Herbie at War: The cartoons of Bing Coughlin

From Bing Couglin.  This Army.  Rome, Italy:  No. 2 Canadian Public Relations Group, 1944, 1945.

The cartoons above were originally published in The Maple Leaf, the Canadian Army newspaper published daily on the Italian battle front.  I recently received my copy of the book from a friend, whose late father had served overseas in WWII.

Canada's answer to the American cartoonist Bill Mauldin, Sergeant William Garnet "Bing" Coughlin originally served with the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, participating in the invasion of Sicily and then 4 months in the Italian campaign before being assigned to The Maple Leaf staff.  He created the character "Herbie", the quintessential Canadian infantry man.

In a forward to the book, Lt. Colonel C.W. Gilchrist wrote:

"To the thousands of Herbies and their pals in this army our book is dedicated.  Many have gone before and we are not unmindful of Agira and Ortona.  Many there are who still carry on.  They are the little guys of the army.  They haven't much to say about the running of this man's war, but they're still << right up >> when the going is toughest."