When freedom and democracy were in peril, an entire generation answered the call. Our grandfathers and grandmothers put aside their hopes and dreams to save the world less than a lifetime ago and still refuse to be called heroes. The least you can do is post a photo in their honor!
LIFE photographer Carl Mydans (center) with other photographers aboard ship bound for Luzon and Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s “return to the Philippines” in 1945.