Wallgren, Wally

Abian A. "Wally" Wallgren (1891-1948) was born in Philadelphia, and from early on worked as a cartoonist. By the age of 19, Wallgren was working for the Philadelphia North American, and created two Sunday comic strips features: “Ruff and Reddy” in 1910, and “Inbad, the Sailor” in 1911. In 1915, Wallgren created “Sammy and Sue and Slobbery Slam” for the Philadelphia Record.

Wally Wallgren enlisted on April 25, 1917, almost two weeks after the U.S. entered World War I, joining the U.S. Marine Corps. Wallgren started off life in the Marines as a sign painter, and according to the book Swedes in America, 1638-1938, “…[Wallgren] was among the first to see service in France as a buck private and regimental sign painter, a post which army logic assigned him on his "professional" record. According to his own account for nine months he painted "Latrine" and "Officers Only" signs up and down France, from St. Nazaire, through Menaucourt, to Damblaine in the Vosges. Private Wallgren's light, however, was being kept under a bushel. His great opportunity came when the Stars and Stripes was started as the official newspaper of the AEF [American Expeditionary Forces], and Wally was placed on the staff as cartoonist. In February, 1918, he was transferred to Paris and drew cartoons for this doughboy newspaper throughout the War, until the final issue in June, 1919.”

By all accounts, Wallgren was far from a model soldier, with numerous conduct violations. Muster rolls from September 1917 summarized some of Wallgren’s conduct violations:

SD, Sign Painter. Tried by S.C.M. 7th charged with violation of the 61st and 96th Articles of War. Specifications: AWL from 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on 4th; Drunk in Camp about 7:00 p.m. on 4th; Findings: Guilty. Sentence: To perform hard labor for one month and to forfeit two-thirds of his pay for one month. Sentence approved 8th.

What Wallgren was, was a hell of a cartoonist. His work was recognized by the doughboys for satire that harpooned and ridiculed Army life, as well as regulations and upper brass. Wallgren was to WWI what Bill Mauldin was to WWII, but he plied his craft in a cartoonier, bigfoot style. Wallgren had work in every issue of the Stars and Stripes during WWI, from the very first on February 8, 1918, to the last issue published on June 13, 1919. Throughout his time with Stars and Stripes, Wallgren was afflicted with an issue that would haunt him during his professional career: Deadlineitis. Robert I. Snajdr, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Ohio), wrote a remembrance of Wallgren on March 29, 1948; below, an excerpt about his time on Stars and Stripes:

“…Incidentally, Wally's utter indifference to deadlines was a cause of continuous, albeit at times humorous, exasperation to his superiors. As John T. Winterich, another brilliant staff member, put it in his history of the paper, "Squads Write!": "The extraction of a weekly strip from Private Wallgren became one of the more monumental tasks of the war."

Sometimes it was even necessary to assign a detail to the carefree artist to see that he produced a job on time. Once, even, so the story goes, he was confined in a room under watchful eyes of M.P.s with instructions not to let him out until he had completed his weekly stint.”

Wallgren was discharged from the service on January 15, 1920. General Pershing claimed that Wallgren kept up the morale of thousands of doughboys with his cartoons. His popular cartoons were collected in "Wally: His Cartoons of the A.E.F.," published by the newspaper in early 1919. Following the war, Wallgren worked as a cartoonist for the American Legion Magazine. In 1933, with former editor John Winterich, he published "The A.E.F. in Cartoons." In 1939, Wallgren created the newspaper strip “Hoosegow Herman”. Wallgren passed away on March 24, 1948.

Most of the information above was gleaned from Allan Holtz’s wonderful Stripper’s Guide blog, the Find a Grave website, The A.E.F. in Cartoon, and newspapers.com.