Don Sherwood (cartoonist)

Don Sherwood (September 12, 1930 – March 6, 2010) was an American cartoonist and illustrator who created Dan Flagg, the first nationally syndicated comic strip to feature a U.S. Marine.

Don Sherwood, a native of rural New York, turned a childhood love of drawing into a six-decade career as a cartoonist and illustrator. Born on September 12, 1930, Sherwood quickly was enthralled by radio and movie entertainment, and the adventures of heroes such as The Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy fueled his artistic imagination. As a teenager, Sherwood sent samples of his art to Chester Gould, the creator of Dick Tracy. Gould was impressed and wrote back, telling Sherwood that he had talent and encouraging him to move to Gould's city of Chicago to study the craft. Sherwood took the advice, leaving high school and enrolling at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. While in Chicago, Sherwood visited Gould regularly to observe his cartooning habits and worked as a copy boy at the Chicago Daily News.

Also at that time, Sherwood enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. He was called into active duty and fought with the First Marine Division in the Korean War, spending 18 months in combat operations in the Korean mountainside. The experience had a transformative effect on Sherwood, who developed a deep respect and appreciation for the Corps and its values. Upon returning to the United States, Sherwood moved to New York and resumed his young cartooning career by working as a bylined staff artist for the New York Mirror, as an illustrator on the comic strips Cotton Woods and Will Chance, and then as an assistant for George Wunder on the adventure strip Terry and the Pirates. However, he longed to create a strip of his own and to showcase the bravery of the United States Marines. In 1963, at the age of 32, Sherwood did just that, launching Dan Flagg. The strip, featuring a Marine hero, was an instant success, appearing in 400 newspapers and in most major metropolitan markets, including the New York Daily News, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post.

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