A generation includes the whole bell curve. Look at it this way, they took up the cause and won through sacrifice after surviving the depression. They knew what it was like to have nothing. They also refused to allow their kids, boomers?, to sacrifice. I think it was the boomers, not the depression era generation. There really is nothing wrong with not getting what you want when you are a kid. You just have to realize that to get it, you should have to earn it. The Santa philosophy has failed because we have no sense of true reward it has become coveting instead.
Christianity is defined by this same view. Instead of taking up the cross, all is a gift and few teach that every promise comes with a condition.
Marines have the greatest sense of unity because their training is hard and it takes all to earn that Eagle, Globe, and Anchor. Therefore it is more valuable. Making things easier is like mass production of Chinese dollar store junk. Hand crafted goods are much more valuable.
Just rambling from my point of view. There were many influences on our culture from Dr Spock, Kinsey baby abuser, unions, and electronics. There was no spiritual revival. Suffering and sacrifice was evil unless you were a communist willing to take up the cause. Eternity no longer existed when the live for the moment philosophy took over.
I’d also suggest that for all this country’s success in World War II, the U.S. efforts both at home and abroad in that era were the ultimate manifestation of nanny-state, big-government globalism. I think you’d have a hard time finding much in common between those Americans and the ones of our founding generations.