Scott, we're not alone. Many of us never knew enough about our dads until it was too late. But, we can show honor for those men who are still here.
Ken, Scott, and others - you are correct.
My Dad landed on Omaha beach 54 years ago yesterday on D+1.
He joined the AAF, and wanted to be a pilot. But this Chicagoan never had an eye exam before his Army medical. When told to cover one eye, he put the palm of his hand over one eye and pressed the eye closed, and read the eye chart. When he removed his hand, he could not immediately refocus his eye, and failed the test. While he never became a pilot, he remained in the AAF, and was on a B-17 base in England before the invasion.
He landed in Normandy with the 368th Fighter Group. They fought and captured land to establish the first P-47 Thunderbolt base in France. This continued over throughout the summer and fall. In the Battle of the Bulge, my dad was in the area near St. Vithe.
I learned very little of this until I sat with him during his 9-month bout with cancer in 1995. He told me of a hand-to-hand knife fight with a German in a French cemetery, while on guard duty outside one of their air fields. The first and last thing he thought of was that this man was some mother's son. It was very powerful, and I now understand why he never discussed it earlier in life. But I will always regret not making a point of talking to him about his life earlier in my life.
God bless all of these from the Greatest Generation.