I knew a guy through church a few years ago and was getting to know him - was at his small nursing home room with his wife.
I noticed his tattoo and said Oh - you were in the Navy!
Yes
WW II obviously?
Yes
My dad was on a minesweeper in the Pacific, what sort of ship were you on?
I drove a Higgins boat
It was then that his wife piped up and said
Harry was at Normandy on D-Day.
I got up, shook his hand, said thank you with a tear in my eye, and then turned the conversation to other things. But the rest of the time that I would meet with them I was always in awe of what he did, and what he had gone through. Thank God for these boys turned quickly into men.
I drove a Higgins boat
We thank you, Sir, for your service to our country. And we thank your Dad, too, twelve.