It's a great story, but there's an untold element that could be fascinating...

Reading the obituary, Mr. Warren had an engineering degree and apparently some graduate level education; he would have been on obvious candidate for OCS, if he hadn't served in the ROTC during college.

And yet he enlisted and although he rose to NCO, was never commissioned.

Did he chose to go into the service as an enlisted man? Did he consider OCS and yet chose not to do so? Be interesting to know more.

All due respect to Mr. Warren and his fellow veterans and his family.

possibly end up in a worse position, which was a possibility with going to OCS. I'm not sure that you could end up in a worse position as an officer than you would be in landing in north Africa.

OTOH, maybe he wanted to see action, and being enlisted was the way to do it.

I couldn't say.

I noticed the engineering degree too.

True, which is the potentially interesting story...

However, there is no position in which having a commission is ever going to be "worse" than being enlisted.

Ever.

Like many did? On the GI bill?

Could be ... second reading of the obit, hard to tell:

Born in Scranton, Pa., Mr. Warren earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering at St. Louis University and attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. During World War II, he served in combat in Africa, Sicily and Italy, earning the rank of sergeant and a presidential citation.

My Dad dropped out of Michigan School of Mining (now Mich. Tech) and enlisted in the Navy, He'd been in NROTC and was just a seaman for the first year of his service where he was a draftsman in Washington DC. His commanding officer got him into officer's training school at Columbia University even though he technically was not qualified (he had too many college credits if I remember his stories correctly).

After his completion he was sent to submarine school in Key West then served two tours in the Pacific on the USS Spot out of Peal Harbor, receiving the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for actions during his first tour. He ended the war on the new sub, the USS Menhadin, which never saw combat - but that is how he met Mom.

ETA - After both Mom & Dad were mustered out, they married and he returned to Michigan to complete his degree.