February Cartoon Of The Month

The first American servicemen arrived in Britain on 26 January 1942 as Britain’s new allies in the fight against Germany in the Second World War. By 1944 half a million Americans had been stationed here and had a profound effect on social life on the Home Front, especially for British women. By 1945, when the war ended, some 60,000 British women had married Americans as a result, becoming what were known as ‘GI brides’, and moved to the USA to start a new life. Land girls working near to American air force bombing bases in England were often in contact with American men. British men were often jealous and came up with the disparaging description of American servicemen as “over-paid, over-sexed and over here”.

Source: Originally published in the WW2 ‘Blighty’ magazine and later in a 1940s cartoon anthology “Laughs around the Land. Courtesy of Stuart Antrobus.