Charles Monroe “Sparky” Schulz (November 26, 1922 â February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and creator of the comic strip Peanuts (which featured the characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy, among many others). He is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists of all 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. Schulz attained the rank of Staff Sergeant and was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB). Years later he would say his proudest possession was his CIB and when speaking of his wartime service he would simply say, “I was a foot soldier.”
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