You are right, and look at all the saps trying to beat you up as being un-American and not "supporting our troops." The day will come when it is no longer normal to value the life of a stranger from your own country over a stranger from another country. Patriotism is a social disease and is the cause of all wars to begin with.
You can't make the foreigner into the enemy until you make the compatriot stranger into a sacred friend. As for Vietnam, it took the lives of nearly 60 thousand US soldiers and over 3 million Vietnamese. America invaded to protect Vietnam from the Vietnamese, as it was clear their nationalist leader Ho was going to win the UN-sponsored elections, so the US invaded and canceled them.
Like Iraq, it was justified by a lot of rhetorical nonsense, "stopping the dominoes from falling," exporting democracy, etc. If McCain wanted to be a part of that, that's his past to deal with, but there is nothing heroic about it. That the US still considers it a war to name heroes ... more.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.