About three years ago my father gave me his medals and log books. (He was RAFVR 1940-46.)
They had been kept in a box and seldom had I even seen them worn. On the inside of the box my father had left a note, it reads.....
"To the World he was just a soldier.....to me he was the world".
You can substitute soldier with airman or sailor if you want and I have no idea who my father may have been referring to, as several friends and relations of his did not survive the war. But it I find it very moving especially as it is in my father's handwriting and it obviously was of particular signifigance to him.
MB