Most WWII vets wanted to forget it rather than consider themselves the heroes they were. My dad never talked about it and he was in some of the most heroic battles of the war. Never knew until years after he died.
The Greatest Generation, they knew honor, dignity and what they did.
They didn’t seek any pomp and circumstance about it. They knew war is hell.
Ditto. My Uncle was the same way. Didn’t want to talk about at all. But then most military personnel I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, if they saw combat, they don’t want to talk about it.
The subject of WW II veterans not talking about their service in the war was covered amazingly well by little known two book series by Donald Rosen. hey are “Reckoning in Normandy” and the follow up “Saving Private Weinmann”
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Donald+Rosen&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss
Should be read by anyone trying to understand why they didn’t say much about the war.
He spoke about it twice. He commanded an LCT on Utah Beach. He said a boat next to his was 'blown out of the water'. And a German round hit his boat in his little office, luckily he wasn't there at the time. His jacket, draped over his chair, was shredded, and several cartons of cigarettes in a locker were 'turned to snuff'.
That's about all he ever said.
“My dad never talked about it and he was in some of the most heroic battles of the war.”
My dad too.
Through chance I met someone who served aboard the same destroyer as my dad in WW2. I finally found out why my dad got a battlefield commission. He was in the Battle of Leyte Gulf and engaged and sank the Japanese cruiser Chikuma, but not until after his ship took a shell from the Chikuma that killed everyone on the bridge. My dad went from Ensign to Lt Commander, because he was the second most senior officer surviving.
He never told us anything about his time during WW2. I had to learn it from a stranger.
a friend’s mother in law died recently. My buddy was going through her stuff and found out that her husband was a serious hero in the Polish Resistance. He knew a little about it before but he was blown away by what he found.
‘Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?’ Grandpa said, ‘No, but I served in a company of heroes.’ “
I knew an old lad that was in Europe what he did. All he ever said was he drove a tank. Every question I ever asked him, his answer was always “I drove a tank”. I stopped asking him.