We've gone into a lot of detail about how much this film meant to Steven Spielberg, and the incredible lengths he went to in order to make sure the look and feel of the movie was authentic. Here's yet another example of that dedication from the legendary filmmaker.
Spielberg took his cues for the movie's visual style from the newsreel-style films that were shown in cinemas during the 1940s to keep the public informed of events and progress during the war. He modeled the sets and the style from the way those newsreels were presented. He even went so far as to change the lenses on the cameras, so they'd deliver a result that appeared more like old fashioned newsreels. That was part of the reason that the colors of the original edit look so washed-out.