His wife. My cousin. The youngest sister.

Her husband was fascinated by the military. Not fascinated enough to serve mind you, but fascinated enough to collect memorabilia. And, he wears it as if he served. don't know what was so special about that patch as a collectable. But, there was something.

After my uncle died he and my cousin pillage his military stuff since that's his interest. He didn't find my uncle's Silver Star from Korea. I'm pretty sure he got the Purple Heart because it's missing.

I never got the REAL story on how he got them. He was never proud of them. He said he got them for running away faster than the rest of his outfit. During which he was shot in the back. My dad, who doesn't talk about it either, said most of my uncle's company died at the hands of the Chinese that day because the one on guard duty dozed off. My uncle was one of the very few who survived and was credited with the survival of the others.

My uncle joined the Airborne after Korea. THAT he was proud of. That he would talk about. But, I don't think he ever saw any real action in the Airborne. Just practice.