I am a baby boomer. My Cousin was killed in the Battle of Meuse Argonne in WWI. The family never talked about it. I never gave much thought as a kid to what my Dad did when he served in the South Pacific. He never talked about it till the day he died. I never asked. Nor, did my Uncle, his twin brother, who was a waist gunner on a B17 flying over Europe. I just thought it was something people were supposed to do. I am proud of my Father and Uncle’ service, and wish I had told them so when they were alive. I wish they could/would have talked to me about it back then. They would be 95 now.
I’ve told this story before but about 14 years ago a friend of mine at work was doing a documentary about veterans. My Uncle Jimmy who is 80 at the time I think decided to do the interview for me as a favor. He talked about being a machine gunner on a tank and crying as he mowed down Germans but they kept coming. He was also in the Battle of the Bulge. I never saw him look vulnerable before but when he told his story he did. He went straight to work when he got home at a belt making factory and worked there for 50 years. I wish I was half the man he was
Took me ten years of gentle coaxing to get my uncles(2) to talk about WWII. Both were infantry in Europe. My uncle that served in the Pacific just started talking about it in 2005. A historian from the Smithsonian broke the dam with him. None of them had PTSD, they just didn’t want to talk about. it was a past chapter of their full lives.
My Dad was on the Battleship Texas. I am so sad that school taught history wipes out everything afer 1865. So much these poor ignorant intellects know. Ask one who we fought in WW2. They don’t have a clue. Why?
“I just thought it was something people were supposed to do.” Now that was my thought when I was finishing college and Vietnam was still on. I didn’t really want to go, but it was my turn. I didn’t really believe there was much to think about considering the type of men I had grown up around, so I volunteered for the Navy officer program since that service would have always been my first choice.