The “we” generation of World War II (as in “We are all in this together”) was a special breed of men and women who did great things for America and the world. In the process they liberated the Germans (or at least the Germans living west of the Elbe River). In June 1945 Eisenhower told his staff, “The success of this occupation can only be judged fifty years from now. If the Germans at that time have a stable, prosperous democracy, then we shall have succeeded.” That mission, too, was accomplished.
In general, in assessing the motivation of the GIs, there is agreement that patriotism or idealism had little if anything to do with it. The GIs fought because they had to. What held them together was not country and flag, but unit cohesion.
And yet there is something more. Although the GIs were and are embarrassed to talk about the cause they fought for, they were the children of democracy, and they did more to help spread democracy around the world than any other generation in history. At the core, the American citizen soldiers knew the difference between right and wrong, and they didn’t want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed. So they fought and won, and we all of us, living and yet to be born, must be forever profoundly grateful.
Stephen E. Ambrose
Stephen E. Ambrose is the author of numerous books, including the best-selling D-Day and Undaunted Courage, a Today’s Best Nonfiction selection. He is the founder of the Eisenhower Center and the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans. The former Boyd Professor of History at the University of New Orleans. Ambrose lives with his wife, Moira, in Bay St Louis, Mississippi, and Helena, Montana.