Father was a surgeon and served in Patton's Third Army. He worked in an evac hospital about a mile behind the lines. Got to Europe in November 1944 and stayed until late 1946. The only stories he told me was how cold it was that first winter and then of working in POW camps for several months right after VE day getting everyone "cleaned up" - not just GI's but Poles and various nationalities from what I gather. My namesake uncle was a mechanic on P-51's, I think he stayed in England the whole time. Most of the six uncles on my mother's side served in the military during WWII in some capacity but I don't know what.
My grandmother's uncle served in a Confederate cavalry unit. His claim to fame was getting hit in the side of the head by a stray Minie ball, it knocked him off his horse but he got back on and kept going.
My mom took in a street kid when he was 16 who lived with us for several years, he was an M60 gunner in the Marines from mid-1968 to early 1969 in RVN and was in the thick of things the whole time. He had one or two "interesting" stories - getting jumped by a VC with a machete while he was squatting with his pants down taking a dump - but mostly talked about the rock apes. Hate to speak ill of the guy since he was probably one of the best people you could want to have next to you in a firefight, but outside of that spent most of his life doing his best to ruin the lives of everyone around him.
I was in the US Army Infantry but just spent 2 1/2 years in West Berlin watching the Russians and East Germans watch us across the wall.
