OVER THERE AGAIN AND VICTORY

As their fathers had done in World War I, millions of Americans poured into foreign ports. In England this caused a common complaint that these, "Yanks are over paid, over sexed, and over here." Perhaps it was due to the American feeling that, "We're bailing them out again," or that many had never been overseas before, their fate still uncertain, and so they lived life to the fullest where they could.

By 1944, the national involvement was staggering. Over 12 million Americans were in uniform, and over 350,000 of these were women. The military created whole new auxiliaries for them, with acronyms such as WAC, WAVE, SPAR, and WASP. They and their allies were eventually all over Europe, North Africa, the Atlantic, Asia, the Pacific, and hundreds of heretofore-unknown islands...commanded by American generals. No other country was in a position of strength and ultimate power to do so. Through hard fighting in all these lands, often hand-to-hand and usually in the most primitive conditions, Americans helped crush the two most powerful and ruthless military machines ever assembled.

For those who did come home, the experience of this war in all its savagery will be with them forever. Almost 300,000 Americans were killed in World War II. Over 1.7 million came home physically affected in some way. It has challenged them in how they think, and act. When America went to war, it turned to ordinary people and asked them to do extraordinary things...sometimes through incredible heroics. The war did teach them what matters most in life, and they've given those to succeeding generations.