(August 6, 2016 at 12:10 am)Sterben Wrote:(August 5, 2016 at 11:41 pm)Minimalist Wrote: My dad was one of those men who never wanted to talk about the war. It was rare when he opened up about it and even then he talked about being in the mountains for 77 straight days opposite the Gustav Line in the winter. His main complaint? Being unable to change his underwear. On rare occasions something more dire would slip out, as when we were watching the beginning of Saving Private Ryan and a burning body came rolling out of a bunker after it was hit with a flamethrower. He stood up, muttered "you never forget that smell" and walked away.
Absorb whatever you can from her Brian. Written history never gets down to the level of detail she can provide.
That's understandable that he doesn't want to remember those days, it takes a brave person to talk about it. Were so spoiled today that we don't want to remember a bad relationship, asking someone to bring a past involving seeing and killing others. My grandpa was in the war as well, he was in the English Navy. 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.
People's who've been in wars are still people. And people today aren't that different from those in the past. Human nature doesn't change that much in so short a span of time.
