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"The war touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America and demonstrated that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives." (From the PBS website introduction to Ken Burns' The War.)

It's hard for me, as a researcher and a historian, to read a sweeping sentence like that and accept it at face value. Every family? Every street? Every town? Was the impact of World War II truly that pervasive? I put on my History Detective hat and went to work.

I used the resources of online newspapers and scanned hundreds of papers from towns and cities across the United States dating from the early 1940s. The headlines often carried news of the latest battles from around the world, Presidential statements, and reports on the national war effort. But as I dug down into these papers, the war found its way onto almost every page. There were the reports of local soldiers coming and going. Other articles described what was going on at the local canteen. There were requests for help -- a factory needed workers to support the war effort, the Red Cross needed all the hands it could get. It appears that Ken Burns was right -- World War II was experienced in some way by every American. But then I came across the document that really brought this home for me.

I've been working with the Tyrone Area Historical Society in Tyrone, Pennsylvania for the last year helping them to catalog their collection. A few weeks ago, a document in that collection summed up the ultimate experience of the people of Tyrone in World War II. It was a tribute written by the Superintendent of Schools, Norman Miller on November 3, 1944. Supt. Miller wrote:

From the opening of World War II to the present time, twenty-six of those who entered Military Service from Tyrone and Vicinity have made the supreme sacrifice:  ten of these graduated from the Tyrone High School; eleven attended the Tyrone Public Schools one year or more; and the other five attended schools outside of the Tyrone School District. Upon entering Military Service each of these men took the oath, 'I do solemnly swear I will defend the Constitution, etc.'

These twenty-six men supported and defended the Constitution of the United States; they discharged their duties heroically; they set an example to each one of us to support and defend our Constitution, our American Institutions, our American Way of Living against all enemies, foreign or domestic. These twenty-six men were willing to uphold and to defend our Constitution, our Institutions, our Churches, our Schools, and our Homes, even unto death.

Under date of September 28, 1943, I received a V-letter from Sergeant Frank Maceno, located in the South Pacific, in which he expressed the satisfaction and joy in having the opportunity of serving his Country. At that time he had already experienced one bombing mission and expected to enter upon the second shortly after he had written this last letter. My letter in reply, which was returned, bore this inscription on the outside of the envelope, KILLED IN ACTION, OCTOBER, 1943. . . .

May these men not have died in vain. It is for us to preserve those Institutions for which they lived and died. It is for us to carry forward the Torch of Freedom, of Justice, and of Good Will among ourselves and with all Nations. It is for us to promote, to cherish, and to preserve a lasting Peace among all Nations. These men, with millions of others, are making possible a new Freedom, a new World in which to live. It now becomes our duty and our responsibility to make their sacrifices and their dreams a reality for future generations.

In 1940, Tyrone, PA was a bustling railroad and manufacturing town of almost 9,000 people, and I'll bet each of them knew at least one of those 26 soldiers.