Chapter 26 Summary and Analysis

D-Day's focus shifts in "The World Holds Its Breath: D-Day on the Home Fronts." Three "teenage cowboys" in Helena, Montana, are excused for "boisterous bad behavior" in the Mecca Cafy because everyone knows they are shipping out and the radio reports D-Day has begun. Diners sit silently, listen and wonder. During the American Civil War and World War I, Americans get scant information long after-the-fact. Newspapers publish endless lists of the dead. In World War II, everyone listens to the radio but receives little detail. Film from the battlefields is closely censored. People wait and pray Western Union does not knock at their door.

Most Americans are involved in the war effort by farming, working in defense plants or volunteering. They pray they have done their part well. Higgins sends his employees a message about the work of their hands...