you never hear WWII vets go on like that about their war experience...

[Blue_Roses]

my dad was in Normandy on D-day and I never knew it growing up until I rummaged through his Army trunk a few years ago. I found all kinds of interesting stuff that I still have to this day. My mom was also in WWII as an Army nurse. She was in the South Pacific for two years and dealt with the prisoners of Bataan. I never knew that either until the past few years...

this was a humble generation...I think this is one reason my mother can't stand John McCain. She knows many, many others went before him who remain humble because their fight was for the country--the REAL country--not the political one John McCain and his repub party keep using.

[Bread and Circus]

1. I was thinking the same thing. McAlzheimer seemed to just milk it.

[marylanddem]

2. He boasts SO freaking much - you're right.

[virgdem]

3. It's not normal..

my Dad was a POW in Germany in WWII, and he hardly ever discussed his experiences. They are very humble about their experiences and don't use or exploit them for sympathy or personal gain, unlike McCain, who never shuts the hell up about it. He has jumped the shark on the POW issue and it's getting real old real fast.

[Blue_Roses]

4. wow...that's so interesting.Does your dad ever talk to you about it?

My mother used to cry if she talked about it and my dad would get mad. I never knew much growing up cause they just didn't talk about it.

[virgdem]

12. Not very often..

once in a while, the subject will come up, but he doesn't say much about it at all. A few years ago, he showed me his log book that he kept in the POW camp and some of the wrappers from packages that the Red Cross would send to them. They were not fed very well, even though he was an officer and got better treatment than the enlistee's got, but they lived for those Red Cross packages that included food and other items that they couldn't get otherwise. To this day, he will not eat barley, which is what they mostly fed them, along with black bread that was pretty stale. It was not a pleasant experience and I'm sure that's why he doesn't say much about it.

[Purveyor]

5. Indeed. My dad only said he was there at the 'Battle of the Bulge". End of discussion.

[Blue_Roses]

8. it's so interesting too...I wanted to know more after I found this out

but you could tell the memories were stored tight. I have a lot of letters my mom and dad wrote to one another. He was in Europe and she was in the Pacific...they married three months before both were deployed. For two years they were separated because of the war...

[sandnsea]

6. They have chips on their shoulders

All the military people around the Korean War generation. They listened to their older brothers being praised for wwii, never got the praise themselves, and have been bitter about it ever since. Some even sent their kids to Vietnam to try to prove they were as good as the wwii generation. Some will keep sending kids off to die until they can win something bigger than wwii. It's sick.

[Blue_Roses]

10. that is sick...

I can see where that would be true.

[kestrel91316]

7. My dad was a career USAF officer who served a year in Vietnam.

He had WAAAAYYYYYY more missions over hostile territory than that braggart McCain ever did.

Daddy NEVER talked about it. I had to practically surgically extract from him a single sentence explanation of how he got his Distinguished Flying Cross, too.

McCain is an embarrassment to military people of any integrity.

Edit: If he wants to let others brag on him, I think that's ok. But he needs to focus on what he has to offer NOW, not past glories.

[Blue_Roses]

9. I know and he acts like he's the only one who ever served and was hurt

he uses this to pander votes and it shows his true vulnerabilities.

[KT2000]

11. You are so right

I have heard WWII vets complain that they never talk about their war experiences and they do not like it when some Viet Nam vets do.
I was surprised when I heard that.

Remember Obama's great uncle during Kerry's speech - he was so surprised and so humble when he was honored by the crowd.