Two Generals

“Two Generals” is the true story of cartoonist Scott Chantler’s grandfather and his grandad’s best friend, both of whom joined the Canadian military in the early days of World War II. The two buddies shipped out together to England where they completed their training and then to mainland Europe where they both took part in the Normandy invasion. There are several elements that set this apart from many other WW II accounts. First of all, the focus of Chantler’s account is two everyday soldiers, not the famous generals and politicians we’ve heard so much about. Secondly, there is an immediacy and urgency in the way this story is told, thanks not only to Chantler’s skill as a narrator, but also due to the wonderful access he had to a wealth of first hand accounts of these events. Chantler’s grandfather kept a diary during the war and both the families back home of the grandad and his best friend saved the letters they wrote home. In addition to this, a regimental diary was also maintained. Chantler took this abundance of material and distilled it into a powerful story of two ordinary guys caught up in some of the last century’s most harrowing events.