These are my stories from my time serving at the end of the war- but probably not in consecutive order. I am 66 years old as I write this and do feel that time and memory may not be 100%, but I will tell my stories as best I can remember them. May they give insight and understanding to anyone who cares to read them. The experience did change my life, however, I did not directly volunteer, nor would I choose to do it again if I could go back in time. I remember seeing tears in my Dad’s eyes, himself a WWII combat veteran, when I told him I, too, was going to war. My mother openly wept. I promised her I would not take any unnecessary chances-a promise I would later break.