My father, unusually for a PoW, talked about his experiences, but he talked about them in a very limited way.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
My grandfather died before I was born, so I never had the chance to speak with him about his father. But I learned about him from books.
My father was career military. He was a veteran, he was a doctor of political science, he taught at West Point and Air Command Staff and lectured at the War College.
My dad was a Navy munitions officer, and by the end of his career, he was a specialist in nuclear weapons.
In my father's later years he asked several times that I remember him the way I knew him. He said that after his death, people would talk. They would say 'things' about him and he wouldn't be there to defend himself.
I don't know how many times I can sit there and talk about my character or my life. It's interesting to talk about experiences in the context of something you're doing for somebody else, and particularly if you can persuade others to join you in your support.
I was brought up largely by my grandfather because my father only returned from a prisoner-of-war camp in 1947 and worked in the nearest small town, so I hardly ever saw him.
My father led by example. He wasn't much of a talker - he walked life.
My father was in the army, and you know not to talk about things on the telephone that you wouldn't want to hear transmitted.
I speak with my father about everything in my life.
I talk to my kids about my mother's energy and how she would have loved them. I talk about how kind and polite my father was. So that they have some kind of remembrance that even though my parents died from their addictions and so that they know they were genuine in how they were.