Not long ago, I interviewed a number of them and didn't run into a single one who was reluctant to discuss his adventures in uniform. To a man, however, they were remarkably modest. One had earned a battlefield commission in France (and a Silver Star to go with it). "Oh," he told me, "somebody got shot and they needed somebody to take his place."
Toward the end of 1943, I was home on leave after taking part in the landings on Sicily and at Salerno, and I couldn't wait for someone to ask me what those two little stars on the campaign ribbon stood for. Nobody did, and I was really disappointed. I would have talked about the experience with enthusiasm. Still would.
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