My brother-in-law’s dad just passed away and he was infantry in the Battle of the Bulge and the push into Germany. Never spoke about it. Too hard. At his funeral we had 4 kids from the U.S. Army at the cemetary with taps. Very moving.
Your poor dad must have very bad memories. Most of us have no idea. To go through that is bad enough but they were just kids.
He signed up at 17. You were a disgrace if you didn’t enlist then, even in NYC where my parents are from, imagine that!
He would always get letters from filmmakers, documentary makers, etc. and never participated in anything. The only other stories I got from him was that he wound up on a beach with the Marines and a flamethrower and a story about gurarding a base.
There were 2 of them on night watch circling the perimiter, apparently guarding planes, etc., he said the other guy must have fell asleep in one of the planes and when he circled around the other guy on duty had his throat slashed.
The Longest Day and Patton were released on blu-ray, great restorations if you have a blu-ray player.