Yes, all of this, with one and many other virtual upfistages.
Take a Vet for a Burger & shake too, if you want and let him (or her) just talk. Don't be surprised if you don't hear any War Stories, though: a lot of folks who were in real very dangerous and horrible combat won't talk about it. Marines in the Pacific Theater during WWII were notorious for this. My Dad jumped out of a perfectly good airplane over Europe and all he would say about it was stuff like "It was bad." and "Cold."
We see too many Hollywood war movies in this country and we end up thinking that Ronald Reagan and John Wayne were actual War Heroes when they commanded chairs in Burbank.
George McGovern flew planes into combat. By the way.
I grew up on those war movies and because of them I couldn't stand to listen to anything about WWII from relatives. Plus my dad looked eerily like John Wayne. Just total aversion to anything WWII. But at the same time I was fascinated by WWI and read pretty deeply on it and never ceased to be horrified. My granddad took shrapnel in the Argonne and his stories gave me the heebie jeebies as a child, so maybe that's why.
Both of my grandparents fought in WWII and neither liked to actually tell stories about it, honestly. If you asked about it, my grandfather on my dad's side kind of avoided it and the one on my mom's side always told the same one about literally running into Patton and knocking him over, except not realizing it was Patton until after.
That being said, I've seen a ton of disturbing things about WWII, mostly because my dad is obsessed with watching these documentaries about it, and some of those really show some nasty images from that war on both fronts. Those are a large reason why I don't like the idea of going to war, because just imagining sending people into places like that feels wrong, especially in cases like what we have now where we have no reason to be involved.
Agree. I've never actually met or heard of WWII soldiers who go around happily telling their war stories (their real war stories) either. But it does seem in the last 15 years or so, there's more willing to tell them when asked, and more people who ask about them. Probably because like me they realize these soldier's numbers are dwindling.
I should note that the reason I didn't like those Hollywood war movies was because to my child mind they seemed saccharine and my parents loved them and I couldn't understand why they could be so enthusiastic about these shiny, manipulative movies. Of course as an adult I get that it was just the times, and that of course they loved them. Kids. *eyeroll*
Also too, revisiting those movies as an adult, so many of them are pretty damn cool.
Also, Happy (seems a wrong choice of word, but) Armistice Day to my long-deceased grandfathers, one of whom was an immigrant from Sweden and the other was, I believe either first or second generation American. Both fought in The Great War, the War to End All Wars (would that it had) and both were wounded and gassed. They both survived, thankfully, otherwise I would not be here today. I never met them, they died before I was born, but I thank them nonetheless.
Arguably the best insurance against the public following the drumbeat of endless war is to listen to old soldiers' stories.
Yes, all of this, with one and many other virtual upfistages.
Take a Vet for a Burger & shake too, if you want and let him (or her) just talk. Don't be surprised if you don't hear any War Stories, though: a lot of folks who were in real very dangerous and horrible combat won't talk about it. Marines in the Pacific Theater during WWII were notorious for this. My Dad jumped out of a perfectly good airplane over Europe and all he would say about it was stuff like "It was bad." and "Cold."
We see too many Hollywood war movies in this country and we end up thinking that Ronald Reagan and John Wayne were actual War Heroes when they commanded chairs in Burbank.
George McGovern flew planes into combat. By the way.
I grew up on those war movies and because of them I couldn't stand to listen to anything about WWII from relatives. Plus my dad looked eerily like John Wayne. Just total aversion to anything WWII. But at the same time I was fascinated by WWI and read pretty deeply on it and never ceased to be horrified. My granddad took shrapnel in the Argonne and his stories gave me the heebie jeebies as a child, so maybe that's why.
But then shortly before my dad passed away I started reading WWII soldiers' memoirs and fortunately had a few frank talks with him in the last few years of his life. |This| was the book that chilled me the most, but there's so many memoirs about the Pacific theater that are horrifying. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Soldiers-Account-Greatest-Mission/dp/038549565X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447273405&sr=8-1&keywords=Ghost+soldiers">|Ghost Soliders,| also too.
Both of my grandparents fought in WWII and neither liked to actually tell stories about it, honestly. If you asked about it, my grandfather on my dad's side kind of avoided it and the one on my mom's side always told the same one about literally running into Patton and knocking him over, except not realizing it was Patton until after.
That being said, I've seen a ton of disturbing things about WWII, mostly because my dad is obsessed with watching these documentaries about it, and some of those really show some nasty images from that war on both fronts. Those are a large reason why I don't like the idea of going to war, because just imagining sending people into places like that feels wrong, especially in cases like what we have now where we have no reason to be involved.
Agree. I've never actually met or heard of WWII soldiers who go around happily telling their war stories (their real war stories) either. But it does seem in the last 15 years or so, there's more willing to tell them when asked, and more people who ask about them. Probably because like me they realize these soldier's numbers are dwindling.
I should note that the reason I didn't like those Hollywood war movies was because to my child mind they seemed saccharine and my parents loved them and I couldn't understand why they could be so enthusiastic about these shiny, manipulative movies. Of course as an adult I get that it was just the times, and that of course they loved them. Kids. *eyeroll*
Also too, revisiting those movies as an adult, so many of them are pretty damn cool.
Also, Happy (seems a wrong choice of word, but) Armistice Day to my long-deceased grandfathers, one of whom was an immigrant from Sweden and the other was, I believe either first or second generation American. Both fought in The Great War, the War to End All Wars (would that it had) and both were wounded and gassed. They both survived, thankfully, otherwise I would not be here today. I never met them, they died before I was born, but I thank them nonetheless.
Also, also, too, "In Flanders Fields": http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/11/11…