Revised Edition. World War II was different. We had to fight. We had to win. Our President gave us hope, and we were united in that hope. Growing up, I was a witness. As a marine in the South Pacific, I was a participant. As a survivor, I was a lifelong beneficiary of the G.I. Bill. We who survived know the hope and tragedy of that war. Historians, like botanists who study tree rings, will analyze the rings of that history.