If I may, My grandpa..
started WW2 in East Africa, the 'trot' back and forth along North African coast, El Alamein, Sicily, and then finished the war in Italy.
He spent 6 years at war, never wanted to talk about it no matter how hard we, as kids, tried to get him to.
I'm not sure what he did in East Africa, but he started as a private, was a tank gunner during the North African campaign, and soon became a tank commander (rank of Captain - field commission) on Sherman tanks, I think in Sicily and Italy.
The closest he came to dying (according to my mom) was one night when a sniper got the guy sitting next to him - this guy had lit up a cigarette
My mother said that the first time she saw her father, was when this guy jumped out of the train window, before the train stopped, and came bounding over to them. She was only 5 years old
I enjoyed being with my grandparents, they were always so funny and happy - 'Pull my finger'
