That is a telling story. I would think that before the advent of the Internet, most of these guys wouldn’t take the time to look back.
Imagine experiencing something like Iwo Jima first hand, surviving, and then likely thinking about it every single day for the rest of your life. All that time, you never go more than reading something in the paper or seeing something on television. You don’t really talk to anyone about it.
Then, one day, you discover the Internet. Someone shows you how to do a search, and the next thing you know, there is a blank white rectangle with a blinking cursor in it, staring you in the face, just waiting to bring you information at your request. Whatever you want to learn about.
Nobody to talk to. Nobody you have to call. Nobody who is going to ask you why you are looking it up.
Not surprising, the first thing you would likely type would be “Iwo Jima”.
Thats why just about everyone I knew from WWII and Korea—my Dad, uncles, neighbors, etc. all belonged to an American Legion or VFW post or some sort of Vets organization.
It seems that going to the Legion or VFW to drink when I was a kid was the thing for those guys to do. They would sit in there and drink and play cards, and sit, and drink, and sit.
I see more of those organizations closing their doors today. Membership is, unfortunately down.