This July 24th marks the 65th anniversary of the German retreat from Brittany and Normandy just a month and a half after the D-Day invasion of World War II. Heralded as the major turning point on the European front, the Allied invasion of Normandy remains one of the most celebrated military operations in living memory, having helped put an end to what is commonly known in America as the “Good War.”

While buzzwords like D-Day, Allied Forces, and Good War give WWII an honored place in American culture, they can also obscure the fact that this war remains the most gruesome conflict in all of human history – and one in which Americans initially fought tooth-and-nail not to get involved. So before you saunter confidently into your next US history exam, consider using the following facts to enhance your personal study guides.

In the summer of 1940 – nearly a year after WWII started with the German conquest of Poland – only 21% of Americans polled said that they weren’t outright opposed to entering the war. (Compare that to the roughly 75% of Americans polled who supported the Korean war in 1950, the Vietnam War in 1965, or the Iraq war in 2003.) American sentiments against intervention were so steadfast that in 1941, President Roosevelt was forced to wage an undeclared and arguably illegal naval war against German subs in the North Atlantic; only by claiming that the Pan-American Security Zone somehow stretched all the way to Iceland could he bypass the otherwise strict laws against this type of involvement.

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• Millvale WWII POW Gets Purple Heart 65 Years Later (WTAE-TV Pittsburgh) – Shot down over Germany during World War II, David Rohm thought he was going to die. But the tech sergeant from Millvale survived his wound — along with more than a year in a POW camp — and is getting a Purple Heart after a 65-year wait.

• Flew in Enola Gay during WWII (Chicago Sun-Times) – Imagine Joyce H. Kress’ surprise when she read about the atomic bomb being dropped on Japan and realized that she had once ridden on the plane that made the historic flight.