Walt & The Great War: Just Keep Drawing
11:00 a.m., November 11th, 1918, marked the end of the Great War.
But for Walt Disney, it was the beginning of chasing bright dreams which were born in the rubble of war-torn Europe. His brush with “the war to end all wars” changed his life, inspiring him to embark on a path that would lead to the creation of the world’s most beloved cartoon characters and the happiest place on earth.
On this Veteran’s Day (or Armistice Day, as it was originally known), I’d like to take a look at Walt and his Great War experience, and how his happy, soft-hearted characters were inspired despite – or maybe in response to – the darkness of war.
A Little Forgery Never Hurt Anyone
In 1917, America finally entered into the fray of the First World War, and patriotic Walt was ready and willing to go serve his country. His older brother, Roy, had already enlisted in the Navy, and Walt thought he “looked swell in that sailor’s uniform.”1
But Walt was only 16. Too young to enlist – by one year. However, surrounded by posters of Uncle Sam and rousing songs like “Over There,” Walt said desperately, “I just had to get in there.”2
So, he concocted a foolproof plan: counterfeiting.
An artist even back then, Walt put his skills to the test and altered his passport birthdate from 1901 to 1900, giving him that essential, extra year.3 He’s lucky he wasn’t like Pinocchio, or his nose would’ve gotten SUPER long at the recruitment office. Just saying.
The Walt Disney Archives has this incriminating document, and frankly, it’s been said that “the forgery is obvious.”4 Nevertheless, the ruse paid off, and Walt was made a part of the Red Cross Ambulance Corps.
All I can say is, it’s a good thing Walt decided a life of crime wasn’t for him!
Drive, Draw, Sleep, Repeat.
During his training, Walt learned how to drive and repair ambulance trucks. However, just before he could be shipped “Over There,” he contracted influenza, which, like the war, had also spread across the world.5 His unit left for the trenches without him.
When he was well again, Walt was assigned to a new training base where he met a young Ray Kroc, founder of the McDonald’s fast-food empire. Kroc remembered Walt as a “strange duck…whenever we went into town to chase girls, he stayed in camp drawing pictures.”6
The drawing didn’t stop at the training base.
Although the war came to an end before Walt ever set foot in Europe (to his great disappointment), the Red Cross still desperately needed drivers and mechanics during that post-war chaos, so doodle-bug Disney set sail for France a few days after the Armistice was signed.
While Walt (rather adorably nicknamed “Diz”) was working for the Red Cross, he helped deliver supplies to devastated towns in France and also provided taxi services for army officers. Sometimes he would chauffer Red Cross canteen worker, Alice Howell, to base hospitals where they would deliver doughnuts and ice cream – real medicine – for the patients.7
Alice, who was to be both a life-long friend and a second mother to Diz, told a Nebraska newspaper, “I would spend the afternoon going to the hospitals. He was drawing even then.”8
Considering this is Walt we’re talking about…I can’t say I’m surprised!
Diz drew in every moment of spare time and on anything that even slightly resembled a blank page – including canvas ambulance flaps.
“I found out that the inside and outside of an ambulance is as good a place to draw as any,” said Walt, innocently.9 (I can just see him shrugging with a little grin!)
One of his most notable Great War cartoons is that of a cute, smiling doughboy character. In one picture, the doughboy jokes about sleeping with trench rats (probably Walt’s earliest rodent drawing), and in another, the doughboy kicks Kaiser Wilhelm off of a cliff.10
Although humor was a prime way to cope with war and post-war conditions,11 Walt’s cartoons would continue to contain humorous gags (such as the antics of the Seven Dwarfs) intended to make audiences laugh. It seems to be jolly – and making others jolly too – was just a part of being Walt Disney.
A Penny for a Portrait
Not only did Walt refine his cartooning and sense of humor while driving around France, he also learned how to turn a profit from cartooning. With his mobile artwork garnering more admiration by the day, he began taking commissions, drawing caricatures for his buddies to send back home in return for a small fee.
Walt could not have known that this was but a small taste of what was to come, but he did know he loved drawing things that made other people smile and laugh. He knew he wanted to do it for the rest of his life.
So, to his father’s chagrin, Walt announced upon his homecoming that he was going to be a cartoonist.
For Walt Disney, a brush with war helped solidify his dream.
He said of his Red Cross service, “The things I did during those eleven months I was overseas added up to a lifetime of experience. It was such a valuable experience…”12
He came back more confident, self-reliant, and appreciative of life than ever before. He was determined to live out his passion every single day, and to make the world a better place while doing it – one cartoon at a time.
The Great War’s Greatest Patriot
Years after the war, Walt sent Alice Howell a Mickey Mouse doll for Christmas.13
He had not forgotten his friend or his time in the Red Cross. In fact, those memories impacted him for the rest of his life, giving Walt a deep admiration for all men and women in uniform. Though too old to enlist at the outbreak of the Second World War, Walt still served his country with everything he had – Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and an entire animation company.
Disney-Made Emblem For A Fighter
Squadron. (Photo: Picryl)
Walt and his animators worked around the clock to produce military training videos (at cost) and military insignia for over 1,000 different U.S. units (at no cost) for the government.14 Walt is reported to have said, “Those kids grew up on Mickey Mouse, I owed it to ‘em.”15
Although Mickey was generally the face of the company, it was Donald Duck who became the face of the country. In 1943, Donald was lauded as an “ambassador-at-large, a salesman of the American Way” for his representation of the United States both at home and abroad.15 (Way to go, Donald!)
Even outside of wartime, Walt’s patriotic fervor would still seep into other projects, including Walt Disney World, with attractions like the Hall of Presidents, the Carousel of Progress, and the red, white, and blue finale of the Electrical Water Pageant. Each one is a testament to Walt’s love for his country and his hope for an ever-brighter future.
Today, on the anniversary of the Armistice of the Great War, we would like to take a page out of Walt’s book and remember those who have served our wonderful nation. We would also like to thank those who continue to serve so selflessly. You are the ones who make America the happiest place on earth.
“Tomorrow will be better as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life.”16
-Walt Disney
Cover Image
Photo: Picryl
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This was quite interesting. Walt did misunderstand Germany before the second war, but then so did many other Americans. And he certainly made up for it once the fighting began. “The Fuhrer’s Face” is as good a piece of anti-Nazi propaganda as you’ll find.