It’s amazing just how many Americans served in World War II
Fighting in Europe ended with VE-Day 71 years ago
By Asher Kohn
Today is VE Day, the 71st anniversary of World War II ending in Europe. Out of the more than 16 million Americans who served, 2 million served in Europe, though the war against the Nazis has an outsized place in the American imagination.
That number of enlistees is remarkable. The US population in 1945 was 140 million, so roughly 11% of all Americans fought in World War II. Compare this to Iraq, where only about 1% of all Americans served (not including private contractors).
But those World War II soldiers didn’t come from all the states equally:
Looking at enlistees per capita, the Mountain West and Southeast stand out. This is primarily because more soldiers came from these unindustrialized regions. In places like California and Michigan, as well as the ports on the East Coast, workers were needed in the factories.
It turns out Georgia had the most enlistees per capita, with nearly 14% of citizens signing up to fight. Many more worked in the Peach States’ forts and ports, essentially kick-starting the economy of the capital of the “New South.”
