I also had a prof in college that became a mentor. He taught poetry and classical lit. He joined the Marines when he was 17 and “got” to go fight the Japanese in WWII. He talked about it to me. Quite a bit. He NEEDED that talking. He NEEDED me to understand. So did I.
Thank your father for his service, from ALL of my family.
My father and I talk about it. But he has never opened the subject without being asked about it. I was grown before I had a clue how close he was to it.
My grandmother’s closest childhood friend was a nurse. She was in Manila before WWII, she went to Corregidor when Manila fell, then Batan and a POW camp. She retired a Lt. Colnel. She wrote a book about it called “To the Angels” (about the nurses she served with there). I have an autographed copy that I cherish.