Thanks for sharing. I always enjoy insights into some of the "ordinary" experiences of the soldiers that don't get told in movies or textbooks. Two of these sketches reminded me of a conversation with a neighbor many years ago.
Was working as an election clerk one day and we had a lot of downtime. The election judge introduced me to an older gentleman who was also working that day. "ChiliBeans, do you know Mr. So and So (not our real names)? He's a war hero. He fought in Europe during WWII."
Mr. SoandSo was 80ish at the time, fairly quiet and soft-spoken, and looked like a church deacon. I said "Is that right?" He nodded, told me when he was there. Then he started to smile and said, "You know, they only tell you all the bad parts of war. There were some good times too. When we got into France, they really welcomed us as liberators. The women especially. They shared their food, their wine....and everything else. And I certainly did take them up on it." It was nice to see that old man with an ear to ear smile and beaming eyes.