A year or so ago I saw some WWII and Korean-era US Army uniforms. I had always assumed that the soldiers involved in these wars were big, strong hero-type dudes, like you see in the movies. I'd imagine some of them were, but these uniforms were size 28, 32, and 34 waist pants and size 38 and 40 jackets. That's the size of my ninth-grade boys. The point is, while movies like to glamorize real events, a lot of the servicemen (and women) were still teenagers, called up to do the work of a dozen grown men, each. A lot of them had never been away from home before. My great-uncle was so sheltered that he slept in the same bed with his mother until he shipped off to Basic.
While it was never my privilege to serve, my hat is off to those who did.