Sorry for your loss TC. Remember the good times, and he will be with you always.
My grandfather was in WWII and I lost him in 1979 when I was 9 years old. He was 54. I pretty much lived with him and grandma from about 4 years old until right before he passed, as my mom and dad both worked night jobs with 45 minute commutes, so it was grandma and grandpa that I was with most of the time. He was in the 82nd Airborne Division - 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. I have all of his medals and awards including his casket flag. They are my most prized possessions. He was awarded 3 Bronze Stars and I have a box of write-ups of his achievements. He also did not talk about the war and as someone mentioned above, I still remember the large scar in his back above his right cheek from the flak shrapnel, for which he received his first Purple Heart. He was a "Teddy Roosevelt" type, in that he spoke softly but his mere presence commanded respect from everyone around him. He made many folks smile and apparently lived up to his nickname "Happy". When he passed they had to have 2 separate viewings because of all the people that knew him. He had one visitation in Kenosha, WI, where he lived and worked his whole life after WWII, and one in Mauston, WI where he had planned to retire. When he passed, I thought I needed to be a tough little guy, because "Grandpa wouldn't want to see me cry", so I held back all those emotions for a very long time and I let no one know how I truly felt. Finally after a very long while and another tragic event in our family, I was able to let myself finally come to terms with it and cried for what seemed like 3 straight days. I remember hunting with him and we had a woods that we used to make deer drives in that he would always walk the same "spot" along a creek through that woods, he would tell me it was because the deer liked to follow the creek edge to get to the swamp to the south, and I always followed along behind him. After he passed, that became "my spot" to walk through that woods when we made drives there. Those are the memories we must never forget and those are the stories we tell around the campfire. To this day, everything I do in my life, I try to model after what I think he would have done or how I think he would want me to do it.
