My War: A Love Story in Letters and Drawings [Hardcover]

Tracy Sugarman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2000

On December 7, 1941, when the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor, Tracy Sugarman was a young man studying to be an illustrator--and falling in love with a tawny-haired girl named June. But for Tracy, as for all Americans, everything changed that December dawn.
        Two years later, now married to June, Tracy was on a troopship bound for England, part of the massive Allied buildup for the liberation of Europe. On D-Day he landed on Utah Beach, one young ensign in the greatest military invasion in history.
        But Tracy Sugarman was not only a sailor. He was also an artist, who chronicled every aspect of his war in watercolors and sketches and in more than four hundred letters to his wife, who carefully saved everything her new husband sent her. Fifty years later, June Sugarman astonished her husband by showing him his long-forgotten pictures and words: lush watercolors and pen-and-ink drawings set down with breathtaking immediacy in the midst of war, and letters in which the young man poured out his feelings--about the terror and tedium of battle, his own ideals and hopes . . . and, always, his love for his wife.
        Here, selected from this treasure trove, are the drawings and watercolors that best portray the war Tracy Sugarman experienced. Interspersed throughout are excerpts of his loving and poignant letters home and, as the capstone of this extraordinary book, the single surviving letter from June to her husband. My War is a luminous, powerful account of a world at war--and a beautifully touching love story.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When Ensign Tracy Sugarman packed his seabag and prepared to ship overseas in early 1944, his wife handed him a package containing sketch pads, pens, and a set of watercolors. Fifty years later, she reminded him of the upcoming 50th anniversary of D-Day, which in turn reminded him of the letters, drawings, and watercolors he had sent home. To his astonishment, June Sugarman took him down to the cellar and showed him several brown paper parcels which, when opened, revealed some 400 letters and 77 drawings and watercolors from his corner of World War II.

My War consists of excerpts from those letters, accompanied by dozens of examples of Sugarman's work. In what Stephen Ambrose calls "one of the most compelling accounts of the war I've ever read," Sugarman gracefully describes his experiences in the Navy, from training sessions on the Chesapeake River to his stay in England preparing for the invasion, from the boredom aboard a Liberty ship in the English Channel to the horrors of Utah Beach on D-Day, and from the loneliness of a man away from his new wife to pride in the American forces:

July 25--Off the coast of Normandy: This morning I saw the greatest manifestation of our airpower in all my months overseas, and in particular here in Normandy. For 2 hours we watched wave after wave of bombers move across the sky and head for the lines and Germany. It is one thing to read of thousands of planes attacking, and quite another to see it. It was incredible. No sooner would one wave pass over our heads than another would appear as tiny specks in the distance and with a grace of movement impossible to describe, they would arc across the whole roof of the heavens.

Sugarman's obvious love for his wife suffuses all the entries with a warm, rosy glow. His account differs from many in that he never fired on the enemy and was fired upon only once. But, as he points out in his preface, this is his war, and "every sailor and soldier in World War II fought his own war." Perfect for fans of The Greatest Generation, My War is an excellent addition to any World War II library. --Sunny Delaney

From Publishers Weekly

"War is a social disease bred on the filth of bigotry and stupidity." Written in the aftermath of D-Day, these words convey the author's world-weariness during the summer of 1944, when, as a naval ensign, he commanded a small landing craft on Utah Beach. Arranged in this poignant memoir are many of the letters, drawings, photos and watercolors that Sugarman, an award-winning illustrator and filmmaker, sent home to his young wife, June, who had seen him off to war with a gift of art supplies, as well as with the one letter from her that he managed to keep. As a newly married man in his mid-20s, the author wrote his wife not only of the life they would share when the war ended but also of his thoughts on larger issues, such as the import of marriage ("It means our joys are multiplied, our problems shared. We can proceed with the blessings of family, church, and state into a full-time partnership of love, aspirations, and work"), which add a depth and universal appeal to his work. His 80 b&w illustrations of comrades, military life and scenes of England convey the loneliness, tedium and horror of war (with stark drawings of solitary sailors lost in thought, eyes empty and averted, and haunting watercolors of ships among choppy seas that evoke a sense of dread) counterbalanced by a few glimpses of humanity (illustrations of smiling British children). Sugarman's intimate tour of his war experience will appeal to those who remember WWII. With its collage-like approach and old-fashioned charm, it will stand out among other memoirs for readers of the genre. 7-city author tour. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 037550513X
• ISBN-13: 978-0375505133
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #465,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving, magnificent story of love and war, October 19, 2000

By 

m. lynn (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My War: A Love Story in Letters and Drawings (Hardcover)

This book is incredible. Tracy Sugarman married a few months before being shipped overseas, and he wrote steadily to his wife while he was in England and Normandy. He also sent her drawings and watercolors. 50 years after D-Day, he opened the carton his wife had saved that contained all his letters - 400 of them - and all his drawings. He then put them together, with connecting narrative, and created this memorable book. Besides being a wonderful artist, he is a tremendous writer, and it amazes me to think that he wrote these letters when he was only 22 years old! The letters are vivid, loving, occasionally angry and very poignant. This is the author's very personal account of his war, and he comes across as an amazingly special person. I highly recommend this to people who liked Brokaw's Greatest Generation (he's quoted on the back of the book - calls the book a treasure.) I don't see how anyone can read this and not agree with a comment Stephen Ambrose wrote on the back of the book, "When I got to the last paragraph, I wept." So did I. Great book. Great book.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic first person account of life during the war!, October 23, 2000

By 

"puppypokey" (Northcountry) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My War: A Love Story in Letters and Drawings (Hardcover)

This is a collection of letters that the author wrote to his wife, along with sketches and paintings, that capsulate his thoughts, feelings and experiences.

I really enjoy reading Ernie Pyle and Bill Mauldin's letters, essays and sketches and cartoons. However, they were written with me (or my parents) as an audience. Tracy Sugerman's letters were never really intended to be published and this adds a degree of depth, candor and emotion which cannot be found in the professional writer's works.

I've also read most of Stephen Ambrose's books on World War II and feel that Sugerman's letters bring alive one soldier's viewpoints about life in a manner that is much more powerful than Ambrose's brief glimpses and interviews with the vets found in all of his books (though each has its place & Ambrose's books are 5/5!).

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very different, May 1, 2001

By 

Hugh F. Johnston (Grapevine, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My War: A Love Story in Letters and Drawings (Hardcover)

In the battle of the "My War" books, I will take Tracy Sugarman's easily over Andy Rooney's. This book is different. It is not really about war although the subject is unavoidable. The book is about a nice young man who loved his wife and country and did his best to serve to the best of his abilities. He got through it thanks to his art, and thanks to his wife, his works survived for the education and enjoyment of generations. The fact that his works are "real time" works and not reflections of his memories make them even more special. After reading this book, it should go on your coffee table. As a quick postscript, some previous reviewers commented on some examples of "blue" language and objected. But sometimes that sort of thing is appropriate. I doubt if many readers would really mind too much. It is a fine work.