In 1944, U.S. soldiers from the 969th Field Artillery Battalion were busy decorating shells they were sending to the front lines in Germany. America joined World War II in 1941 after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. They teamed up with countries like France, Poland, and the UK to fight against the Axis powers – Italy, Germany, and Japan. People in the U.S. didn’t like Germany much, even before the country officially joined the war.