Cartoonists to Visit With American Troops Overseas

By: E&P Staff Ten of the country's best known cartoonists and caricaturists will soon make a week-long entertainment tour to American troops stationed in Germany and the Persian Gulf.

The trip, which is organized by the United Service Organizations (USO) and the National Cartoonists Society (NCS) and announced Wednesday, will stop at the USO Warrior Center at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany to visit wounded troops, as well more than a dozen military bases.

The cartoonists who will be a part of the tour are:
? Jeff Bacon of ?Broadside? and ?Greenside?
? Chip Bok of the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time and Newsweek
? Bruce Higdon of Army Times, Army Magazine, Soldiers Magazine, and Stars and Stripes
? Jeff Keane of ?The Family Circus?
? Rick Kirkman of ?Baby Blues?
? Stephan Pastis of ?Pearls Before Swine?
? Mike Peters of ?Mother Goose and Grimm?
? Michael Ramirez of Investors Business Daily
? Tom Richmond of MAD Magazine
? Garry Trudeau of ?Doonesbury?

While on the USO tour, the cartoonists will draw personalized sketches for the troops.

"I'm so proud of our men and women in uniform," Jeff Keane, President of the National Cartoonists Society, said in a statement. "I am honored to be part of this USO tour and I can't thank our troops enough."

NCS first partnered with the USO during World War II, sending professional cartoonists overseas to entertain troops. Since then, approximately 100 cartoonists and caricaturists have visited military bases and hospitals through the USO. In 2008, eight cartoonists visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center, National Naval Medical Center, and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, and a similar trip was organized earlier this year.