It hardly seems possible, but this year Garry Trudeau celebrates the 40th anniversary of the celebrated comic strip he created his junior year at Yale at the height of the Vietnam War. From the beginning, "Doonesbury" was smart, subversive, touching, and funny, and has somehow remained so. Resonating with young, disillusioned baby boomers, the Pulitzer Prize-winning comic has evolved along with its creator, who over the years has become a champion for wounded warriors. He writes about the war frequently now in his strip and has published numerous books about the war and its impact on those who fight it and their families. He also established the Sandbox blog, a forum for service members, veterans, and their spouses, caregivers and friends.
In his comic, Trudeau chronicled a romance between lead character Mike Doonesbury's daughter Alex and an Iraq War veteran named Toggle who suffers from traumatic brain injury (TBI), which Trudeau talks about with Military.com. But Trudeau really got the military's attention when one of his comic's main characters, B.D., Mike's college roommate and a war-loving jock who fought in Vietnam, returned as a National Guardsman to combat in Iraq, where he lost his leg during the battle for Fallujah, after which he tells his wife Boopsie that "the good news is I'm down to my ideal weight." B.D. then forced himself to face his own post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after hearing that his daughter had become afraid of him. The Pentagon subsequently invited Trudeau to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to visit wounded troops, and Trudeau has been doing so ever since, as the Washington Post and others have reported.
In recognition of his work for wounded warriors, Trudeau, who still describes himself as an "old peacenik," has been presented with the Commander's Award for Public Service by the Department of Army, the Commander's Award from Disabled American Veterans, the President's Award for Excellence in the Arts from Vietnam Veterans of America, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and a special citation from the Vet Centers. Historically reclusive, Trudeau has opened up a bit in recent years. On Rollingstone.com this month, he shares some of his favorite strips from the last 40 years, including the one in which B.D. loses his leg. Of that memorable strip, Trudeau writes:
