Were We "Fighting Nazis" During World War II?

Were we fighting Nazis during World War II? The obvious answer is yes, the United States was at war with Germany, whose ruling party was the Nazi Party. We see a lot of memes in social media comparing present day resistance to white supremacy (and actual Nazis) to our soldiers fighting Nazi Germany in World War II. But is that how the soldiers at the time saw themselves?

A cursory look at the events leading up to our involvement in World War II shows that we were a bystander in the first two years of that war. Apparently the actions of the Nazis against their own people didn't move us, nor did their aggression against their neighbors. The United States was firmly isolationist.

Until Japan attacked our military base in Hawaii, we were not involved. Once we joined the war against Japan, Germany declared war on the United States, which began our involvement in the European war.

How did the typical American soldier view their part in the war? Were they fighting the German army because Hitler was exterminating Jews, Roma, Communists and gays? I doubt the average G.I. thought about it in those terms, if he was even aware of what Hitler was doing internally. Once we were in the war, it was us (the good guys) against them (the bad guys) without a second thought about what the bad guys were doing to their own or to people in occupied territories. Perhaps those who eventually were part of the liberation of the death camps got their eyes opened, but I doubt the front line soldier saw that aspect of the enemy.

And then there's the behavior of those soldiers when they returned home. Returned home to a country that was still a segregated society, where black Americans and other minorities were discriminated against with impunity. How many of them were actively involved in racist actions? How many of them cheered on the dogs and the fire hoses and the lynchings?

This is not to disparage the bravery of those who fought during World War II, or any other war. This is not to suggest less than noble motives of those who served. This is to question the declarations that standing up to White Supremacy, Nazism, and other forms of bigotry and hatred was something that the so-called Greatest Generation did 75 years ago.