I'm the daughter of two World War II veterans - one (my dad) a "hero" who was portrayed in the movie and The Longest Day and written about in quite a few military history books. My other dad (my stepdad) is one of the nameless millions who did their service and came home and lived the Greatest Generation mythical life.
Just guess which one had the alcoholism, 2 children dying premature deaths and 3 marriages?
That's right - my hero dad. All the attention he got in his later years for his war exploits never talked about the legacy of war and the trauma visited upon our family.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Daughter of World War II veterans
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4 comments:
I think you're onto something- my Dad glorified his WWII service as all making whiskey, drinking whiskey, gambling, stealing jeeps from the other services, and general "fun times". Then we got older and some of the truth came out- not much-
After he died we found letters to my Mother, about his waking from nightmares after returning from the Pacific. He was a lawyer with an undergrad. in psychology, but he drank himself to an early death.
there has got to be a better way; our returning vets and their families deserve more.
WWII had a defined enemy, Iraq especially is an insurgency- vague enemy, many many more innocents die and fatal mistakes made, more ambiguity,...................
Unfortunately the scum inhabiting the Executive Branch don't give a rats' ass about the returning veterans. It just doesn't fit in with their corporate allies' agenda.
Thanks for your comment. Alcohol was used so much by WWII veterans for self medication. My dad struggled with it, but luckily was a recovering alcoholic who ended up directing programs which helped those who were in the same situation with addictive behavior.
My Dad was on the Bataan Death march, a POW for 3 1/2 years.
In his 60's the VA finally set up a POW support group which Dad joined. He had been against those who opposed the VietNam war until joining the group.
Through the group he discovered how the war had been run and why it was wrong.
He also became a different person after getting help for his PTSD, which he didn't know he had.
He went from being a "cold" strict disciplinarian to a warm, caring involved Father who could tell us he Loved US to our faces.
He wrote about his experiences and learned to face his feelings.
The is a website for POW's by a son of a Bataan Death March and POW surviver, who set up the site after his Father died without talking about or getting help.
The son reached out and it was a BIG Help for Dad, as it is for a lot of us Children of WWII Vets.
Although it is set-up toward The Bataan Death March and POW's, the children of all WWII Vets, all children of WWII Vets have been effected in simular ways from their Father's experiences.
http://home.pacbell.net/fbaldie/Outline.html
I looked at the Bataan death march site and was appalled at the conditions the POWs endured and even more appalled that the myth created around WWII ignores most of these horrors experienced by our dads.
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