In 1943, when an 18-year-old novice cartoonist named Harvey Kurtzman was drafted into the U.S. Army during the height of World War II, no one – including Kurtzman himself – could have imagined the enormous impact the young artist would someday have on popular culture.

Kurtzman’s cartooning skills at the time were still crude and pedestrian, and although his work had been published in a few forgettable comic books prior to his military service, he was just another face in that era’s considerably large crowd of struggling cartoonists.

Though originally tapped into the infantry as an artillery specialist, Kurtzman’s drawing skills caught the eye of unit leadership, and he was diverted into various graphic artist-related positions stateside – never deploying overseas to the European or Pacific war zones. Instead, he drew his way through the war. As an information and education draftsman, he served in North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, Texas and New York until his discharge shortly after the war ended.

It was during the latter part of his military service, a few months after the war had ended, where an interesting glimpse of Kurtzman’s unique humorous cartooning ability emerged when he submitted five gag cartoons to the U.S. Army’s weekly newsmagazine, Yank. In an Oct. 30, 1945 letter to Kurtzman, Yank feature editor, Sgt. Ray Duncan, told the no-doubt thrilled cartoonist that although Yank was in the twilight weeks of publication, he would possibly use three of Kurtzman's cartoons, and that he liked Kurtzman’s “weird style of drawing.”

As it turns out, Yank did use all three cartoons mentioned in the letter, and the reason I know this is because over the last few years, while scouring antiques malls in the Midwest, I’ve managed to track down the three Yank issues in which they were published. These rare cartoons are reproduced below for your viewing pleasure.

The first cartoon was published in the Nov. 16, 1945 issue; the second in the Nov. 23, 1945 issue; and the last in the Dec. 7, 1945 issue. Yank ceased publication a few weeks later during the post-World War II drawdown. Kurtzman, himself part of the quickly accelerating demobilization process, was actually discharged from the Army in November 1945 – before the last of his cartoons even managed to see print!

A mere seven years later, Kurtzman would forever change the way the world viewed itself when he created the iconic satire magazine for E.C. Publications, Mad.

Note: The Oct. 30, 1945 letter from Yank, mentioned in Paragraph 4 above, appears on Page 17 of The Art of Harvey Kurtzman (Abrams Comicarts, New York, 2009)