"Skylune" wrote in message
lkaboutaviation.com...

Yes, or never. My dad was a vet, and briefly a POW in WWII. He died a
few years ago, and only once or twice did he ever discuss his war
experiences with me. He would not watch war films which he said glorified
combat and did not capture the horror. The only stories I heard were from
my mom, who would recall what little he told her.

That's unfortunately too common. I've spoken with vets of my grandfather's
crew. Two loved telling the stories, possibly embellished a bit. The
copilot became angry when I suggested the notion that B-17s were ever NOT
olive drab, (the surviving '96th plane is bare aluminum), and the pilot won
the DFC, served in the Berlin Airlift, flew in Korea and Vietnam and after
he died, when I spoke to his daughter, I discovered he'd told me more about
his service on the phone one time while waiting for my grandfather to come
to the phone than he had ever told anybody in his family.

Similarly, I found out recently that my uncle is a retired Sgt. Major and he
won't even discuss which units he was in. Bronze stars from different wars,
PHs, we know he was captured by the Germans and escaped twice, and his wife
says he has two old footlockers filled with photos he took in Anzio or
somewhere, but his adult children have never seen them.

Sad, but, I figure they've earned that right if they choose to bury all of
it.

-c