Young ladies from both sides embraced by US soldiers (5)
I believe the answer is:
girls
'young ladies' is the definition.
('girl' can be a synonym of 'young lady')
'both sides embraced by us soldiers' is the wordplay.
'both sides' becomes 'rl' (I've seen this in other clues).
'embraced by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'us soldiers' becomes 'gis' (GI, nickname for US soldier).
'rl' placed within 'gis' is 'GIRLS'.
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for girls that I've seen before include "Female children" , "Youthful females" , "Young females" , "Young ladies" , "Members of brownies or guides - one of the 14 films" .)