Alva Review-Courier -

When I was a kid, I was so fascinated with my grandfather and his military service during World War II. I did not know as a child that this was not something he really liked to talk about. It brought back memories that were painful for him to deal with.

As a kid, I knew my grandfather served. I knew he landed at Normandy, and I knew that he was involved in the Battle of the Bulge. To me, he was a hero. What I did not realize at the time was the darker side of the war he experienced: The loss of his friends and being surrounded, hit in the head with a rifle butt, and left for dead by the German...