Actually, more Poles were KIA than Americans in WWII.
The USA was very reluctantly dragged into the war. It took an attack on Pearl Harbour and a declaration of war from Germany before Roosevelt could shut the isolationists up.
Credit where credit is due though. The USA, through the ingenious Marshall plan helped both Europe and themselves - lots of machinery producing war things were converted into producing peace things - unfortunately, despite the huge market in Europe there was no money available. So Americans lent European nations money and got much of it back through selling equipment. Europe is very happy with the agreement, and the US economy actually benefits from it. Truly ingenious and one of the rare times in history where there's a somewhat symbiotic relationship between great nations.
But. What really turned the tide weren't Americans. The war on the western front was quite neglected by Germans. At times 75% of their forces were fighting the Russians who (thanks to steel sent by the US) were giving the Germans a really hard time.
In terms of men killed and wounded, the US got off relatively lightly. They used their superior firepower (tanks, planes, men) to ensure few casualties where many European nations had to dig in, not having the resources of the US, and fight bitterly. Smart move, smart fighting. Poland is a good example of a hgard struggle with lots of casualties - it's not talked about very much, but they did out up quite a good fight against the superior Germans troops (in material and men).
Yep, I am grateful for the American intervention. If I had to make a complaint, it'd be that if it had been done sooner rather than later, millions of lives could be saved. OTOH I can understand the position of the isolationists. twenty years before thousands of young Americans had died fighting on foreign soil for what to Americans was a European matter.
You Americans gotta admit though; Europe has come a long way since WWII. We still have hot spots, but that is also the case in the Americas. If the EU gets a rapid reaction force, there'd be no need for Americans to police European matters. But powerhungry US politicians aren't liking the idea of giving up influence and they're insisting on NATO doing that job. I'd like to think that the average American however, would much rather see Europe fix its own problems.
