COEUR d'ALENE - Bob Ehrlich was so passionate about joining the Marines and serving during World War II that his mother had to sign for her 17-year-old son to get involved.

"Maybe it's my German blood," the Coeur d'Alene man said about his fierce intent to serve. "I used to pray that the war wouldn't end before I could get in. I couldn't get in without parental permission."

As if serving during World War II wasn't enough, he later joined a Marine Corps Reserve unit to serve during the Korean War, where he earned two Purple Hearts for being injured in combat.

Ehrlich believes it was his duty to carry on the tradition of fighting for freedom as his father, Henry, did in the Navy during World War I.

With Veterans Day on Monday, the 88-year-old Ehrlich will reflect on his service and that of other vets that have allowed him to enjoy life. He played professional baseball in the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri (KOM) League and had jobs as a farmer, health inspector and car salesman.

It wasn't until just before Ehrlich earned his second Purple Heart during the Korean War that he wondered what he had gotten himself into with war.

The brutal 17-day Battle of Chosin Reservoir, nicknamed the "Frozen Chosin" due to the temperature dipping to minus-35 degrees, was fought over rough hilly terrain after Chinese troops encircled United Nations forces.

"That was bad... even bad for me," Ehrlich said, adding that frostbite casualties were common. "I wanted to get out of there. The Chinese came down in masses, and we didn't even know it. They had run the Army off our flanks."

Ehrlich believes he was injured by a concussion grenade.

"I was bleeding out of my ears and eyes," he said. "I woke up in a nice warm tent, and I thought I was in heaven. I was in the hospital for more than a month."

Ehrlich was among the minority of his unit to survive that part of the battle.

"I had some good friends who never made it out of there," he said softly.

Ehrlich's wife Ellie, who has been married to Bob for 66 years, vividly remembers receiving a radiogram on Dec. 9, 1950, that Bob survived.

"Every paper said the 1st Marine Division had been annihilated," she said. "I was working and pregnant with our first baby. I took off back to the restroom crying. Nobody really knew anything. The good Lord was with him. I'm truly grateful."

Ehrlich was also injured earlier in the Korean War in Seoul.

"I took a bullet off the wall that hit me in the back," he said, adding that he was in the hospital for five days. "I bled and (the wound) got infected, but it was an easy Purple Heart. I was told to have it looked at, but never got a chance to right away."

During World War II, Ehrlich served during the controversial Battle of Peleliu in the Pacific Theater. The mission was to capture an airstrip on the island that' is present-day Palau.

It was predicted the island would be secured within four days, but Japan's resistance made it last more than two months.

"We had no idea the Japanese were dug in the caves like they were," he said.

The island's strategic value was questionable compared to the 3,000 American casualties, which was the highest for the country in any battle in the Pacific.

"Once I waded into shore there, I learned what war was," Ehrlich said. "It wasn't the John Wayne thing that I used to see at all."

Looking back, Ehrlich said he's proud of his service and that of fellow veterans.

"If I had to do it over again, I'd do the same thing," he said. "Hardly a day goes by in which I don't think of it."