His parents were ruined by Prohibition and the Depression, they were abusive. He had a particularly bad year starting in May 1944, when he came home on Mother’s Day to find his mother had killed herself. A few months later he’s deployed to Europe. December 1944, he’s captured in the Battle of the Bulge. February 1945, he’s in the firebombing of Dresden. Repatriated May 1945.

His books touch on all of it to some degree. My impression was Dresden was the bit he found most horrifying. More importantly, though, it was the best setup for a sarcastic comment about Slaughterhouse Five.