Veterans can be sooo cool

One of my biggest regrets is that I was never able to find out from my grandfather about his experiences in WWII. It wasn't that I didn't have the opportunity, it was because it was an unwritten rule in our family not to bring it up. Grandpa served in the Illinois National Guard in the Phillipines and New Guinea, and saw some pretty nasty fighting. Although his main job was as a postal clerk, they were all "first and foremost soldiers." The only time I ever heard him say anything was when my niece was about 7 or 8 and she found out that he had been in WWII. She asked him point blank, as children will, "Did you kill anybody?" Everybody in earshot sucked in a big breath, and we waited for the explosion. My grandpa didn't say anything for a minute, and then quietly said, "Yes." That was it. I don't know what he saw or what he experienced, but when he left for the war he had black hair. When he came back, it was white. That, in itself, says enough.

I'm sorry, Rani, I didn't mean to jack your thread. It was a very interesting story, and I love talking to veterans and hearing what they have to say. If we don't listen to them, and listen to them well, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes that put them in harms way in the first place.