Not everyone lives an extraordinary life, but everyone’s story is worth telling. The format we use to tell it is as personal as the story itself.
Back in 1995, Bernard Sandler decided to write his memoir. Years later, his grandson, Jonathan, decided to adapt that story into a graphic novel. The result is The English GI World War II Graphic Memoir of a Yorkshire Schoolboy’s Adventures in the United States and Europe.
Now, not only will Bernard’s story live on in print but also in a series of images, charts, and a photographic family tree that immortalizes this man’s life and the legacy that he created, both through his personal choices and those that were made for him. Below is my review of The English GI followed by an interview with Jonathan Sandler.
The English GI plot summary
Born Carl Bernard Sandler in Leeds, England in 1922, Bernard Sandler grew up in a closeknit Jewish family. At 17, he was invited by a friend to go on a school trip through the United States and Canada. Just as their trip was wrapping up in New York City, Britain and France declared war, stranding Bernard in the US indefinitely.
Luckily, Bernard was taken in by family friends, The Efrons, who gave him a place to stay. Bernard finished school and built a life for himself in the US. Then, he was drafted by the US army and was sent back to Europe to fight in the war. When his time was served, he returned to the US, free to finally build a life of his choosing.
The story
Sandler’s story is unique in the circumstances that set up this coming-of-age tale. Nobody expects to be stranded while on vacation or how the innocent act of traveling can change the course of your life. But modern-day readers who have lived through the Covid-19 pandemic knows that our circumstances can change without warning and beyond our control. And the lives we were planning do not always play out the way we hoped or expected.
The graphic novel structure is particularly effective in telling Bernard’s story. Graphic novels have to summarize important details and leave just enough to help build the story and characters. This allows Sandler to cover several years of ground in one book and focus on particular details that serve as the breadcrumbs that lead from one event to the next.
The characters
The story is told in first person, giving it a very personal feel and utilizing Bernard’s voice as told through his grandson. The story deep dives into Bernard’s coming of age years as he grows up in unique circumstances and uses it to his advantage rather than wallows in the disruptive nature of his situation and the homesickness that he inevitably felt.
The story ends with Bernard and his new wife, Taube, starting their life as newlyweds. What follows is a branching out of the family tree that leads to Jonathan’s existence and how that existence was shaped by Bernard’s initial misfortune.
The illustrations
The book is a workbook-sized graphic novel with big pages that allow for large, detailed illustrations by Brian Bicknell. The drawings are printed in black and white, giving it an old newsreel feel. The faces of the characters are particularly detailed to match the actual family photos that are featured in the back of the book.
I particularly loved the New York landscapes that depict this big, strange world in which Bernard is stranded. Equally intimidating are the war drawings that show Bernard’s wartime experiences. They feel so accurate and really immerse the reader in the story.
My recommendation
This book should appeal to all memoir readers, whether they have read a graphic novel before or not. It may even inspire them to start collecting their own family history, if not for a book, then at least to organize it into a format to pass on to future generations, much like Bernard did with his written memoir.
Just because someone is no longer around doesn’t mean that their story is no longer worth telling. In fact, these stories show just what kinds of twists and turns our life takes to get us to where we are going.
My rating
An interview with Jonathan Sandler
How did you choose the quotes that you feature throughout the book, including the passages from your grandfather’s original memoir?
Whilst this was primarily a graphic novel, I wanted to use some powerful quotes to help introduce the reader to each of the four acts. My grandfather served under General Patton and therefore, the decision to use some of his notorious quotes from WW2 was a simple one (I heard firsthand that Patton’s granddaughter was shown a copy of the book over the summer and was honored that her grandfather was quoted in the book. That was one of my best moments!).
Whilst my grandfather wasn’t a wordsmith, there were some very insightful quotes about the social and political climate at the time as well as his relationships with his family. I thought it would help the reader understand my grandfather.
What was the most surprising or captivating detail about Bernard’s story?
Bernard was constantly facing changes. In particular, how he coped with the military training. He was not a natural soldier and was very much out of his comfort zone, but he just knuckled down. He marched 10 miles during the night finishing at 4am. Some effort!
Did you have any specific instructions or guidelines for the illustrator, Brian Bicknell, to follow?
Very much so. This was a joint creation. I mocked up every scene and even drew it out myself so I could understand what Brian needed to do. I used images found online from the era to help inspire me. I very much wanted details such as the signs, lettering from the era to give it authenticity.
Is there any one specific detail that you regretted having to leave out?
I could maybe have gone a bit deeper with the parallel stories of his family in Latvia. WW2 was so remarkable because it was a global event. Some families, especially Jewish families, were impacted in multiple countries at same time. His father’s family was suffering in Latvia, his immediate family had been evacuated from their home urban Leeds, in UK, to countryside to escape bombing whilst he was being called up to US Army all at the same time.
Were you a big WWII buff before you began this project?
I had a general interest, but I have become a lot more interested since creating this. I now choose to read only WW2 books, as there are so many I want to read.
How long did it take to research, compile, and eventually write The English GI?
I started in December 2020 during the lockdown here in the UK. My target was 18 October 2022, Bernard;s 100th Birthday, and I beat my target by six months!
What are your favorite resources for tracing your genealogy?
You have to be very agile and investigative using the internet. I managed to locate the family that he stayed with in New York in 1939 through sheer persistence as well as the daughter of one of his closest comrades from the Army which was very emotional. I also managed to find a volunteer researcher, Hudson Louie, to write the biography of one of his friends that was killed in the War, John Ebert (Bridgeport, Ohio) for Stories Behind The Stars.Org . The story was also featured in Times Leader, Ohio.
What do you want people to take away from Bernard’s story?
I want people to be inspired to research and find out stories of their own grandparents / great grandparents from World War II. Every family has a story somewhere and there are still some special stories yet to have been told.
Any plans for a sequel?
I do have an idea about a WW2 story that I stumbled across – not related to my own family – but not for a while!
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I love the creative way this story is told in graphic novel form! The setting and characters also sound like they make for a lovely reading experience. <3