My daughter had the opportunity to visit Normandy last month. Very moving and educational for a 23 year old that can't imagine a monstrous war such as WW2
Dad.. an18 year old farmboy from Iowa, operated a twin fifty machine gun in a ball turret of the B-24, they flew out of Attlebridge north of London (Sussex?) Returned and attended Medical School with his GI bill. He would not talk about combat.. most combat vets won't.. so when you hear some loudmouth going on about combat... it's likely he's lying.
That has been my experience also. And I have called a hell of a lot of them out over the years. Oh, we might discuss things with our close family, and when hanging out with others we know are veterans. Because they are the ones most likely to understand us and what we went through. But most that try to bring it up with random strangers and others are more often than not blowing smoke and saw nothing. I can't even begin to count the numbers of "Homeless Vets" who claimed to have been involved in Iraq and Afghanistan. When talking to them for just a minute shows they are completely lying. The majority of them never even served, they are just trying to get pity money for things they never did.
