(This article is about Norman Rockwell's fictional character. For the television character, see The Rookies. For the American football player, see Willie Gillus.) Willie Gillis, Jr. (more commonly simply Willie Gillis) is a fictional character created by Norman Rockwell for a series of World War II paintings that appeared on the covers of eleven issues of The Saturday Evening Post between 1941 and 1946. With the rank of private, Gillis was an everyman whose career was tracked on the cover of the Post from induction through discharge without being depicted in battle. Gillis and his girlfriend were modeled by two of Rockwell's acquaintances.