My Father passed away at 93 a couple of years ago.
We found a picture of him with a big smile on his face standing in front of a Ship’s Bulkhead that had depicted all the Japanese Planes that his Ship had shot out of the sky. He never mentioned anything about that.
He served on a Destroyer, a Sub Chaser and an Ocean going Tug that pulled stranded Landing Craft off the Beaches while under fire.
He said serving on that Tug was the closest he got to dying in the War. They were almost sunk by one of our own Ships in all the chaos because his Captain screwed up big time.
He was a brave man.
My Dad served in the China-Burma-India Theater of War.
God bless them all.