The year I graduated and later joined the USN, I worked with a man who fought in Italy and Yugoslavia, a Army infantrymen who went to Europe, and a Tincan sailor who served in the Pacific fighting the Japanese. Vietnam was hot and I had signed up trying to avoid the draft, dad was 82nd Airborne and convinced me to get somewhere besides the Jungle. So I ended up in submarines. Everything they all told me was truth. Kids now days could use a stint in at least basic training.
My Father was in the combat engineers. They landed at Utah Beach and ended up as part of the Army of Occupation. I have photos of them playing the 82nd Airborne in football at the Berlin Polo Grounds.
This was July 1945. The crowd was over flowing. Eisenhower and Zhukov were both there.