By Louis A. Zona

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – I’m old enough to remember church bells ringing in celebration of the end of the Korean War.

My cousin Carmen, rest his soul, fought for his country on the front lines in both the Korean War and World War II.

In the Second World War, he served in General Patton’s army, marching toward Germany.

Imagine young men like my cousin coming home from fighting the Nazis only to be called back to fight the North Koreans. The generation that kept freedom alive fighting on two fronts has been termed “The Greatest Generation” – and they were!

But the Greatest Generation did more than fight the bad guys. That remarkable generation also created the remarkably successful GI Bill that enabled returning American soldiers to receive money for schooling and low interest loans for new and affordable housing. Millions of veterans took advantage of this incredible government program which assisted in the restructuring of the American economy and the rebuilding of the American heartland.

There are many stories of local veterans who gained vital education through the GI Bill.

I got to know Army veteran Chris Carfano, who was in the D-Day invasion that spelled the beginning of the end of the Nazi presence.

When Chris returned home from serving his country on the battlefields of Europe, he utilized the GI Bill for a business education at Youngstown State University (then Youngstown College). He worked for the Internal Revenue Service, a position he held until his death some 15 years ago.

During that time, he earned a master’s degree in finance and then taught at YSU.

The government’s GI Bill helped to make possible the dramatic growth of the middle class.

America’s greatness would further come to life with the creation of the Marshall Plan, which basically rebuilt Europe after the devastation of the war.

Imagine America rebuilding the very countries, such as Germany, that had once been our enemies. What other country would have had the will and the resources to do this?

My late father loved to share with me that postwar American travelers to Europe and Japan would pin an American flag to their back to get a meal or an overnight stay, courtesy of the citizens of a grateful country.

The art that was created in America after the Second World War reflected its time and place of origin. It carried the boldness and strength of the country that created it.

Called Abstract Expressionism, this artistic movement was big, bold and innovative, reflective of the country of its birth. Artists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt were a key part of the movement.

Where once American artists were inspired by Europea ideas, after the war, America was creating art that drove European artists to New York City to view the work of the Abstract Expressionists. America had conquered the art world!

With the help of the GI Bill providing funds for schooling – including art school – or for a new home, the Greatest Generation came home from battle to rebuild America.

With a grant from the GI Bill, Motherwell, one of the best-known Abstract Expressionists, would attend and teach at Columbia University.

Thousands of homes were constructed for the returning soldiers, made possible through the GI Bill.

The Greatest Generation’s amazing accomplishments also include fighting through the Great Depression, thanks in large measure to government programs that put tens of thousands of people to work rebuilding aging bridges and roads as part of the Works Progress Administration.

My father, rest his soul, would drive the family to a stone wall which he worked on during the Depression as part of the WPA.

“I helped to build that wall back in the 1930s,” he’d proudly say.

Of course, this remarkable generation of Americans defeated the evil of Adolf Hitler in the Second World War. But as mentioned previously, this was also the generation that created the great middle class.

Whereas other countries possessed a wealthy class and a poor class, the Greatest Generation was neither poor nor rich but right in the middle. As part of the middle class, they were able to own a new home or buy an automobile. The Greatest Generation created that middle class of people who became the envy of the world.

The Greatest Generation is rapidly leaving us, but their work, and what they were about, stays with us.

They still have much to teach us, if only we would listen, and view and absorb their gifts.