Similar Demons Lie Vanquished

Few events in the history of man have had such a world-wide impact as the enactment of the law whose purpose was to reintegrate the returning US soldiers from WW II. The colloquially-known 'GI Bill' recognized that a generation of young men who had had to postpone their education and careers for the fight against Nazism and Fascism, would need assistance to be reconnected with these personal endeavours. It was promulgated to ease the acquisition of required skills by the veterans, from which skills it was recognized that both they and the country's economy would benefit. ( The abbreviation G.I.'s was used as a generic term for US soldiers during World War II because of the Government Issued clothes, weapons and everything else they used whilst in the armed forces.)

This Bill provided a wide-ranging package of benefits to returning WW II veterans. Amongst these were low-cost mortgages, low interest business loans, payment of tuition and living expenses whilst attaining high school and university qualifications, vocational training and so forth. By the time the GI Bill was repealed in 1956, over nine million young Americans had been trained in all disciplines, and were ready and willing to lead a world which - unlike the US - was still rebuilding its societies and infrastructure. Many of them, including younger compatriots who grew up in the GI Bill era, would make lasting, positive contributions to those parts of the world where they were sent.