Synopsis

In September 1939, Britain declares war on Germany. Bernard Sandler, a 17-year-old schoolboy from Yorkshire, is on a school trip to the United States and consequently finds himself unable to return home, separated from his close-knit Jewish family in Britain.

Stranded in cosmopolitan New York for an unknown duration, he must grow up quickly. He discovers the pleasures and excitement of Broadway theatre and jazz while developing his own social circle at New York University. But just as he finds his independence, the United States declares war in December 1941, which changes his life once again. Bernard is drafted into the United States Army, joining the 26th Infantry “Yankee” Division. Eventually, he returns to Europe, serving on the front lines alongside General Patton’s Third Army during the brutal Lorraine Campaign in Northern France in the fall of 1944.

The book also follows the remarkable story of Bernard’s family in England, and the fate of his wider family in Latvia (whom he visited in an epic journey in 1937, also as a schoolboy), during this period.

The English GI is a moving personal story about coming-of-age, the powerful bond of families, and the tragedy of war.

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Review

This is the first graphic novel I have ever read, and I have to say I was blown away by this author’s depictions of his grandfather’s journal and memories of WWII. I enjoyed each frame of the story and was swept away to the 1940s and his life in the US and how it was very different from England, away from family.

I enjoyed the snippets from Bernard’s journal interspersed between the drawings. While a graphic novel doesn’t tell the story in long chapters and descriptions, this book caught the energy of that timeframe, and each frame added to the history that some of us may know, but not in great detail.

This will be a book that his family can treasure for years to come and retain that historical information for the family records.

If all graphic novels are like this, I may find myself picking up another one in the near future.

We give this book 5 paws up.

About the Author

My grandfather came from a close-knit Jewish family in Leeds, England. In the summer of 1939, he had the amazing opportunity to go on a school trip to the United States. Soon after, Britain declared War, and he was unable to return. The graphic novel depicts his whole experience, from naive schoolboy alone in the vast metropolis of New York – through to his eventual call-up to the US Army, including him being sent back to Europe, serving in the brutal Lorraine Campaign in 1944 under Patton’s Third Army.

Jonathan Sandler studied Politics at Leicester University and has spent a large part of his career working in the software industry, leading and managing complex projects. Jonathan, a keen sketcher,  has always been passionate about World War Two History and Graphic Novels. In 2020, he combined these dual interests and commenced work on The English GI, which graphicmemoir.co.uk published in 2022.

Jonathan lives in North West London with his wife and three children.

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