You nailed it there. My Grandpa was in the Argonne Forest. I was the only relative he ever confided in.
I was sort of a special case, because although I was never in the service our family is bristling with servicemen all the way back to the French & Indian War . . . and everybody knew I was majoring in military history and writing a thesis on the WBTS, and reading the original letters home from our family members who fought there.
So I heard more than most kids my age did, who weren't in. Had relatives from WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam tell me their experiences, and I must have developed a receptive demeanor because people still tell me about what they saw when they saw the elephant. I listen, I nod, and I try to understand. Even somebody who wasn't there can realize, over time and hearing many of these stories, that war is a unique, life-changing experience that can be unbelievably awful in spots but also unbelievably wonderful. My dad, who saw combat in N. Africa and Italy, kind of summed it up for me -- "You know, all in all it was not a bad time and place to be."