OP may I ask which war? I was born during WW ll, but no memory of it, but I do remember Korea and I am a Vietnam Era Veteran, I served in Germany from 1963 to 65 of a 3 year hitch. And so many great responses and I certainly identify with those who started cd'ing very young. Late 1940's I was 4-5 years old. We lived, as a preschooler, down a dirt road and actually it was a "holler", you yell at the mountain and it yells back, LOL. We were the last house down this road surrounded by a huge apple orchard, 1,000's of acres of apples. Few neighbors, dad was a drunk, but mom split from him when I was 9. But before that my sister apparently wanted a sister to play with being 16 months older than I and she would dress me in one of her sun dress's and petticoats and pantie. We would play house, cut out paper dolls, collaring books, hop scotch, jump rope and dolls. Oh I had my own boy toys but would rather play with her and her things and her girlfriends. Learned to dance at a young age and much envied and chastised by other boys in grammar and high school when attending school dances, they were "wall flowers" I was on the dance floor. I had a paper route when I was about 12 until about 14, I would come home from school and change my clothes, but would wear my mom's garter belt and nylon stockings and a pair of her silky panties when I delivered newspapers on my route, the excitement of getting caught aroused me in a peculiar way, I suppose. At 14 I fully dressed in mom's clothes I didn't know why I had those, "I am different than other boys of my age feelings or thoughts, sort of like the round peg in the square hole", until at 14 years old. I dressed fully in mom's lingerie and dress and put on some makeup and her jewelry and perfume and probably the last time I could fit into her hi heel shoes. I saw myself in the mirror and realized I should have been born a girl, that was the feeling I had inside me all those years, I was free from the bondage of the first 14 years of my life, I remember turning on my sisters 45 record player and dancing to the latest Elvis hit "Jailhouse Rock", I danced through the house ever so free from the bondage I felt for the first 14 years of my life. I wanted to stay dressed like that until my mom came home, the excitement of getting caught and punished by her making me wear girly clothes and shoes and the fear of getting caught and beaten, the first of many wars and revolutions that occurred in my being. Needless to say I undressed and never said a word to her about it for the next 20 years or so. My desire of wanting to be a girl, it never came to be so true especially when I started High School. My dad would have liked me to play football, but the only spikes and padding I was interested in were spiked hi heel shoes and the padding in the shoulders of my mom's silky blouses and dresses. That day at 14 "all dressed up" changed my life forever.
In my grammar school years I envied my sister especially when mom took us shopping for school clothes. I marveled at the pretty girls dresses, petticoats, skirts, panties and shoes with the bows or flowers and the pretty patent leather so shiny, boys only wore tie shoes and came in 3 colors, brown, black, oxblood, that or black and white converse canvass sneakers, yuk. Even a shoe salesman once was shocked when he measured my feet, he said "he has feet shaped like a girls". My sister was envious of my natural wavy hair and my legs and soft skin. Even in the Army I was walking back to our bivouac area from a debriefing as a non commissioned officer (sergeant E5) after a war game of training from battalion headquarters. I lurked behind visiting the latrine. A voice behind hollered a name and since I was the only one in the immediate area I turned and said "wrong guy" he said to me "I thought you were sergeant so and so, he walks with a wiggle like a girl too", I just turned and smiled and kept on walking, you just can't hide it sometimes, what comes natural.
Blame anybody for my being a cd/tv, na, I knew at that very young age of 4 to 5 something was different.
My first hetero sexual experience with a girl, a lady, I was 22 years old, and just out of the Army. My first gay experience I was 24 and it was with another TV. I have had 3 such experiences only with "girls" of the transgender community and all were from my days while visiting NYC and Greenwich Village. I am not attracted to the manly athletic type hetero male and in fact attracted more to GG women, married 2 times in my life, both ex wives have passed on, and only 6 weeks apart last fall. My first wife and I had 3 beautiful children and I was entirely in their lives while they were growing up, I even remained a volunteer in our community serving on our First Aid Squad for over 25 years and as Captain and Chief Instructor for many of those years. My children have produced 6 beautiful grandchildren one of which is now in college on a football scholarship he won while in HS, he was a star point kicker kicking his longest field goal of 54 yds, I am so proud of him and my dad would have loved him.
