The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw

Tom Brokaw writes artfully about ordinary men and women who did extraordinary things and expected no more in return than to simply live ordinary lives. This was my parents generation and I watched many of my uncles come back from war and build successful lives. Many of these careers were driven by college educations supported by the GI bill.

I frequently ponder the way we treated WWII veterans versus Vietnam veterans. How would the latter have fared if we had given them the same opportunities and benefits. Consider the reality that in WWII the whole country was at war, my mother and grandmother worked in a war materials factory. Contrast that with the reality that the soldiers and their families were at war but the rest of us were not.

There is much to learn from this book.