Happy Victory Day!

Easy explanation is he just kept quiet on the "loose lips" theory: it was none of your business. But as he told his wife and no one else, he probably felt guilty. It is not unusual. "[Audie Murphy's] first wife, Dixie Wanda Hendrix, claimed he once held her at gunpoint. She witnessed her husband being guilt-ridden and tearful over newsreel footage of German war orphans." -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy

We did not know about PTSD or how to address it or treat it. Ever see the movie, The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit ? The author, Sloan Wilson served in WWII. In the movie (I have not read the book), the hero is plagued by what we know as PTSD and his wife just tells him to get a grip and get over it.

My brother's father-in-law was at Normandy Beach. He finally talked about it during his last days. My father was wounded in Korea (after the armistice; shot by a sniper while patrolling the DMZ), but my younger half-brother had no idea. Dad did another 18 years in the National Guard, but never said much at home about Korea. Just sayin'.

 

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might be a tad corny @daveydempsey - but Tell your Dad Thanks

 

I'm not trying to fault him for not talking about his WWII service, I completely understand why he wouldn't, especially considering his station. Nonetheless, given everything I still regret not being able to talk to him about it, though I realize that likely would not have been possible.

I also know the history of the gradual "discovery" of PTSD. Numerous heartbreaking films exist of WWII soldiers being interviewed by military psychiatrists after the war and they exude this very deep melancholy that they don't understand. Some just sit there silent, some shaking, some weeping. Some talk teary-eyed about their families and "sweethearts." It's difficult to watch. Paul Fussell spoke about the difficulty of transitioning to civilian life from wartime. He said that he had trouble remembering that he couldn't just split someone's skull with a rifle butt if he sensed that they were a threat. It apparently took him a while to calm some inner beast from the front.

I can't begin to image what people went through. I've experienced nothing even close to it in my lifetime. I hope that humanity never again sees war on that scale.

 

This plaque is fixed to a wall of a store in the east of my city, the anniversary was in March.

My city was very heavily bombed during WWII, 92% of the housing stock was damaged or destroyed, many killed.

My own mother and her family were bombed out of 3 homes and one business in 6 years by the Luftwaffe.

They lost everything.

My maternal grandfather even lost his WWI medals in a WWII bombing.

Needless to say my mother was non too keen on Germans,
I bought a Mercedes back in the 90's and she would not travel in it.

Note the "North East Town" on the plaque, this was mentioned on news reports without mentioning the place so as not to give the enemy information on how successful they had been.

 

Here we are with a whole bunch of coins.

 

17 March 1945 ... that was even after the area in Germany where I live was occupied or liberated by American military.

We had a long debate here about what the right term should be. Obviously Victory Day does not apply here, it was an occupation, and back then nobody really knew what would happen. On the other hand, especially from a perspective some time later, it was a liberation from a regime that the Germans had not brought to an end themselves. And of course the people in Germany who were Jewish, socialists, homosexuals or had in whatever way been in the way of the nazis but survived, they welcomed this moment even more than those in Germany who were simply glad that the war was over.

On the other bank of the river, however, the war went on even though most buildings in the city had already been destroyed. The official nazi party line was "no surrender", and several people including leading police officers who had tried to hand the city over to the US forces (Aktion Rheinland) were executed because of "high treason" ... just a few days before WW2 was over.



Today some argue that the term "liberation" is not appropriate when it comes to what happened in Germany. Interestingly there are two camps - those who would rather not be reminded of (or even cherish) that past, but also those who say that it is apologetic, as if the country had in '33 been taken in a military coup. But I think that, since we are also reminded of the historical context in many ways, the term liberation makes sense. These "Liberation Route" signs here (see above) are bilingual, de/en, by the way.

Somebody once said "Winning a war is not the most difficult part of a conflict. Achieving and keeping peace afterwards is." This was one of the few cases where that, at least for what in the first years after '45 were the Western occupation zones, actually worked well.

Christian

 

I have a few images that aren't Morgan Dollars....

 

We are on the same page. I did not intend to imply that. I understood your regret.

Thanks! I did not know Paul Fussell. I read his Wikipedia biography and I will look for his books. Right now, I am reading Spying for Peace: General Guisan and Swiss Neutrality by John Kimche.



Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is most famous for The Little Prince, but wrote many books about his flying in the early days of aviation in the 1920s. A friend of the Lindberghs (perhaps of hers more than his), he returned to France to fly for the Free French and was shot down on July 31, 1944. (The circumstances remain ambiguous on several points.)

The face of the note has his name misspelled with the accent aigue over the capital E. A small thing, but embarrassing to the French who are fussy about their language.

 

I had no idea. Thanks. In fact, Hull was bombed by zeppelins in WW 1. Again, I appreciate your post's bringing to life some lost facts -- lost to us outside, Hull, that is...

(I did not see the thumbprint until it scanned up. Hmmmm....)

 

A couple more..

 

It seems a pretty big majority of the survivors were like that. My father (who was @ Hickam Field on the day it was bombed) & 3 of his brothers (Tony survived all his bomber missions in the 8th AAF) were all the same...they "refused" to discuss their experiences with anyone outside of insiders (read: those who also experienced the War) - I suspect they did talk amongst themselves.

They were not rude about it, just gave short, cryptic answers, then moved on. I suspect they felt much guilt about surviving & witnessing the ravages of battle. My father-in-law fought in the Battle of the Bulge & was the same way. You can't fault them for it, as each had to deal with their personal experiences.

I doubt that if you did have the opportunity to discuss his experiences, you would have gleaned much more than you already know.

Just sayin'...they really were true heroes!

 

A set of French coins from Vichy Republic



petronius

 

Italian Partisans note, 100 lire



In Italy, we celebrate end of war on April 25th, when Milan was liberated by Partisans.

petronius

 

1941 P Wheat Cent


1943 S Jefferson Five Cents

 

1945 P One Cent Netherland

 

1945 10 Centavos Brazil


1946 2 Cruzeiros Brazil