November 28, 2018:

Big smile! Sergeant's stripes, parade cap, squatting on his toes holding his walking stick. Eberbach, Germany, August 1945.

He's back from the hospital. Although he's awarded the Purple Heart, his wound can't have been horrifically serious. He's returned to active duty, although thankfully the war is over. Now he's an Allied Occupier, the healing of the country has begun, his own healing seems to be in progress.

His face seems less ancient. He's ebullient, almost jaunty. He's alive, he'll be going home.

He'll never look like this again. It's the last photo until his death in 1980 where you see him smile.

Somewhere in America his abandoned little daughter is eight years old.