Soon after the outbreak of World War II, Coughlin returned to Canada to serve in the Canadian Army with the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards – also known as the "Plugs" or the "Piddly-Gees". As a sergeant, he participated in the invasion of Sicily and fought for four months in the Italian campaign. It was during this campaign that his cartoons began to appear in the soldiers’ magazine, “The Maple Leaf.” In 1944, the troops elected the popular artist as “Canadian Man of the Year.”