Different times…my father was 17 and so pissed that my grandmother made him finish high school before enlisting. He was youngest of three. The oldest went Army and the other two Navy.
My godfather was in the USAAF. When, as a kid, I asked him, “What did you do in the war Uncle Richard?” he’d just say, “Oh, I was just a test pilot.” After he and my aunt were both gone and I was left with all their stuff to go through and sort out I learned he’d been an a number of major air battles and was highly decorated. He was a squadron maintenance officer so I assume he probably would test flight stuff they worked on, thus “..just a test pilot.” A far cry from all today’s REMFs turned Rambos in their reminiscences.
They were humble about their accomplishments.
That is a big part of what made them the Greatest Generation.
