Finding Granddad's War

To discover the grandfather he never knew, Jeff Badger interviewed 32 elderly Army-engineer veterans from his granddad's unit, including his four best buddies.

Their firsthand accounts were nothing like what he'd read in the popular histories. There were stories of war, but there were also stories of the painful, the funny and the absurd: breaking into a brothel in France, drinking wine and chasing girls in Holland, robbing a bank. The author then went to Holland, France and Germany and interviewed the civilians who befriended them during the war. 

Finding Granddad's War weaves a rare and intimate portrait of The Greatest Generation -- warts and all -- as the GIs wanted their stories to be told.

In Part II the author gives instructions on researching your own family member's war story.