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?
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.
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).
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.
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.