Mom's Rehab and her roommate.

[Edwardo Piet]

lol I've never met a veteran who you had to pry details out of.  Just ask a couple questions, listen respectfully, and get ready for the stories of a lifetime.

Most I've met don't want talk about it.

The AF Forum Turtle Brings You Today's Platitude Of The Week:

Everyone's unique eh?

[Pat Mustard]

My grandma gave me his war medals, I'm not 100% sure what they mean since I'm more familiar with the German side of the war.

What medals are they? The UK was (and is) a lot less generous with its medals than the US army is, a lot of the stuff that most US soldiers can expect to get (good conduct &c.) just don't have medals under the UK system. In fact, bravery in combat situations my just get you citations in dispatches under the British system.

[abaris]

I'd only read about WW2 from history books and TV and going to the Holocaust Museum in DC, striking enough and scary enough. But my mom's roommate lived it. She was living in Poland at the age of 5, just to hear it from a survivor is striking. I can't even begin to imagine what that was like, especially for a kid.

My parents lived through it. In emmigration at Hungary. They told me a lot. Such as a dud hitting the pavement right in front of them and them continuing on their date, as if nothing had happened. Or, on their way back to Vienna on foot, the bodies lying in the ditches no longer leaving any imprint on them, since it was a usual sight. Or my grandmother calmly closing a window when a bomb blast it open.

Just scratching the surface here, but you get the impression.

The first Hungarian phrase I learned was "bombers coming in from Veszprém", which, for my parents, was a clear indicator of Budapest being hit. They heard it on a near daily basis on the radio.

My father never served in any army, but he was the right age. So the Russians took him prisoner on the streets. When the guard, riding a mule, fell asleep, he slipped from the column and, by his own account, took a ride back to Budapest on a Russian truck, claiming he was a displaced person and worker, using what little Russian he knew.

[Sterben]

My grandma gave me his war medals, I'm not 100% sure what they mean since I'm more familiar with the German side of the war.

What medals are they? The UK was (and is) a lot less generous with its medals than the US army is, a lot of the stuff that most US soldiers can expect to get (good conduct &c.) just don't have medals under the UK system. In fact, bravery in combat situations my just get you citations in dispatches under the British system.

               If your curious I'll take a picture of them, maybe you will be able to tell me what they mean.

[Sterben]

Listen to her, listen to her wisdom, a person that as seen the very most elements of human brutality and came out to try to live a normal life. You have a rare chance to learn history as history should be taught. Just a suggestion for you as well, write down what you can from your talks; hold this knowledge as your own and shape your life around the proper treatment of those around you that you hold close.

It's rehab, not history class. She said the standard things in a very short conversation, they "the Nazis" treated them like animals, and that she had several family members who died by their hands. I didn't push it because some people respond differently to being witness to violence than others.

         I know, and I would be an ass-hole if I told you to push her to bring up a extremely painful part of her life. My remarks were meant to complement your satiation not to be insulting.

[Pat Mustard]

What medals are they? The UK was (and is) a lot less generous with its medals than the US army is, a lot of the stuff that most US soldiers can expect to get (good conduct &c.) just don't have medals under the UK system. In fact, bravery in combat situations my just get you citations in dispatches under the British system.

               If your curious I'll take a picture of them, maybe you will be able to tell me what they mean.

I'm not an expert, but I'd be curious enough to look them up.