re: Relatives that served in World War 2

My father and uncle joined after Pearl Harbor; they were 18 & 19. They were in college on the day. My father didn't pass the physical because of heart damage from rheumatic fever; he was told to go back to school because his major (chemistry & physics) was crucial to the war effort.
My uncle was recruited to be a pilot and flew bombers over Europe (I don't know what kind of plane). He crashed in France at one point and had to be rescued by the French Resistance. Like so many others, my uncle rarely spoke about his time in WWII. He and my father refused to buy anything made in Japan for the rest of their lives.
Years later my mother signed us up to host an exchange student; he turned out to be Japanese. He was born years after the war, so Dad didn't have a problem with it. The student was a really nice guy who lived with us for a time and often shared meals with us. My parents kept track of him for about a decade after he returned to Japan.