Up Next
Back to Show
The War
Why We Fight
Government films cast the war as the common man's struggle against tyranny, and many young recruits dismissed them as propaganda. Burnett Miller, Ray Leopold and Sam Hynes explain what actually moved them to serve: a nation that had been attacked, a threat aimed at their own heritage, and a duty that carried a young man from a dark Minneapolis platform into the Navy.
Support Provided By
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:28:19
President Johnson escalates the war while promising the public that victory is in sight.
Unlock with PBS Passport
2:07:27
Germany and the Japanese surrender too and millions try to learn to live without war.
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:59:26
By mid March, 1945, they are across the Rhine, while Russians are 50 miles from Berlin.
Unlock with PBS Passport
2:19:15
On D-Day, 1.5 million Allied troops take part in the greatest invasion in history.
