And now my Dad (96) has joined that long list of The Greatest Generation that is no longer with us. March 4th, he passed away in his (my) home state of Kentucky. WW2 infantry sergeant in the 35th Inf Div, 2nd Battalion (Company G), 134th Infantry Regiment. Purple Heart due to being knocked out of action by a mortar round (that killed the soldier just in front of him), east of Nancy, France on 13 November 1944. A captured German doctor saved him in a French barn where the American wounded had been taken.
He had two younger brothers that served too. Uncle Marvin (19 yo) was with the 29th Division and in the D-day invasion, wounded and later, KIA 10 August 1944 (German sniper). Uncle Garnet was with the Marines (2 Marine Div, 8th Regiment, C Company) in the Pacific; wounded at Saipan recovered in Hawaii and then much more seriously wounded in the Battle of Tarawa (but he survived the war) - died in Virginia some number of years ago.
Lo, There do I see my Father, and Lo, there do I see my Mother, and Lo, There do I see my Brothers and my Sisters and Lo, There do I see my people back to the begining, and Lo they do call to me, and bid me take my place among them in the halls of Valhalla, Where the brave will live forever.
May your father & all the other heroic departed of WWII and all the other wars REST IN ETERNAL PEACE.
Our most sincere condolences to the family, as well.