Both my parents were WWII veterans. Dad served as an Army engineer in the South Pacific, Mom in the Navy stateside as a Pharmacy Tech.
Several Uncles likewise served. All have since passed away.
The WWII veteran in the video below relates a tiny portion of the horror of war he had to live with for three quarters of a century after D-Day.
THIS is why many rarely, if ever, talked about their time during The War.
THIS is why Dad apparently forbid our uncles from talking to us about his time and actions during The War.
THIS is why a cousin of mine talks about the nightmares his Dad lived with his whole life.
THIS is why so many combat veterans end up effed in the head, sometimes to the point of not being able to live a productive life...or even live with themselves at all.
Move forward a scant few years and decades to the Vietnam War and realize that many of this era had it even WORSE because they were openly ostracized by both government and citizens for actions their government FORCED upon them...they often had NO SUPPORT OR SYMPATHY AT ALL.
Homeless. Drug addicted. Psychotic. Psychopathic. Abusive. Lacking any sense of self worth. Lost.
Not everybody is strong enough to live productively after this kind of stuff. And of those that can, we simply aren't seeing the invisible scars beneath it all.
Several Uncles likewise served. All have since passed away.
The WWII veteran in the video below relates a tiny portion of the horror of war he had to live with for three quarters of a century after D-Day.
THIS is why many rarely, if ever, talked about their time during The War.
THIS is why Dad apparently forbid our uncles from talking to us about his time and actions during The War.
THIS is why a cousin of mine talks about the nightmares his Dad lived with his whole life.
THIS is why so many combat veterans end up effed in the head, sometimes to the point of not being able to live a productive life...or even live with themselves at all.
Move forward a scant few years and decades to the Vietnam War and realize that many of this era had it even WORSE because they were openly ostracized by both government and citizens for actions their government FORCED upon them...they often had NO SUPPORT OR SYMPATHY AT ALL.
Homeless. Drug addicted. Psychotic. Psychopathic. Abusive. Lacking any sense of self worth. Lost.
Not everybody is strong enough to live productively after this kind of stuff. And of those that can, we simply aren't seeing the invisible scars beneath it all.
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