V. T. Hamlin

Vincent Trout Hamlin (10 May 1900 – 14 June 1993), who preferred the name V. T. Hamlin, created the popular, long-run comic strip Alley Oop, syndicated by the Newspaper Enterprise Association.

Born in Perry, Iowa, Hamlin was the son of Erma Trout Hamlin and Dr. Frederick Clarence Hamlin, a dentist. The young Vincent Hamlin began drawing at an early age, and he first drew the character that became Alley Oop at age 11. Four years later, his first cartoons were published in the Perry Daily Chief. At Perry High School, he went by the nickname Snick, which he used as his signature on cartoons he drew for his high school yearbook, The Eclipse.

By lying about his age, Hamlin enlisted in the Army at 17 to fight in World War I. He shipped out as part of the Sixth Army's Motor Transport Group, arriving in France where he served with the American Expeditionary Forces in 1918. Recovering from a poison gas attack in France, Hamlin began illustrating the letters of his fellow soldiers, and a newspaper man he met while he was in the Army convinced him he could make a living from his art abilities.