Americans at home were profoundly affected by WW2. As in all wars people die. Many sons, husbands, and fathers did not come home from Europe and the Pacific. All branches of the survice lost men. America was galvanized into a great engine of war material production, that for the first time included large numbers of women. The "Greatest Generation" as the are correctly called, gave an all out winning effort to beat Japanese and Nazi global aims.The cost was high,the sadness great, but oh how we are glad they did it!
I believe the worst was waiting for your loved one(s) to come home safe and sound. The fear of that door bell ringing and a telegram courier standing before you was every families worst nightmare ... to hear their son or daughter was dead.
Food was rationed as was gas, and all mental, tin, rubber was collected by citizens of the town to help the war effort.
Women took over many of the men's jobs during wartime. They worked in gas stations, factories, helped build planes, worked in munnition factories, packed parachutes, etc.
The stress was incredible for the ones left behind. The years that went by were hard ones ... babies were born and the mothers worried their child would never see their father. It was difficult to get mail to your sons, husbands, daughters during wartime. Everytime you heard of a battle you wondered if that was your son, husband or brother that had been killed. Citizens glued themselves to the radio and never missed a newspaper searching for any clues of their loved ones.
Citizens formed clubs so the men on leave had a place to go. Young single girls would dance with them, serve sandwiches, have a few drinks and just have plain fun for a change. People like Bob Hope, Martha Raye, Lucille Ball, etc., would often fly to some heavy battle zones to entertain troops (don't see that much these days.)