Homepage

Explore the thoughts, opinions, and experiences of Americans who served

During World War II, the US Army administered more than 200 surveys to over half a million American troops to discover what they thought and how they felt about the conflict and their military service. The surviving collection of studies is now accessible to the public for the first time at The American Soldier in World War II. Browse and search over 65,000 pages of uncensored, open-ended responses handwritten by servicemembers, view and download survey data and original analyses, read topical essays by leading historians, and access additional learning resources.

Topics

Essays from leading historians introduce you to some of the topics covered by the army's wartime surveys, with highlights from relevant studies, questions and answers, and handwritten soldier responses.

Surveys

Surveys were given to enlisted personnel and officers at points around the globe, from the Aleutian Islands and battlefields of Europe to the far reaches of the South Pacific. Explore the army's survey data, mixing and matching results, filtering responses, and downloading what you want.

Loader icon

Learn

Information and resources for students, teachers, history enthusiasts, scholars, and others, including lesson plans, guides to WWII military terminology, and general help with using this website and the survey datasets.

Read

Results of surveys were closely guarded by army command, with troops receiving only what had been carefully vetted, and the public receiving even less. Read the survey digests distributed to servicemembers during the war and a four-volume series of scholarly books released afterward based on this unprecedented experiment in applied social research.