Did Any of Your Parents or Grandparents Serve? What Facts or Stories Do You Remember About Their Service?:

I never knew my natural father, although I learned that he had been in the Army. My stepfather was stationed in the Philippines during WWII; however, he never spoke of his time on active duty during the war. Fast-forward to 1970, when my younger brother was 18 and Richard Nixon was the US President. The Vietnam War was in full force, and changes regarding military enlistment were afoot; a military draft lottery drawing had been instituted the prior year. My mother was terrified that my brother Bill would be drafted, sent to Vietnam, and killed. Rather than take his chances with becoming a draftee, Bill enlisted in the Army as a surveyor, went to Fort Sill, OK and on to Germany for his permanent duty station in 1971.