The Greatest Generation was
born between the World Wars

The generation that grew up just prior to WWII was truly our Greatest Generation. Born between the World Wars, they spent their childhood years living through the Great Depression and then were sent overseas to fight in World War II. After being victorious in liberating Europe and defeating Japan, they returned home and built the greatest economy the world had ever seen. I will begin my story of this generation with a truly historic event: the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944.

The map below was published in a Sunday newspaper on the 10th anniversary of D-Day. The accompanying article described how the liberation of Europe started on the beaches of Normandy and progressed inward towards Berlin. The troops that stormed the beaches that bloody day had reached Paris on August 24, 1944. The bells of Notre Dame were rung in celebration. But, there was still plenty of fighting left to get to Hitler's Eagles Nest. However, because of this rapid progression, Allied troops were all convinced and some even started writing home saying that they would be home for Christmas. (cont'd below)

Instead, the GI's that had survived to December 1944 were involved in Nazi Germany's last ditch effort to save the Reich at the Battle of the Bulge. It would not be until May 1945 that the War would finally be over in Europe. However, the war with Japan was still going on, and many GI's prepared to eventually be sent to the Pacific theatre. Fortunately, that would never materialize as Japan surrendered in August 1945, bring an end to WWII.

A well known singer at the time was Kate Smith, famous for her rendition of "God bless America". Here is an audio clip of her speaking before her radio show on the invasion that happened earlier that day.

Kate Smith addresses the Nation before her radio show
The long anticipated day has arrived and the  invasion has begun.

The
Greatest Generation
was born between
the World Wars

After 78 years, WW2 Veteran Onofrio “NoNo” Zicari can not forget the struggles and losses of the invasion of Normandy, one of the most pivotal battles of the Second World War.
In 1938, at age 15, Jake Larson lied about his age and enlisted in the Minnesota National Guard. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor his guard unit became part of the US Army and Larson was sent to Ft. Dix, New Jersey to await embarkation to Europe.
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For the Twentieth Anniversary, a vinyl LP was released by Columbia Records. It came with an accompanying photo book to view along as you listened. It may be downloaded here in PDF format.
Two that were there. These humble men show why their
generation is called the Greatest Generation.
From the grapes-of-wrath to the beaches of Normandy
without a complaint. They had a job to do and they completed it.

The airplane was utilized during WWI, and we are all aware of the stories surrounding the Red Baron. However, it was in WWII that aircraft were truly employed for mass destruction of the enemy for the first time. The extensive bombing of Germany resulted in numerous craters that are still evident today. To assist the infantry landing on the beaches, paratroopers were deployed behind the beaches in the early hours of June 6, 1944, deep within occupied France. This airborne infantry was a novel idea in WWII and represents another instance of the progression in the use of airplanes in warfare. Their objective was to prevent reinforcements from reaching the beaches to support their fellow soldiers, as well as to eliminate the artillery overlooking the beaches. Unfortunately, like many aspects that went awry on D-Day, few of these troops landed where they were supposed to. Once on the ground, they had to rely solely on maps (as there was no GPS at that time) to orient themselves and determine their exact locations before they could begin targeting their assigned objectives. Some units achieved their goals as planned, while many did not. This left the beach landings in a considerably more perilous situation. The paratroopers couldn't simply shout out to locate the rest of their company; they needed a way to distinguish friend from foe. The Army devised a clever method of communication. Each soldier was provided with a toy clicker that produced a cricket-like sound. When troops encountered others during their nighttime missions, they would click their cricket. If they received a click in return, they knew they were in the presence of allies. I wonder how many soldiers had ordered one of these toy crickets from their comic books, never realizing as children that this same item might one day save their lives.

Crossing the channel before jumping in enemy territory.
Infantry from the sky.
D-Day "cricket".
A clicker advertisement from a comic book.