As Gale Fuller's 18th birthday approached in 1945, World War II raged on after Allied and Axis forces clashed in the historic Battle of the Bulge.
Fuller knew he would be drafted, and - more importantly - knew he would be forced into the Army.
"I didn't think I would be any good at digging fox holes," Fuller said.
To avoid the Army and fox holes, Fuller enlisted in the Navy with his father by his side. The war wouldn't last much longer after Fuller's birthday, but his military involvement provided him with abundant opportunities.
Once enlisted, Fuller - a Hastings, Nebraska native - boarded a train heading to Omaha. There, he would complete a physical exam before reporting to duty. Little did Fuller know, he would go straight into training.
"They told me to bring an overnight bag to go to Omaha for a physical exam, but I woke up on the train at the Great Lakes Naval Training School," he said.
On his paperwork, Fuller noted he had an interest in science. He was asked to join the hospital corps and decided to go for it. Fuller then traveled to the San Diego Hospital Training Center where he learned basic nursing skills like how to give shots. He and his fellow trainees practiced giving shots by administering them to one another. Fuller said he eventually performed all of the tasks the nurses did and more.
Fuller said his two major military choices - joining the Navy and then the hospital corps - were circumstantial.
"I was in the right place at the right time," he said.
Looking back, Fuller said he enjoyed working with the active duty physicians and surgeons the most. They took him under their wings and treated him well, he said.
"My experience working with them was life changing," Fuller said.
After the war ended in September 1945, Fuller went back to his family - a circus family. He spent his childhood and adolescence traveling the country with the family putting on a circus show. Fuller and his sister performed bare-back horse riding acts, and he walked the tight wire and leaped in aerial acts.
During that summer in the circus, Fuller reflected on his military medical experience and concluded show business wasn't for him - despite being popular with young women who attended shows.
"...I knew I didn't want to continue down that road forever," Fuller said.
He was also stationed at a hospital in Key West, Florida and acted as a physician's and surgeon's assistant, gaining hands-on experience.
"It was more exciting than jumping on a horse's back," Fuller said.
When returning back home to Hastings, high school friends suggested he go to college and take advantage of the G.I. Bill - a law that provided various benefits to World War II veterans, including tuition payment. Fuller wasn't keen on the idea at first.
Fuller never had to spend much time in a classroom because his mother home schooled him and his siblings. School was dull in comparison to the circus, he said. However, Fuller still gave higher education a chance and attended Hastings College as a biology major.
Fuller participated in the college's thespian organization and played the wizard in a production of "The Wizard of Oz" his junior year. That's when he met Doris Lichtenberg, a fellow actor with a "beautiful soprano voice." Although he was mesmerized by her, Fuller didn't ask her on a date, thinking he didn't have a chance. To his surprise, an opportunity would soon come for him to court her.
Lichtenberg approached Fuller one day asking him to escort her to a sorority event. She discovered late that she was nominated for office in her sorority and needed to attend an upcoming party with a date. Because she requested the company of other young men last minute, they were unavailable.
When she asked Fuller, he told her he would clear his schedule. The party was their first date.
Afterward, they hit the town with another couple and Fuller asked Lichtenberg: Will you marry me?
"What? You're crazy. Of course not," Fuller said Lichtenberg told him that night.
They went on more dates and Fuller asked the same question, which warranted the same response.
Fuller, a college senior, was called back to report to duty at the end of his fall semester, but he was granted an extension until May so he could graduate.
Before going on winter break, Fuller asked Lichtenberg again: Will you marry me?
She asked him if he was serious this time.
"Yeah, I meant it from the first time I said it," Fuller said he told his soon-to-be wife.
They married on Jan. 19, 1948 - in between their fall and spring semesters. After graduation, Fuller reported to duty in San Francisco, a place they called home for two years. As part of an outgoing unit during the Korean War, Fuller waited for an assignment.
His higher ups noticed he graduated with a biology degree and asked if he would be interested in teaching biological warfare at the local special weapons school. Fuller jumped at the opportunity. If he hadn't, Fuller would have joined a Marines fleet and stomped the beaches of Korea as a medic.
"Well, I lucked out," Fuller said.
Fuller then faced the decision of continuing his work with the Navy, signing over as a warrant officer - the lowest ranking officer in the Navy, or leave completely. His wife was pregnant with their first child and Fuller said he didn't want to chance being separated from them and headed back home to Nebraska.
Fuller, a retired psychologist, received his master's degree from the University of Omaha and his Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming Laramie. In 1955, Fuller took a job at Westminster College and became a department chair.
Gale and Doris Fuller raised four children before she passed away. Twelve years after her death, Fuller married Phyllis.
"She's my nurse, my guardian," Fuller said. "She takes care of me."