My parents did! - Given the mundane existence of the '30s, the '40s came alive! Yes, there was, sadly, danger and death but living on the edge is a particular high for some.
My brothers were born during the war, and my parents made it seem real, too, talking about sugar and gasoline rationing, working in a torpedo factory, friends missing in action - but I don't think they ever felt nostalgia or excitement for those years. Their tone was more one of weariness when they remembered those times. But I think I understand what you're saying - it was a very unique time in our history and the men and women who lived through it had amazing stories to tell.
Wow, reading that comment now makes me wonder why I was so negative when I wrote it. Yes, my parents did talk about the hard times during the war, but they also had good memories of the decade when they married and started their family.
I might just be a little too critical, but I feel like accepting "Bird" as an answer to the question, "What bebopping saxophonist was known as 'Bird'?" may just be a bit too easy...
there are plenty of quizzes on those things though and too many can get a bit bleak. this quiz is a good balance of different things that happened in different fields
more so than the dull history books depicting the era.
I wrote a paper about Bird and Dizzy Gillespie for History of Music in high school.