All the adult guys around me when I was growing up were WWII vets. All the guys in my department as a newly minted supervisor in the mid-70's were WWII vets. I felt like a green Lieutenant when amongst them. Uncles of mine were ETO combat vets (one of whom was drafted in 1940, went through N.Africa, Sicily, Omaha Beach D-Day, and on into Germany- and lived to tell about it), the dad's of all my buddies were vets, heck everybody back then was it seemed.
The "old guy" across the street and down the block when I was a kid was a survivor of the Philippine campaign- Bataan, the Death March, and Jap POW camps. He lived on total disability and at age 40 he looked 70. Told me of pulling .30 machine guns out of wrecked planes and jerry-rigging them for ground use, and finishing his short combat role as an infantryman rather than an Air Corps mechanic. He wouldn't talk about the March into captivity, or the time spent in camps in Japan. He died from health issues incurred then, well before age 50.
My Dad and Grand dad were both too young for WWII and WWI respectively, but my Great Grand Dad was a Spanish-American War vet- I knew him well. He died in the early 60's when I was in Jr. High. Never saw combat- the shooting was over in Cuba by the time he got there. He might be the reason I like Krags so much!
