What were soldiers in World War 2 fighting for?

Answer 1

John Hershey(who wrote "Hiroshima" and was a war correspondent) was with some US soldiers at the front lines. He posed the question to a group of soldiers: "What are you fighting for?" There was a long pause of silence. Then one soldier said "I like apple pie". One said something like "I would like a turkey dinner". Then one said "I miss Baseball". Each soldier began to express things of home that he longed for. This was their way of expressing the real reason what they were fighting for. Soldiers were not fighting for Country or even their unit. They may have been fighting to help and protect their buddies. But the real reason they fought was that they longed to protect their home and family and return to the American way of life.

Answer 2

The reason World War 2 was fought was to stop Japan from invading the Dutch East Indies and other countries. Many think it was just to get revenge for the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. That was only part of it. They also had to get the Philippines back since it belonged to the US at that time.

The Nazi Germans had to be defeated so they would quit invading other countries and killing off millions of people including the Jews.