Book Description
"I first began to appreciate fully all we owed the World
War II generation while I was covering the fortieth and
fiftieth anniversaries of D-Day for NBC News. When I wrote in
The Greatest Generation about the men and women who
came out of the Depression, who won great victories and made
lasting sacrifices in World War II and then returned home to
begin building the world we have today--the people I called
the Greatest Generation--it was my way of saying thank you. I
felt that this tribute was long overdue, but I was not
prepared for the avalanche of letters and responses touched
off by that book.
Members of that generation were, characteristically, grateful
for the attention and modest about their own lives as they
shared more remarkable stories about their experiences in the
Depression and during the war years.
"Their children and grandchildren were eager to share
the lessons and insights they gained from the stories they
heard about the lives of a generation now passing on too
swiftly. They wanted to say thank you in their own way. I had
wanted to write a book about America, and now America was
writing back.
"The letters, many of them written in firm Palmer
penmanship on flowered stationery, have given me a much
richer understanding not only of those difficult years but
also of my own life. They give us new, intensely personal
perspectives of a momentous time in our history. They are the
voices of a generation that has given so much and wants to
share even more.
"Some of the letters were written from the front during
the war, or from families to their loved ones in harm's way
in distant places. There were firsthand accounts of battles
and poignant reflections on loneliness, exuberant expressions
of love and somber accounts of loss.
"It seems that everyone in that generation has something
worthwhile to contribute, and so we have included some pages
in The Greatest Generation Speaks for others to
share memories at once inspirational and instructive.
"If we are to heed the past to prepare for the future,
we should listen to these quiet voices of a generation that
speaks to us of duty and honor, sacrifice and accomplishment.
I hope more of their stories will be preserved and cherished
as reminders of all that we owe them and all that we can
learn from them."
--Tom Brokaw
