[Ponysoldier]

I was born first child of one of these veterans. Even as
a young child I knew something was not quite right.
But my father never spoke of any thing.Growing up
in the military many of us grew up with family that
in one way or the other had gone thru the conflict.
Many years later only after I joined the military I began
to see and think what my father had gone thru.
After my fathers passing my siblings and I, began
a search for missing orders that my father never had
only then could we understand the effect that the
war had on my father and us. He had been part
of the 503rd PIR and had been dropped in to N.Africa,
then into Siciliy and Italy,Because he was of german
extraction and spoke fluent german and french, He was
removed and dropped behind the lines and operated
with a guy named Titio.My father was a combat medic
so he could not carry a weapon.His job at that point
was to recover Allied Aircrew patch them up and start them
on their way home. We his children now understand
why he was so distant, his grandchildren understand that
war,and its effects than their peers will ever know.
As a quick P.S. to this we found much of this out
because my father wrote home thru family in Canada
he wrote this way because the mail was not censored.
and he could write of the horrors that he had seen.
These letters have just recently surfaced,truly a horror
story.
Patrick