Aircraft, Flight Jackets and Pins: How Walt Disney's Characters Inspired Troops in WWII

In 1933, a Navy Reserve Squadron in New York asked Walt Disney's company to develop an insignia for the military unit. What Disney devised was an image of Mickey Mouse riding a goose, with a Navy trident under one wing and the Statue of Liberty in the background.

That insignia was believed to be the first that Disney ever did for the United States' fighting forces, but it was far from the last. During World War II, the company that has grown to become an entertainment, theme-park and merchandising empire today created more than 1,200 pieces of military heraldry for the various U.S. service branches and other Allied troops.

"The insignia meant a lot to the men who were fighting," Disney once said. "I had to do it. I owed it to them."

Some of those symbols have become iconic, such as the flying tiger representative of the First American Volunteer Group that fought alongside the Chinese Air Force against Japan during the war. Others have been largely lost to history. Every major Disney character at that time appeared on insignia except Bambi, and new characters -- dogs and cats but also apes, octopi and storks, among others -- were created for this specific purpose.

All of these symbols meant something at the time and thereafter to the troops, who viewed the cartoons as an instant morale booster – and it was all a labor of love, orchestrated by Disney, a huge supporter of the military even though he was not a veteran.

Born in 1901, Disney was too young to fight in World War I and too old by the time the United States entered World War II. After the Japanese military bombed Pearl Harbor, Disney vowed that 90% of his studio's output would be funneled toward the war effort, not that he had much of a choice; on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the surprise attack, 500 U.S. Army troops moved onto the company's lot in California. Production commenced immediately, and it took various forms -- not only insignias, but also training videos, educational films and others that were purely propaganda.

Disney felt a sense of obligation because he was unable to do what his three older brothers had done: fight for his country. He certainly did everything he could to do so: After being denied enlistment into the U.S. Navy because of his age, the industrious Disney tried to join the Canadian army. That attempt, too, failed, so Disney next turned to the Red Cross Ambulance Corps, altering the birth year on his passport application so he would be accepted.

Disney spent a year in France, where he drove ambulances, delivered goods and served as a chauffeur for high-ranking officers. In his free time, he drew cartoons -- some for which he used the side of an ambulance as his canvas. Needless to say, they were a hit.

"The things I did during those 11 months I was overseas added up to a lifetime of experience," Disney said in "The Story of Walt Disney" by Diane Disney Miller, one of his two daughters. "It was such a valuable experience that I feel that if we have to send our boys into the Army, we should send them even younger than we do. I know being on my own at an early age has made me more self-reliant."

During that time, Disney saw firsthand the impact that his artwork had on those around him. Why would troops be any different? So as the company began to receive a flood of requests for military insignia, Disney created a team of six artists to handle the influx.

The insignias could be found on the noses of bombers and fighters, flight jackets and pins, as well as tanks and warships. No matter the type of object on which the emblems appeared, Donald Duck, who was officially drafted into the Army in 1941, was the most requested Disney character by far. He is credited with appearing on at least 216 pieces of insignia (nearly 20% of the overall total), easily outdistancing the likes of Pluto (45 insignia), Goofy (38) and Mickey Mouse (37).

And while no piece of heraldry directly resulted in any victories on the battlefield or sea or in the air, they worked wonders for morale and camaraderie. The 343rd Bomb Squadron, the 98th Bomb Group, surely felt a unique bond after adorning its B-24 Liberator bombers with characters from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", as did the 91st Bomb Group -- which put nose art featuring Goofy on its B-17 Flying Fortress dubbed the "Wabash Cannonball" -- and so many other squadrons and units.

At Luke Air Force Base in Arizona in 1943, Disney personally delivered an insignia of a boxing bulldog that would come to represent the 62nd Fighter Squadron assigned to the 56th Fighter Group. Decades later, that image continued to evoke a spirit of pride and inspire airmen.

"It is a privilege to serve in a fighter squadron whose legendary past includes 12 aces, 357 kills and a patch that was designed by Walt Disney," flight commander Capt. Joseph Stenger said in 2015. "The pictures we have of the original 'Spike Aces' and squadron patch are a salient reminder we're serving in an organization that was taking the fight to the enemy long before we were born and will continue to do so long after we're gone."

Disney, who died of lung cancer in 1966 at the age of 65 with a net worth estimated as high as $150 million (a sum worth nearly $1.5 billion today), would have been pleased. The military emblems were created in a spirit of patriotism, not to pad Disney's rapidly burgeoning bank account. After all, the famous artist and his company did every insignia for free.

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