I'm parking this comment here that I posted at Zs Blog .
I just want to refer to it later.
Many vets would not talk about their deeds that day and in the days to come.
At the end of Saving Private Ryan. elder Ryan is at Capt Millers grave.
His wife has no idea why. You can only assume he never told her.
My dad never talked much about combat.
He was also at Bastogne after Normandy.
When I was a kid we watched Battleground on TV.
He explained a few things from experience, like not taking off your boots.
It turns out that Dore Shary, the producer had to make a deal with the studio to get to make that movie. “Nobody wants to watch a war movie just after the war!”
They did and it was a hit. Vets took their families to show them what they couldn’t talk about.
My dad had trenchfoot for at least 20 years after the war. He didn’t take off his boots.
My dad didn't talk about his service in WW II much either. I didn't ask since we was such a disagreeable cuss. Steve's Dad was in the Merchant Marines at the tail end of WW II. He saw a lot of action too.
ReplyDeleteThe Greatest Generation!
DeleteEd
Worked with a guy that served under Patton. On the truck ride up to Bastogne, he froze his feet Never mentioned it much. Some years
ReplyDeletelater when I lived halfway across the country, I-mailed him and asked about his experience in WW II. He sent 20 hand written pages! Put them under his diviseion and regiiment in my "US Army Order of Battle in WWII. Worked with several others, Guadalcanal N Afrrica
etc. PTSC was unheard of and the only fellow I knew who had bad dreams was one of the first into a Nazi concnetration camp. Great guys from the Greatest Generation.
Wow. That is cool about the guy you worked with.
DeleteI once worked with a former U-Boat Commander.
I'd like to see those letters from your friend.
Ed
DeleteI met Ken when he was a cosmetic chemist (GI Bill). He tells of being drafted, the various training camps etc. He was sent overseas in 1944 as a replacement, ending up in K company,
Delete3rd squad, 3rd platoon (kilo 3-3), 318th Regiment, 80th Division, XII Corps. 3rd Army. They were involved in clearing the Hurtgen Forest, when pulled from the line and sent north to Bastogne in open trucks without winter clothing in a mish mash of other units. He earned 3 bronze stars and 3 battle stars before being sent back to England with frostbitten feet.
(a couple months in Brit care made him hate sheep and lamb
meat the rest of his life. The only after effect he had was people surprising him from behind and a lifelong anger that the regimental commander was killed on a recon "he didn't have to be there". Fittingly he passed away at a vet's home.
Toxic masculinity. :)
DeleteMilitary service in my dad's family seemed pervasive but silent (after a fashion).
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have pictures of myself as a probably 18-month-old (in diapers and holding a Air Force dress cap on my head with both hands), my dad never talked about his service during the Korean Conflict. I do know that he attained the rank of sergeant (only five blue stripes all facing down) from both the rank insignia he took off his uniform and the discharge papers I found after his death.
Just as my dad kept his service quiet, all of my uncles (and my dad had three brothers) kept their service quiet. I once saw a picture of my dad, his brother John, and another brother (Ivan) all in Air Force uniforms. At another time, I saw my other uncle (Joe) in a Marine uniform. At his funeral, I found out that he was an Inchon reservoir.
That rule of silence also applied to the World War II vets to an exceptional degree. It was only by a passing comment by my dad that I found out that one of the brothers of my grandmother fought at Bastogne. I think that he said that the brother fought in the Battle of the Bulge, but that was only mentioned once.
In the first paragraph, I said that military service was silent (after a fashion).
DeleteWhat I meant by that was that, when I was a freshman in high school and the Vietnam war had not been dialed back, my dad decided to put me through his version of boot camp (with the getting up early, yelling, push-ups, and running). Truth of the matter was that I could do without the yelling. At that point, I was already in the discipline of distance running.
I don't know whether it was news of the winding down of the war, but I was glad to see him get off of trying to prep me for that mess.
I had a low draft number and volunteered for the Air Force where I rose to Sergeant and was a Team Leader of teams that travelled to remote places.
DeleteFrankly, Boy Scouts prepared me for Air Force boot camp.
A friend of mine who was prior army, a very physical guy, told me that Air Force boot camp was difficult for him.
All that book learning. :)
Our dads were men.
I'm late to the party, but...
ReplyDeleteIt took a lot of years before my dad, also a Merchant Marine, talked about his experiences, primarily in the Mediterranean during the war. One gun and a boatload of fuel, literally a floating bomb with few defenses.
He was in his 80's when I started hearing the stories. Maybe there was a need to disclose so as to bring closure.
Now life is repeating itself as my oldest brother, nearing 80 has started recounting stories of destroyer life during the Vietnam War.
I wonder if the constant recalling the "greatest generation" somehow diminishes the equally deadly veteran experiences of Korea, Vietnam and our other wars?
Korea is often called The Forgotten War for a reason.
DeleteI'm thinking of writing down my adventures in the military.
My kids should know. Nothing traumatic.
Some of those destroyers in Vietnam were Fletcher Class, WW2 era according to friends who rode them.
The class was designed in 1939.
Ed, I don't know why, but I thought you'd stopped your blog...and I'm embarrassed to see it, and happy of course!, to see it now. So sorry I haven't come by...that's why :-) And thanks for the Z link...weird that it'd be there today when I find it again!
ReplyDelete