They were the best years of our lives. The World War was over, and so was the Great Depression. The GI Bill put millions of returning servicemen and women in college -- the largest proportional boom in college ranks in history. The growing economy was equaled by a growing populace as wartime sweethearts married and started a boom of their own -- the Baby Boom. Maybe peace wouldn't last forever, but we thought it would. And in those golden days we enjoyed the best years of our lives.