A little background on my aunt. She is my mother's older sister. I think maybe 3 years older. Looks a lot like my grandfather, while my mother looks like her mother.

Back in 1947 when she turned 18, my aunt joined the army. The story I've been told is that she got raped. I think that her rapist gave her syphilus, although I'm less certain about that end. If the syphilus story is correct, then she felt very ashamed and never told anyone until it started affecting her brain. It may also have been that the rape just drove her insane.

In any case, she left the military and lived with her parents until my grandmother passed away in 1990, when she moved to live near my aunt. After her experience when just became an adult, she went from being a person who could do something to help others to being a person who would have to be helped all her life. Which isn't the easiest roll to play.