Like most World War II veterans, James E. McMains never felt his service was noteworthy enough to brag about.
So pardon his discomfort in saying how proud he is to be heading to Washington to represent other veterans at the unveiling of the National World War II Memorial on Saturday.
"The fact that this was a long time coming doesn't bother me a lot because I fought for what I believed and had a good life," said McMains, who served in Italy in 1944 and received the Purple Heart for taking shrapnel in his right arm.
"I wasn't a hero, and the only thing I was proud of was making it home alive."
That sums up the perspective of most World War II veterans, and it may provide an explanation for the nearly 60-year delay in erecting any kind of national tribute to their collective sacrifice. By comparison, it took only seven years from the fall of Saigon in 1975 to the unveiling of the Vietnam War Memorial in 1982.
"The Vietnamers felt they needed a monument for closure because they were received so poorly back home," said William "Bo" Winschell, state administrator for the American Legion and a Korean War veteran.
"Tom Brokaw's book ('The Greatest Generation') raised awareness for people to realize that if we're going to do anything for these guys in their lifetime, it had to be done quick."
As Nick Bacon, director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs, puts it: The World War II generation was too busy building the country to honor themselves.
"The Greatest Generation has never been about themselves. They knew the country was proud of what they did and that was enough for them," Bacon said. "I just hope this is a way to tell future generations what they did so they don't take that for granted."
The numbers tell the story of a country united behind the war effort. More than 16 million Americans served in active duty in World War II from 1941 to 1945. Some 291,000 were killed in combat and another 114,000 died in theater. But by 1970, there were still more than 14 million World War II veterans living in and shaping the nation.
McMains, 80, and his wife Maxine, 77, said they didn't need a reminder of the war they survived. He kept his medals and the pocket Bible she gave him to carry with him in the foxholes, but they rarely saw the light of day until now.
"We went through rationing, the women worked in the factories," Mrs. McMains said. "We all experienced the war. We need something now to pull us together and make us one like we were back then, but I don't know what that is."
McMains said his mother, who is still living at age 101, rode horseback selling war bonds in Oklahoma.
The war experience was not nearly as pervasive and uniform during the 11 years of Vietnam, 1964-1975, when 9 million Americans served in the military and only about 3 million were deployed to southeast Asia, Bacon said.
McMains worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., now SBC Communications Inc., for 40 years. SBC, which donated $3.3 million to the memorial construction effort, chose him and 14 others to represent the 19,000 employees who served in the war.
When McMains' son, James W. McMains, a Vietnam veteran who also works for SBC, gathered information about his father's service, he was shocked to learn details about his gun battles with Nazi soldiers in Italy.
"He said, 'Dad, why didn't you tell me about this?' I said, 'Well, you didn't ask me.'"
With that in mind, Bacon has joined with Harold Steelman, the retired director of War Memorial Stadium, and the Arkansas Education Television Network to video interview veterans and their families. They have spoken to 25 veterans so far and are asking Arkansans to videotape their own family members so the finished documentary can include around 500 veterans.
But time is running out. Hundreds of new headstones, mostly for World War II veterans, are appearing at the veterans cemetery that Bacon runs. According to Steelman, 1,200 World War II veterans are dying each day.
According to official figures gathered by Bacon, the population of World War II veterans was down to 4.3 million nationally in 2003, and only about 40,000 live in Arkansas.
