In a modest home in Sparks, Harry Rice said he simply tries only to remember the good memories of his time fighting in World War II.

“I tend to lose the bad stuff and remember the good parts,” Rice said looking at a box on the floor.

Rice’s war memories are in the blue shoebox sitting near his feet. The contents are a few photos, the belt from his uniform — which he jokingly says probably couldn’t fit around him anymore — and the medals he earned for fighting in Germany.

Rice said he ranked as a technical fourth and fought with the 8th Armored Division in WWII.

“This division was the keeper of all the United States’ gold,” Rice said.

Rice joined the army when he was 21. On Monday, he celebrated is 87th birthday. Originally from West Virginia, he attended military school at Virginia Tech.

“We didn’t have much of a choice back then,” Rice said. “I was going to school, so I didn’t think much of it. I went home and told the draft board to call me up. You either went into the military or had to have a job pertaining to the war or be a student.”

Rice was sent to Europe, first to England for training then Germany and after the war to Czechoslovakia — the present-day Czech Republic. He said that after the war, the troops helped with the fall harvest in Czechoslovakia, not knowing the country eventually would be controlled by Russian communism.

“Our first action was in Luxembourg, a neutral country,” Rice said. “It was about the time of the Battle of the Bulge.”

Rice picked up a small gray box out of the blue shoebox and carefully pulled open the hinges to reveal a medal he earned in combat. The Bronze Star was awarded to Rice for leadership in combat under heavy fire in northern Germany from April 3-12, 1945.

“I returned home in 1946,” Rice said. “I was relieved, glad to be home for sure.”

Rice moved to Reno in 1948 to take a summer job with the geological survey and worked for Southern Pacific until he retired in 1984 and moved to Sparks.

War as seen from the water

More than 15 years after Rice returned from Europe after fighting in WWII, Robert Snider was joining the Navy and preparing to be stationed in the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of Vietnam.

“I joined the Navy when I was 20 years old on Jan. 29, 1964,” said Snider, who is originally from West Virginia. Snider retired from the Navy on May 1, 1994, as a training officer in with the San Diego fleet training group where he taught engineering and holds and E9 ranking.

“When they assassinated President (John F.) Kennedy, we knew there would be a conflict because there were so many hot spots in the world at the time,” Snider said about why he joined the military with his cousins. “We decided to join in 1963.”

Initially intending on joining the Army, Snider opted to skip the 90-day waiting period and immediately joined the Navy.

“I wanted to be on a river patrol boat in the Mekong Delta,” Snider said. “But I was on a destroyer in the Tonkin Gulf.”

Snider explained that the Navy saved pilots who were shot down over the water.

“We saved a bunch of pilots,” Snider said. “We did that from 1964 to 1975. It went so fast.”

Snider was moved to the U.S.S. Ranger, an attack carrier, in the early 1970s.

“We aided in a lot of bombing in Vietnam,” Snider said, adding that the war was difficult because soldiers never really knew where to fire or what to bomb. “But I was mostly on destroyers and cruisers right up to the Persian Gulf War in 1988.”

Proud of his time in the military, Snider shakes his head when he says that all the ships he has served on are no longer in service.

“Even the Ranger went to scrap,” Snider said.

However, when asked about his memories of the war, Snider’s response is similar to Rice’s.

“A veteran doesn’t usually talk too much about his doings,” Snider said. “The best man at my wedding was killed over there.”

After a long pause, Snider quietly said with a sigh, “Memories.”

Although both Rice and Snider said they are proud to have served their country, both men believe a decision about the United States’ involvement in the Middle East needs to be made and executed quickly.

“If we could get them out of there, I’d sure go for it,” Rice said. “But I don’t just want to walk away.”

Rice said the problem stems from prolonged American involvement in countries that have been in conflict for centuries. He said he didn’t believe Operation Iraqi Freedom or the war in Afghanistan would be solved anytime soon.

“I either say send in the troops and get the job done or send the kids home,” Snider said. “I think we’re losing American lives unnecessarily.”