[Ellendra]

And it seemed like the one war where you weren’t really permitted to carry the ghosts with you, for whatever reason.

Psychology of the time. My grandfather tried to get help for the trauma. The psychiatrists he saw thought the best way to help would be for him to forget what he went through entirely. To his last day, he said that the only thing he did in the war was drive a truck and look at the pretty scenery.

He was an ambulance driver in the Battle of the Bulge. We found a box filled with medals and commendations. He basically dug through piles of bodies to try and get to the wounded in time, while the Nazis were still firing.

I don't know if forgetting was the best way to deal with it, but I really wish I could have found some of the people he saved. His last few years, he really needed to know he'd made a difference.

[wbill]

re: ...drive a truck and look at the pretty scenery...

I've got a close family friend who was former SAS, and served in a number of garden spots. Any stories that he tells are always, "My Mates did this...My mates did that..."

I've asked, a few times, where he was during the events. He always says that he was "Hiding. Under a desk/up a tree/behind a rock/etc".

I told him that he should write a book. He said that no one would believe it. :-) He's probably right.