dank atmosphere pretty good for a guy that's seen it all. >> that's 73 years ago. fort benning, georgia. i was the second armored division. >> matt klein came from new york's lower east side by way of the battle of normandy. >> i came here pause i was wounded and the warm weather was much better for me. >> but there was a lot of g.i.s during the war here, right? >> the war made miami beach for the reason that the people that were stationed here and they saw a world that they didn't believe. >> during world war ii, miami saw a massive influx of military personnel. hotels, which had seen a sharp drop in business, made a deal with the government to house troops in empty resorts. >> parents came down, sons came down, they opened businesses here, and they were basically jewish at the time and that's how it started. >> by the fall of 1942, more than 78,000 troops were living