My father was a sergeant in the infantry and fought in the Italian campaigns and the Battle of the Bulge and all the way to Munich where he was put in charge of the motor pool during the occupation. The motor pool included captured German staff cars which he loved to drive and speed past the MPs who drove jeeps. While in Munich he met my Mom, who was working for the occupation government as a food server in the mess hall, and married her.

My uncle who was my godfather was injured on Omaha Beach. My uncle never spoke of his Army experiences and my father answered questions I had but never brought up his combat experiences on his own. They never participated in any veterans groups or ceremonies. They just wanted it all behind them.

Several years after the war was over my dad got a hand signed letter of appreciation for participating in the Battle of the Bulge from President Harry Truman. He had a box full of army ribbons which I used to play with as a kid.

It is 15 years since I visited Normandy - principally to buy wine! We visited some of the D-Day sites, so here are a few photos.

We visited the Chateau d'Audrieu, now a 5-star hotel, because my sister-in-law was at that time nursing a veteran who had been there during the war and had asked her to visit. I include a photo of the place because I later learned that it was the site of numerous murders of Canadian Royal Winnipeg Rifles and British Green Howards PoWs by the 12th SS following the Normandy landings - may they rest in peace.
https://www.normandywarguide.com/articles/the-massacre-of-24-canadian-and-2-british-pows-at-chateau-d-audrieu-normandy

I rather think my sister-in-law's patient was there a little later as part of a British military staff group.

My Dad was in medical school when the war started. He quit and joined the army as a Medic. He was there on Omaha Beach on D-Day...23 years old. Thankfully he came home but never ever forgot and never failed to honor those who served. He went back to medical school after the war and practiced medicine until he was 84.
In the Ste-Mère-Eglise photo, notice the parachute and parachutist hanging from the church tower - a memorial to a brave airman. One of my principal memories of this trip was the depth of French gratitude reflected in the numerous memorials everywhere we went.

Yes. My Mom had more effects from the war than my Dad did. She and her two sisters spent the war in Germany working in munitions plants after their father was killed in Serbia. She was the youngest, going to Germany to work at the age of 15 in 1941. When the allies bombed those plants it was hell on earth. Seems like we ignore the costs of war to civilians, which is normally much higher than it is for combatants. Still there were happy times too, even in the midst of all the death and destruction.