Are there any WWII historians here at DU? I have a question about my late uncle's deployment to Persia in 1940 when he

[bucolic_frolic]

5. One thing I've learned from families, and myself as I age

Specific Years can mean plus or minus a year, or two, or three. Decades after an event 1943 may seem like 1940.

This was even worse in census records in the 1800s. The birth date of the participants changed every census! They'd be 42 in 1860 but 46 in 1870 and so forth. It's not that they were always lying about their age. It was also that they only saw their birthdate a few times in life. Maybe there was a birth certificate, or maybe it was written in grandma's Bible in another household many miles away. My g-g grandfather of mine had this problem. I go by his gravestone, but during life it varied by 8 years. When he was very old he aged more slowly - in years anyway.