In honor of Memorial Day, we would like to commemorate the thousands of men who did not come home after World War 2 by beginning the story of one who did. It’s important to hear the stories of those who came home to understand more fully the ultimate sacrifices many of our men and women in uniform had to make. On Christmas Eve 1944, 18-year-old Bob was far from home. Less than two weeks after landing in Europe for the first time, he found himself on the bleak French and German border. The landscape was bitterly cold, not unlike Bob’s native Michigan during the winter months. But the atmosphere was tense. There were no lights, no music, and, on the night before Christmas, young Bob engaged in his first firefight. Seventy-five years later, Bob is visiting his wife in the dementia unit of a care facility in Junction City, Kansas. He’s telling us a few snippets of his story. “The feeling,” Bob hesitates for a moment, “Is difficult to explain.”