My father was that way about rice for at least 30 years after WWII and Korea. He was in the Navy and claimed they ate rice morning, noon and night. It was only when he was in his 60s that he began to eat rice again.
My step-father is the same way with rice, because of his experience in the Korean War, he says they had rice morning noon and night, he hasn’t eaten any since he came home from Korea.