My dad was a tanker in WWII, North Africa and Italy. They were issued Thompsons. He traded his for a Garand because it "was better for shooting at airplanes" ( they got strafed from time to time when out of the tanks) Made him feel better anyway ;)

That was my dad I was talking about [:D] He went into the war a little late and he was a bit older than most. He was peaceful, kind man who I'm sure never wanted to fight anyone. I think at that point he was attending college and paying his way by working on a chicken farm, but at the time he joined he said something like "everyone was going" so he enlisted.

He was injured, I believe, in the Po River valley while attempting to cross a river in a boat, my guess it that he was injured by shrapnel from a mortar or artillery attack. He did not ever really have any interest in talking about it. He hobbled his whole life after that (I think they may have fused some of the bones in his feet), he was never able to run or even walk at a quick pace, but he never complained about it.

I still have the wooden chess set he was given by a german POW who worked in the hospital where he recovered from his injuries. He taught my dad how to play and gave him the chess set before my dad left.

The ironic thing is my uncle was eager to get into the war and had lied about his age years before to get into the Army. He was part of a headquarters unit (I think) (he was a radioman) who escaped the japanese by boarding a passing frieghter that went to Australia. He spent most of the rest of the war in Australia. He fired his rifle once in WWII. He shot at a duck that was in a pond, he missed.