The cartoon you mention ran in 1998 (not 1997, as Nonsuch stated). He was a donor to the National D-Day Memorial, as well as its Capital Campaign Chairman. Schulz wrote a bit about the 5/31/98 cartoon in his 50th-anniversary book Peanuts: A Golden Celebration (©1999 United Feature Syndicate, Inc.):

Charles M. Schulz:

Of all my D-Day cartoons, this Sunday page created the most interest from readers, who remarked that it was often the only reference to that momentous day of June 6, 1944, in their newspapers. Most gratifyingly, I heard from those in the picture and still with us, family members, and friends of the men talking with General Eisenhower.
The photograph itself was taken just before these men of the 101st Airborne Division parachuted into Normandy. According to Wallace Strobel, who was the youngest lieutenant with the number 23 on his chest, he had just been asked by Ike where he was from. “Michigan, Sir.” Ike brought up his thumb and said, “Go get 'em, Michigan.”
I was glad to sign copies of the cartoon for Mr. Strobel, his family, and for others related to the men in the picture.

Charles Schulz was not part of the Normandy invasion- his troop went over to Europe in 1945. Schulz also commemorated Veteran’s Day each year in his strip, usually with Snoopy imagining himself going down to the pub to “quaff a few root beers with Bill Mauldin.” Willie and Joe themselves, credited as being drawn by “my good friend Bill Mauldin,” appeared alongside Snoopy on Veteran’s Day 1998.

mobo85 · July 25, 2006, 3:18am

I almost forgot- Schulz and his division stayed at a chateau when they made their way to France, which was the inspiration for the “Chateau of the Bad Neighbor” which Charlie Brown and his friends stayed in while visiting France in the feature film Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come Back!), which, like most of the animated specials, was written primarily by Schulz. Charlie Brown and his friends revisited France and learned about the battles fought there during World War II in a follow-up TV special, What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?, which one a Peabody Award in 1983 for its important message.