Mauldin occasionally drew new cartoons of 'Willie and Joe' after the war. He discusses this in his memoir, Back Home, in 1947. He tried to bring them into civilian life, but could not find a successful way to do that. Mauldin planned for Willie and Joe to be killed on the last day of combat, but Stars and Stripes staff dissuaded him. By the end of the war, he also received the Army's Legion of Merit for his cartoons. Mauldin received two Pulitzer Prizes for cartooning, one in 1945 and one in 1959. As of 1945, according to a Time report, the cartoons were published in 139 newspapers. In early 1944, Mauldin's editor arranged for syndication by United Feature Service as Up Front. The cartoons were published in the 45th Division News from 1940 until November 1943, when the Mediterranenean edition of the Stars and Stripes took them over.

For anyone who wants to know what it was like to be an infantryman in World War II, this is the place to start – and finish.' Stephen Ambrose, author of Band of Brothers, praised Mauldin's work: 'More than anyone else, save only Ernie Pyle, he caught the trials and travails of the GI. The cartoons helped publicize the ground forces and showed the grim side of war, demonstrating that victory would require repeated sacrifices. The War Department supported their syndication. But Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander European Theater, told Patton to leave Mauldin alone, because he felt that Mauldin's cartoons gave the soldiers an outlet for their frustrations. Mauldin was ordered to meet him in March 1945 in Patton's quarters in Luxembourg, where Patton complained about the scruffiness of the characters and blamed Mauldin for disrespecting the army and 'trying to incite a mutiny'. in particular felt offended by the cartoons. While Mauldin was praised for his realistic depictions of what most soldiers felt during war-time, he was less popular with some officers. In most cartoons, they were shown in the rain, mud, and other dire conditions, while they contemplated the whole situation. He extended the bristles on their faces and the eyes – 'too old for those young bodies', as Mauldin put it – showed how much Willie and Joe suffered. They gradually became darker and more realistic in their depiction of the weariness of the enduring miseries of war. Mauldin was sent to combat, influencing his cartoons. Near the end of 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the USA entered World War II. He cartooned part-time for the camp newspaper. Mauldin was an 18-year-old soldier training with the 45th Infantry Division in 1940.

Mauldin willie and joe