Robert S. Mallouk (b. 1926), a native of Brooklyn, New York, closely followed the progression of WWII. He joined the Army at 18 and went on to study chemistry and engineering and work at the Delaware firms, DuPont and Gore.
Mallouk, son of a Brooklyn merchant who had emigrated from Damascus at age 10 in 1889, was just shy of age sixteen when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Joining the national tide of patriotism and unity after the attack, the teenage Mallouk immediately began collecting the daily editorial cartoons about America’s entry into World War II. As a boy, he collected stamps and built model airplanes, so he easily applied his habits toward building a nearly comprehensive daily collection of these editorial cartoons for the duration of the war.
Mallouk completed one year at Princeton before being inducted into the army at age eighteen in 1944, eventually serving in the 172d Infantry Regiment of the 43d Infantry Division in the Philippines during the war. He was in the occupation army in Japan with the 1st Cavalry Division until September 1946. He then returned to Princeton, where he was graduated with a degree in chemistry in 1948 and a Masters in Engineering in 1950. Mallouk pursued a career in polymers at DuPont and Gore companies in Delaware, with several patents to his credit before retiring from Gore. Biographical information derived from collection.
From the guide to the Robert S. Mallouk scrapbooks of World War II cartoons, 1941-1946, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)
