A reader from Iowa recently sent me the Veterans Day 2012 Salute to World War II Veterans that appeared in the Des Moines Register last year. I since found it online here. The comments of WWII vet Robert Underwood are probably not what people were expecting:

I don’t have any of that stuff (war photos and memorabilia). Some guys have been fighting that war their whole lives. I can’t say I’m not proud. But I came to the conclusion that, you know, life was pretty damn cheap when I was over there. And it is.

I’ve been mad that my brother was killed, both brothers were killed. I’ve been more mad than I’ve been proud. And I’m still mad. Because I’ve seen what it did to a family. My folks … It just took the life right out of them. They never ever, ever got over it. So think how many families have been destroyed by the damn war.

The Best of Laurence M. Vance