I know this is a very old thread, but I looked into it because I do several Veterans' Day programs each year, and I am always looking to expand my playlist. While I have the thread open, I might as well add to it.Some WWII and WWII era popular songs that haven't been mentioned are:
God Bless America --- Irving Berlin wrote it it WWI but did not publish or release it until 1938, when Kate Smith sang it on Armistice Day. It was so popular in WWII that there was a movement to make it the national anthem -- until Berlin nixed the idea of replacing the one we already had.
Sentimental Journey -- it launched Doris Day's career in 1945
Now Is The Hour - a Maori song from New Zealand. The Allied troops learned it, took it to Hawaii, where the English-lyric version became popular.
This Is the Army, Mister Jones - Irving Berlin
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
Marie
In Apple Blossom Time
Red Sails In The Sunset
Harbor Lights
Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Old Oak Tree
(Right In) Der Fuehrer's Face
There's A Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere
They're Either Too Young Or Too OldOh, How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning! -- Berlin wrote it in WWI --right after he got drafted!-- but he also sang it in a review for the troops in WWII.
Theses have been mentioned before but deserve a second mention:
Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition
Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer
Beer Barrel Polka
Lili Marlene
Amapola
We'll Meet Again
When The Lights Go On Again (All Over The World)
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (recorded a few years after WWII, but related)String of Pearls
P.S., My record of Dietrich singing "Lili Marlene," is an album called "Wiedersehen Mit Marlene," recorded live when she returned to Germany after a 20-year self-imposed exile (because of Hitler). It was recorded, I think, sometime around 1960.
I don't know if that was her first recording of it, but it's very special.
(Also, though I only took one semester of German, my understanding of the German lyrics tells me that she is a girlfriend, not a prostitute. If she is a prostitute, he sure is hung up on her!)