My family lucked out. Out of a whole bunch, no KIA and only one grandfather and one son WIA.

My Grandfather, whom I was named after, was in WWII. I met him a few times during summer vacation when I was a little boy. Sadly, it always was the same thing. The second the fireworks started, he turned into a different person.

He was in the first waves that stormed the beaches in Normandy and saw quite a bit of action. He never talked about it...

He passed away before I turned 13...

On a lighter note....One time I walked into a nursing home in Fayetteville NC. A woman sitting right by the front door sees me and guitar and says "oh, nooooo." Since it was my first time there, I figured her opinion was, as yet, unqualified. I asked why she said that? She replied, "well, my ex husband was a guitar picker and I hate him so I hate you too."

So the Chief gave a wonderful speech on how our country needed to restore Decoration Day instead of Mattress sales on Memorial Day. Several members or our big band are retired military musicians, so the 3 of us there did a stirring (imho) set of patriotic tunes + hymns. As always, when we do the Star Spangled Banner, they rise from their wheelchairs in reverence. When that was over, we received 2 requests; The Look Of Love and Bridge over Troubled Water. (?) Well, a jazz guitar/vocal, piano, and trombone did the best we could with that; but it reminds me that the 70 yr old +/- residents were in their 20's in the 1960's! At another nursing home years ago, after I'd played 3 or 4 standards, a woman rolled up in her wheelchair and asked "don't you know any Beatles' songs?"