1.  The one story that I heard my dad tell more than once or twice was about the time he and a buddy spent fixing up their foxhole.  On this occasion they decided to give it some extra work to make their stay a little more comfortable.  In particular my dad had dug out a place shaped like an easy chair so that he could lay back and recline with his feet up. He had just finished and was showing off his masterpiece when along came an officer who liked it so much that he took over the Foxhole and sent my dad out to dig another for himself.  He was so disgusted with the whole situation that he never tried anything like that again.  He said if the officers wanted to be comfortable they would have to dig it for themselves the next time.  

2.  Another story my dad would mention occasionally had to do with one of the jumps he made.  My dad was the BAR man.  As he was getting ready to exit the plane, the BAR shifted and wedged across the door keeping him from exiting the plane.  Evidently other troopers trying to get out were applying pressure from the rear which kept him from being able to dislodge the weapon.  About this time a sergeant who realized what was happening reached up and kicked the weapon free and my dad just fell out of the plane without warning.  He landed safely but I'm sure he took a lot of ribbing for getting stuck in the door.

3.  At some point after the Battle of the Bulge my dad was assigned to an MP patrol (probably after re-enlisting).  According to my dad they were required to patrol a certain number of miles per day.  My dad was not thrilled to be assigned as an MP and preferred to spend much of his time at the local Beer Garden.  The only problem was that someone checked the odometer on the jeep every day.  Evidently whoever was in charge forgot that paratroopers were taught to adapt and improvise.  So my dad and his buddy would pull the jeep into a little shed behind the beer garden, jack up the rear so the wheels were off the ground, and let it run while they kept a close eye on the happenings inside. Problem Solved!  

4. An interesting incident for my dad came around 1984 when he was approximately 60 years old.  He worked for the railroad for 35 years and had to drive about an hour each way.  One day as he was on the way home he was harassed by two vehicles on the highway.  My dad said all he could figure was that they though he was driving too slowly.  One vehicle got in front of him and the other pulled up behind and led him over to the side of the road.  Two men in their 20's got out of the vehicles threatening him as they approached.  Bad move.  These two had no idea what they had gotten themselves into.  They thought they were dealing with some old farmer on the road.  What they got was a former paratrooper whose training and self-preservation skills quickly came to the surface when faced with a threat.  My dad knowing that he was out matched physically did exactly as he was trained to do, he improvised.  He reached into the back of his pick-up truck and grabbed a tobacco stick (3' long X 2" square) and gave them the beating of their lives.  Stunned, they ran for their vehicles and headed for parts unknown.  Although he did not brag about the incident when he told me what had happened, I could see in his face that he was proud of the fact that he still knew how to take on the bad guys.    

5.  My dad had a large burn area on one of his legs.  According to my mother he received the burn while trying save a man from a fire that originated from a stove or the fuel for it that exploded in a barracks.

6.  My mother told me this story just recently.  My father had just finished washing out his clothes for the first time in quite a while.  After he finished, he hung them on a bayonet just outside his foxhole.  A shell came in and landed so close that it blew my dads uniform to shreds.