<story><title>The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)</title><url>https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1989/08/the-real-war-1939-1945/306374/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ARandomerDude</author><text>I didn&amp;#x27;t fight in WW2 obviously, but I did fight in a war.  For me, the reticence to describe every detail to people who weren&amp;#x27;t there boils down to this: I don&amp;#x27;t want my wife, my children, or my neighbors to be burdened with thinking of something so horrible.  I want them to be happy and safe, that&amp;#x27;s why I went.  No need to bring it to their doorstep if I don&amp;#x27;t have to.&lt;p&gt;I suspect many during and after WW2 felt this way.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>iancmceachern</author><text>I haven&amp;#x27;t, my grandfather did.  He was at Pearl Harbor, many battles in the Pacific (he was a submariner), in the end he was part of the occupation of Japan and earned many medals including the purple heart for almost dying in a sub accident.&lt;p&gt;Only as an adult have I come to realize the gift he gave me.&lt;p&gt;When I was a child, I spent a ton of time with him, he had a big hand in raising me.  The picture he painted for the young me formed the foundation of my world view.  He chose to share with us the Japanese cooking he learned while living there, he taught us how to use chop  sticks, one of my most prized possessions is a silk he brought back and gave me in his will.  He never once spoke negatively about any group of people, especially those who were &amp;quot;enemies&amp;quot;, he stood up for anyone who was being treated negatively and wouldn&amp;#x27;t stand for it.  He harbored no ill will, and therefore didn&amp;#x27;t put it in me.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s only as an adult through research into his service that i have realized the full gravity of what he did during this service and the fact that he was a truly happy, blissful, and forgiving man after all that.&lt;p&gt;I can say to you, having been one of the recipients of the kindness and forgiveness you are showing in your own life now, and sharing in this comment - thank you.  This is how the world moves on.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)</title><url>https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1989/08/the-real-war-1939-1945/306374/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ARandomerDude</author><text>I didn&amp;#x27;t fight in WW2 obviously, but I did fight in a war.  For me, the reticence to describe every detail to people who weren&amp;#x27;t there boils down to this: I don&amp;#x27;t want my wife, my children, or my neighbors to be burdened with thinking of something so horrible.  I want them to be happy and safe, that&amp;#x27;s why I went.  No need to bring it to their doorstep if I don&amp;#x27;t have to.&lt;p&gt;I suspect many during and after WW2 felt this way.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pram</author><text>Alternate perspective: I was in Iraq and Afghanistan, I don&amp;#x27;t talk about it because theres not much to say. I was either standing or sitting some place on guard duty, wired up on an insane amount of caffeine and nicotine, trying not to go insane for the 12 hour shifts. The only thing that punctuated the boredom was the daily mortar attack alarms lol</text></comment>