page_title: Charles M. Schulz
section_title: Military service and post-war positions
hierarchical_section_title: Charles M. Schulz / Military service and post-war positions
caption_attribution_description: English: United States Army portrait of staff sergeant Charles M. Schulz in army uniform, circa 1943&#91;1&#93;
context_page_description: Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist and creator of the comic strip Peanuts. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists of all time, cited by cartoonists including Jim Davis, Bill Watterson, Matt Groening, Dav Pilkey and Stephan Pastis.
context_section_description: In February 1943, Schulz's mother Dena died after a long illness. At the time of her death, he had only recently been made aware that she suffered from cancer. Schulz had by all accounts been very close to his mother and her death had a significant effect on him.
  Around the same time, Schulz was drafted into the United States Army. He served as a staff sergeant with the 20th Armored Division in Europe during World War II, as a squad leader on a .50 caliber machine gun team. His unit saw combat only at the very end of the war. Schulz said he had only one opportunity to fire his machine gun but forgot to load it, and that the German soldier he could have fired at willingly surrendered. Years later, Schulz proudly spoke of his wartime service.
  In late 1945, Schulz returned to Minneapolis. He did lettering for a Roman Catholic comic magazine, Timeless Topix, and in July 1946 took a job at Art Instruction, Inc., where he reviewed and graded students' work. Schulz had taken a correspondence course from the school before he was drafted. He worked at the school for several years as he developed his career as a comic creator.
caption: United States Army portrait of staff sergeant Schulz, c. 1943
exif: {}