Great story. Made my wife cry. In the 90's when it was 50 years my father told me some of his story.
One of my favorites though, is one that my uncle told me.
Like most WWII veterans, all my father wanted to do was come home and build something better. He was a underground construction superintendent.
One fine winter, the job that he was on flooded and then froze. Cranes, loaders, pumps, generators, and mining machines encased in ice after the water receded. The younger engineer in charge said they would need to close down the job and truck all the frozen machines back to the workshop for repair. My dad said no and they disagreed about it. My dad won out. He sent men to every grocery store and tarp shop in the area and had men cut barrels in half. In sub zero weather, with charcoal fires, tarps and heaters they thawed and serviced the equipment and got that job running again in short order. This saved the company big money and very much impressed the young engineer.
The young engineer asked my father where he had learned to do what had been done? My father's simple reply was "I learned it on a job in Europe".
I think of that cold and bloody winter of 1944/45 and how my father learned that lesson...
Thank God for great men!