Cartoonist Gene Byrnes (1889-1974) brought "Reg'lar Fellers" characters to life in 1917, and they continued to entertain newspaper readers through 1949. In 1943, two patriotic collections of "Reg'lar Fellers" were published honoring the Army and the Navy, with comics interspaced with official military photos of soldiers and sailors, along with their military equipment. As Byrnes noted, "People, in these trying war days, must find time for more smiling."