The Great World War 2 Afterparty Is Over
Our ancestors secured eighty years of peace, effective institutions, and moral clarity. My paternal grandfather was a bombardier in Europe during World War 2. Around Christmas 2002, I asked him to share everything he remembered about the war.
I had always respected my grandparents' generation and often asked them for stories growing up. Yet, I avoided asking directly about the war, especially combat, which silently shaped and gave meaning to everything. My other grandfather, an infantryman in the Pacific, died years earlier, taking with him dark secrets—why certain objects made him vomit, and the nature of the secret wound that earned him an "extra" purple heart.
I told my surviving grandfather I wanted his stories preserved. He sat with me in his living room, sharing all he could recall. We talked through the night and into the morning. The picture he painted was far from the polished, heroic version taught in popular culture. Instead, it revealed foolish errors, severe incompetence, casual brutality, and petty vices.
Most strikingly, I realized how confused everyone was during those times.
"The picture I got of the war from those stories was far from the glossy cartoon version of World War 2 that we learn from popular culture."
"Most of all what I realized was how confused everyone was."
Author's summary: The personal war stories revealed a raw, flawed reality behind World War 2, contrasting deeply with the idealized narratives passed down in popular culture.