I realize that this a tough question to ask without more specific information, but I was hoping someone could make a good educated guess with some of the information my grandpa told me about in a letter. I wrote a letter to my grandpa before he died and he had my aunt answer the questions. She mentioned that his memory was fading and that he was mixing up places and dates, but some things remain clear to him. He went through France, Belgium, and then Germany. When asked if he was greeted in France with kisses and flowers, his answer was that every village had been burned out and was empty when he got there. This is a clue that he might not have been part of the initial spearhead and the D-Day invasion. He mentioned that when they arrived in Germany, they had to first build a bridge across the Rhine and as soon as it was completed hundreds of people started flooding across; I assume those people being surrendering Germans and refugees. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge in the end of the war and brought home a Belgium pistol. I've seen the Band of Brother's episode on this battle and I just can't help but imagine him among those guys, but at the same time, and the reason why I bring this question to askhistorians, I know that some soldiers didn't necessarily get to see battle towards the end of the war, yet I suspect that he might have seen/participated in combat if he had to sleep in the snow and hunt rabbits and was ordered not to shoot at German surveillance planes. He added that it was a very difficult thing to go through and I suspect that it may be possible that he just doesn't want to talk much about it. I'm expecting two kinds of answers:

1. "well we can't know for sure if he didn't specifically tell you"

2. "well, if he was sleeping in the snow hunting rabbits while not shooting at surveillance planes, he was close enough to enemy lines. Every able-bodied soldier that close has definitely fired(?) their weapon at the enemy.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.