On June 6, 1944, just hours before the start of the D-Day invasions of Europe, General Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke to the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force. He started his address to these brave young men by saying, "You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months."But where did this Crusade begin for these young men? What brought a mid-western farmer, West Virginia coal miner and young steel mill worker from Pennsylvania to these European and later Pacific beaches?