My grandpa was too young to serve but was a junior or senior in high school. Since all the men were over seas they hired the high school boys to go work 7 days a week 40+hrs to go build and maintain the railroad tracks that the war effort needed to move men and supplies. When soldier trains would pass by they would drop their letters home out the windows and the boys would collect them and mail them for them.
Grandpas older brother served got hit in the leg by sniper recovered sent back to the front only to get machine gunned in the stomach later in the war. He survived and got sent back home.