HISTORICAL NOTE: From late 1942 until the war ended, the Quartermaster School produced an exceptionally useful and well-written publication entitled the QUARTERMASTER TRAINING SERVICE JOURNAL. Each issue ran to about 30 pages. They contained feature articles, letters to the editor, "how to" pieces, training tips, clever graphics and lots of pictures. About 30,000 copies of the JOURNAL were sent weekly to Quartermaster troops around the world.
One of the most popular and entertaining features was not to be found inside the JOURNAL, but rather on its back cover: the cartoon section called "Quartermaster Gigs and Gags." Chances are most readers, before checking out anything else, would automatically flip it over and see what ole Paskewitz was up to. "Paske-WHO?"
Private (No First Name) Paskewitz. He was the prototypical QM "grunt." One of the JOURNAL'S writers, in the excerpt reprinted below, paints a knowing portrait of "Pvt P." It helps explain why this humble cartoon character enjoyed such a huge following in the field.
He inhabited the world of the QM . . . .and his job was to sweat forward what Infantrymen, such as Joe and Willie of Cartoonist Bill Mauldin fame, ate, wore and used. His was the world of ration crates, clothing bales, and gasoline dumps.
Paskewitz was the soldier who baked the bread, sewed the pants, retrieved and repaired discarded mess kits, butchered cows, drove mules, trained war dogs, filled jerri-cans, washed clothes, drove trucks, toted packboards, killed lice, and buried the dead.
He was a citizen-soldier who knew all about work, little about glory. An Army-hardened, cynical, 100% goldbrick, he learned angles the hard way. He'd had more days on KP than many an Infantryman had in the service. He handled enough crates to supply the invasion of Okinawa and picked up enough cigarette butts to eliminate Army rationing. He stood inspection more times than a show horse, took more orders than Sears-Roebuck in a boom year, and uttered the words "Yes, Sir!" so often and with such obviously heartfelt sincerity that a post-war career in Hollywood seems predestined.
Among all the weary men of the Army Service Forces, Paskewitz was the weariest.
No Young'un. As many Quartermasters, Paskewitz is no youngster. Before the war, he'd been a civilian for a long time. At this late stage, he's still a civilian at heart -- despite the Army's most determined efforts. Regimentation is something he never could stand. His appearance proved it. His trousers were patched and his jacket was torn -- even when his job was to repair clothes for a few thousand other GI's.
He sported a beard (not a full growth like Joe and Willie who didn't have a chance to use a razor, but just a lazy man's stubble). His sparse hair hung in his eyes, and a cigarette usually dangled from his mouth. In his early days of training, the subject of camouflage caught his fancy. Something positively ostrich-like in his nature made him take great delight in sticking a leafy branch in his helmet so that he could hide from the world -- and to him there was as much to hide from in the Z of I [Zone of Interior] as there was in the front lines.
The Champ. This pudgy, sloppy, weary soldier was the champion of the Army supplymen. He understood their feelings and he faced their problems. For example, he shared the attitude of many of his readers towards certain officers. In one cartoon Paskewitz, who for once in his career was neat and clean, stood before a court-martial. The presiding officer said, "Pvt. Paskewitz, you will please tell the board exactly why you pinned the mistletoe to the major's coat tail?"
Combat QM's. His attitude toward supplymen in action hinged on a fine enigma. Many Quartermasters had seen lads who never got out of the Communications Zone boasting about their exploits at the front, and heard Infantrymen, or Engineers, or others who will swear on a stack of bibles that the QM never existed who ever saw action. Paskewitz attacked both generalizations:
In one episode, he was far behind the lines, sitting next to a baker who was breaking eggs into a pan. Paskewitz reported, in a letter he happened to be writing, "-- And as I sit here with shells cracking all around me --."
The idea that service troops are always behind the fighting was lampooned in a cartoon which showed Pvt. P. sitting comfortably on a stack of gasoline cans, leisurely reading a newspaper and resting against a sign which pointed the way to Berlin. A tank drove up and a high-ranking officer popped out of the turret. Paskewitz drawled, "Sump'n detain youse, Sir?"
Paskewitz also learned a thing or two about glory and credit. Once when he singlehandedly killed a squad of Japanese, his superior officer congratulated him with a hearty pat on the back and these words: "-- And Paskewitz, a copy of the letter of commendation will be placed in your 201 file!"
Creator. The man who created and drew Paskewitz was tall, balding, 32-year-old SGT CHESTER ADAMS, who, as he was nowise loathe to admit, felt about the Army very much as Paskewitz did. He began drawing cartoons for the Journal in November 1943. At first, he had no definite character in mind. He just drew cartoons which he hoped Quartermasters would find funny.
A fellow artist used to letter in the captions. This other artist was named ANTHONY PASKEWITZ, and he came from Greenpoint, New York. For a gag one day, Adams drew a far from life-like caricature of the real Paskewitz, used the name in the gag line, and had him speak "Greenperntese." Adams liked the result and tried the same character a few more times. Then several readers wrote in and asked for more. Soon "Private Paskewitz" was known throughout the Corps, and readers became indignant if he failed to appear in his weekly slot.
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Armywide Role. Because of his popularity, the Army Service Forces picked up Pvt. P. and used him on official conservation posters. In this role, he was pinned up on bulletin boards throughout the Army.
When the war ended, the JOURNAL ceased publication. As for Paskewitz, he was awarded an "Honorable Discharge" and resumed life as a civilian. His inspired creator, Sgt CHESTER ADAMS (who is reported to have felt the same way about the Army as Paskewitz) did the same.