Those who fought World War II overshadowed by baby boomers

By Rita Baum

As we settle into the second half of 2001, the 20th century already seems like a long time ago. Like history. Many of those who made the 20th century great are still with us, enjoying the autumn of their years. But they are slowly becoming members of a vanishing generation. Before leaving the last century, we paid tribute to this post-World War II group in the May 1999 Seniors column. I believe this group deserves another look.

Today's older Americans are the generation who returned home from World War II victorious and brave, yet stunned, humbled and grateful to be alive. These Americans, now in their 70s, 80s and older are the post-World War II generation who have possessed, throughout their lives, a remarkable spirit and energy. This post-war generation, however, has been largely overshadowed by its baby boomer children, a generation that has been influential mainly by virtue of its size. The baby boomers inherited a stable world that was largely the result of their parents' hard work and foresight.

In the final year of the past century, the media focused on people and events that made their mark in the 20th century. Older Americans deserve to share the spotlight for centuries to come. Now called senior citizens, as young people, they paved the way in housing and other life needs for future young, as well as older, Americans.

They had the experience of the Great Depression as their childhood teacher. In their youth and early adulthood they defended our country and won World War II, or stayed behind to work in the shipyards, or supported the war effort in other ways. And after the war, they set on a course that would change and shape American life and its economy for the next 50 years and beyond. They started trends that would catch on, and they launched a new higher standard of living for future average Americans.

Today's elders were the first generation of average-income Americans to get a college education, thanks to the GI Bill of Rights, and from that time forward, education ceased to be a privilege of the elite. After the war, many GIs finished high school, or got their GED so they could go to college at the expense of the GI Bill. Data collected in the 1990 U.S. census showed that for the first time, at least 50 percent of people older than 65 had completed high school. Prior census data reported that 50 percent had completed only eighth grade.

For decades after the war, entrepreneurs scrambled to keep one step ahead of this post-war generation, producing the goods and services they needed to live their lives and rear their baby-boomer children, which they produced in unprecedented numbers. The children born of this generation got caught up in, and enjoyed, being a part of the winds of a changing world created by their parents. Their young post-war parents started a housing boom, again aided by the GI Bill of Rights, which produced tract housing and the family room. Home ownership, like higher education, became a possibility for every American for the first time.

Builders who weren't building houses were building schools. They created markets for diaper services, backyard swings, cameras, and other products, and later, when their children entered their teenage years, new markets for rock'n'roll music and fashions for the parents to buy. America was in an era of unbridled prosperity. Later, some watched their children become hippies, their daughters and granddaughters become working moms, and they survived their children's mid-life crises. Today they look back with pride on the fact that they were wise, stable parents.

Was it the war experience that made this generation of Americans so unique? Many GIs as young as 18 left their homes for the first time, fighting a war on a global scale. They were exposed to new places and cultures. As elders they returned to those far off places, starting a trend in retirement travel.

After the war, they returned home with the knowledge of death, concentration camps, the atomic bomb, and man's inhumanity to man still fresh in their minds and spirits. Yet they were eager to resume a normal life and to use their newly gained vigor and courage to blaze new trails that would bring them peace, stability and prosperity.

They chose as their president, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the European theater of operations during World War II, who in 1943 organized the allied invasion of Europe, which enabled many soldiers to return home. Eisenhower served the country from 1953 to 1961. One of his final acts before completing his term of office in 1961, was to call for the first White House Conference on Aging, which led in 1965 to the creation of the Older Americans Act and Medicare. The post-war generation that served with Eisenhower could look forward to old age with dignity and security.

Today senior citizens continue to influence the economy, demanding and getting housing, services and products to meet their needs and those of future older Americans. And their needs are varied. Older Americans are a diverse group, and there is not one size or style that fits all.

The 1960's television show "Star Trek," created by the children of the post-war generation, explored many new ideas. One of the show's most popular characters, Mr. Spock, was a half human/half Vulcan being. Upon meeting or departing, Vulcans raised a hand with their fingers in a "V" and spoke the phrase: "Live long and prosper."

That simple phrase, now a cultural icon of sorts, aptly applies to the parents of the generation who created and watched that popular show. The post-war generation helped set a standard that is held high by all who follow in their footsteps.

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Rita Baum, a Los Gatos resident, has a master's degree in gerontology. She has worked in the field of aging for more 20 years.

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