When I was a child the old men were in WW1.
My mother has photos of a great-great grandfather or uncle in his uniform form the Spanish American War. One of my aunts has photos of predecessors from the Civil War (Both sides).
Both Grand fathers were too young for WW1 and because they were coal miners were exempt from the draft in WW2.
My father’s older brother was in WW2.
My father was too young for Korea though his next older brother (Joe was there)
My parents younger brothers were in Vietnam. I missed Vietnam by 4 years. Not that they would have taken me due to having a gimpy ankle that I broke as a teenager.
I’ve tried to visit as many of the major battle sites in the Pacific as I can. About the only ones I haven’t made are Iwo Jima, Wake and Midway because you can’t go there.
The point here is that we are now about as far from the first Gulf War as WW2 was from me as a child. We are only 40 years or so from being as far a way from the start of WW1 as the US and UK were from the start of the American Revolution in 1914
Some days I just feel old.
I've been to Iwo Jima, including the top of Mt Suribachi, where the flag raising memorial still stands. And I've been to Midway twice. Once when the gooney birds were all over the island and once when they were out to sea. Never did make it to Wake.
>> My father was too young for Korea though his next older brother (Joe was there)
My father’s older brother fought in the Korean war. He lied about his age and joined at 17 YO.