My dad was 16 and sitting on the steps of the local drug store with his buddy when they heard the news on the radio. Both subsequently left high school before graduating to enlist.
His buddy joined the Navy, my dad’s older brother was already a US Marine when the war broke out so my dad joined the Marines. All three survived the war. My dad’s brother was on Guadalcanal and then became a Drill Instructor (San Diego?).
My father became seriously ill with scarlet fever, was sent home from Paris Island and had to repeat boot camp again. Said illness may have saved his life as he didn’t see combat until Okinawa. He was a Pvt when he stepped ashore at Okinawa with the 6th Marines and a Staff Sergeant when he left, battlefield promotions.
He did not come home until 1946, having been sent to China with others of the 6th Marines. He never liked to speak about Okinawa.
Only much later after his death did I learn from an old photograph in my aunt’s possession that he had been a hunter and trapper to augment the family income in his youth, I never saw him shoot or even touch a gun. Didn’t stop me from getting one, just never talked about it.
