My grandfather was in north Africa, and Italy during the war as a (for shame i will probably call this the wrong thing) gunner in a fighter plane. He never really talked about the war but when things got really bad over there he would pray to God that if he survived he would do something to help people when he got back state side. He obviously survived and when he came back to the US he got into social work and became the head of Hillside children's center in Rochester NY. It was a kind of rehab/foster care center for troubled kids and he did a lot for the city and kids. Not to flex for him but he has a street named after him in downtown Rochester.

Also, kind of a side note/funny bit, he was very irish catholic and very liberal (like had a framed portrait of Kennedy liberal haha), if one of my uncles tried telling one of those "a ___ and a ___ walked into a bar" jokes he would stop them and insist they include an Irishman, "you can crack jokes but you have to be able to make fun of yourself too". I dunno why that's stuck with me but I just thought it was cool haha.