Isolation caused a delay that proved costly, in rearming. In mid-1941, some American soldiers trained with wooden guns. The delay also had costly consequences, including the division of Europe after the war. If the allies had invaded France in 1943, American, British and French troops would have liberated much of Eastern Europe. But in 1943 America was not yet ready to invade.

             World War II affirmed the United States economic power. By 1944, average family incomes were perhaps 25 percent higher than in 1941. To some the success of the war time collaboration of business, along with government, calls for more of the same now. In fact, the cooperation was not all that smooth. Mobilization was marked by a bureaucratic confusion that cut munitions output 10 to 20 percent. Public support for complex economic controls broke down once victory seemed inevitable (Samuelson, 1994).

             We need to keep in mind that during the war, we made plenty of mistakes. The problem is that many times, memories of wars are inevitably clouded by victory or defeat. Our triumph in World War II on D-Day has obscured many errors. Compared with other countries" losses, our losses were low: 405,000 dead of the 16 million who served; however, some frontline casualty rates were horrific and stemmed from minor mistakes that could have been prevented. There was a rivalry between the military branches, as well. This interservice rivalry between the navy and General MacArthur caused the navy to invade, at a huge cost in lives, many Pacific islands with small military value (Samuelson, 1994).

             There were over 320,000 Allied soldiers that participated in the war that day, also known as Operation Overlord. A young Harvard Business school graduate was there as well, Lieutenant John Bentz Carroll. He was assigned to the regimental advance headquarters of the 16th Infantry, 1st Division; he was in the second wave of landing craft to splash onto the "Easy Red" sector of Omaha Beach June 6, 1944.