Letters Home : A Soldier's Story

In 1938, Adolf Hitler cemented his dream of unifying all German-speaking people by annexing Austria and demanding the liberation of German people in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.

In March of the following year, German forces marched into territory previously protected from German advances by the ineffective Treaty of Munich.

Six months later, Hitler would further thumb his nose at the world by invading Poland.

By 1941, Germany, Italy and Japan had signed the Tripartite Pact, aligning their forces, if not their ultimate goals.And then it happened...Sunday, December 7, 1941 -- The date that will live in infamy -- brought America into a Eurasian war.

In 1944, a young boy from Gilmer, Texas turned 18 years old.

Within months, Ed Hancock would become Private Edward Hancock.

By war's end, he would rise to the rank of Technical Sergeant and earn two Bronze Battle Stars.

The Greatest Generation fought Naziism, Fascism and tyrannical Imperialism in a war that would take the lives of millions, including over 400,000 members of the American Military.

We may never truly know what he -- and many others -- saw as war raged all around them.

But, for one man at least, we have a few letters home.