The tranquil lives of the citizens of Mobile, Ala., Sacramento, Calif., Waterbury, Conn., and Luverne, Minn., are shattered on December 7, 1941, as they, along with the rest of America, are thrust into a cataclysm.

In January 1943, the Germans continue to occupy most of Western Europe; America converts nearly all manufacturing to the war effort.

The American public sees pictures and newsreel footage of troops killed in action; Japanese-American men join the U.S. 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

On D-Day, 150,000 Allied troops embark on the invasion of France; the Marines fight a costly battle on the island of Saipan in the Western Pacific.

Victory in Europe seems imminent, but in Holland, the Vosges Mountains, and the Hurtgen Forest, GIs learn painful lessons as old as war itself, that generals make plans, plans go wrong and soldiers die.

After three years of fighting, bad news from the War Department seems endless; Hitler launches a counterattack in the Ardennes forest of Belgium and Luxembourg.