My experience with this project was an interesting one. While light, this was my first foray into raw historical research in the sense that I was solely using primary sources (those being military archives) to learn about my soldier with secondary sources about aspects of World War II offering only complementary information. It was due to this that I not only gained respect for my soldier but for the archivists and those who use the archives preserved by them to preserve history in the public eye. The importance of this project to me was how it helped me understand service on multiple levels, from the soldier to those who maintain his story.