I often wish my father had told me more about his service during WW2 brfore he passed. I had to dig most of the info out of public records. All I got from him was that he was the XO of a destroyer named USS Heermann in the South Pacific. I had to go to public records to find out that USS Heermann participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
To have served on the USS Johnston, USS Heerman or the USS Samuel B. Roberts at the Battle of Leyte Gulf was to have faced certain death and lived to tell about it.
In many respects, it was the greatest battle in the history of naval warfare.
My Dad joined the Army Air Corps in May of 45. Up until two years ago we thought he was in the MATS. we were at a Memorial Day Mass and friend of ours asked him about his service. we found out he had flown two missions in a B-24 and had seen the atomic bomb loaded.