My father was in Korean war from start to end, has 2 purple hearts, and even survived running over a land-mine in his jeep, getting metal plates in his head, and returning to duty a few months later.

He passed away in 2007, but was able to open up to me the last few years of his life regarding his time in service. I always thought he regretted partly being in the service due to his injuries and the after-effects going on until he died.

He told me, "I have no regrets. We fought the communists hard. They wanted complete control of their people and the farmers in the south were being slaughtered if they did not obey. They [the farmers] fought side by side with us, died with us, and in the end became our family. You never regret that."