Of those who came back, they often returned as changed people, and to a changed world. Milwaukee resident Ruben Hale who had built bridges for the infantry says, "When I came back, I was a much smarter, wiser person." Hale said he had seen and learned too much in the war to go back to the agricultural way of life, his family farm in Arkansas. Instead, he attended Milwaukee School of Engineering and chose a new path.

Annette Howards of Madison was a Marine, a real source of pride for the lively now nearly-80-year-old, who said it was difficult to shed her uniform and be told it was time to become a housewife and forget all of that wartime strife, and its camaraderie as well.

Also profiled is the war's most-highly decorated pilot who was a native of Wisconsin, Richard Ira Bong of Poplar. In an archival radio broadcast, World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker pays tribute to Bong by saying, "He became every American whose road to war was a one-way street to sacrifice."

Other Legacy segments explore an eyewitness account of the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri, a victory celebration on the streets of Milwaukee and recollections of how the G.I. Bill opened educational opportunities.

There also is a moving account of the 1942 University of Wisconsin Badger football team, which enjoyed a nationally ranked season and then, true to patriotic duty, saw nearly all of its players go off to fight a war.

Combat claimed the life of Lancaster-born Dave Schreiner, an All-American who died in Okinawa. Speaking of his loss, and that of another teammate, Otto Breitenbach of Waunakee says, "It's kind of hard to rationalize it. Why them and why not me? How could I be so lucky to be living here at the age I am and their lives were snuffed out in their twenties? That's hard to accept at times."