My grandfather was with the AIF 1st machine gun batallion in WWI...he rarely spoke about the war, except when he'd been drinking. My father as a small boy inevitably asked the question "Did you kill anyone?" Grandfather answered slowly, "Son, there was a day when I think I must have killed hundreds...they just kept coming at me, and I just kept mowing them down." I'll have to check again with Dad, as it's slipped my mind which battle it was and I need to see that it's written down (I never knew my grandfather and no one ever interviewed him about his experiences - all we have are what my father and aunt remember him telling them).
My brother, on the other hand, is trying hard to convince his little nephews that he did NOT fight in a war. When they visit with my parents they stay in his old room they go exploring, and have found his small collection of militaria...a WWII era American helmet, a bayonet, a lot of books...their mother tried to convince them he wasn't a soldier, but when they found a plastic gaming gun in a drawer they took it to her as definitive proof: "SEE! He was in the war!" (We wonder which war they think he was in).
My father new a self-aggrandiser back in the 50s, a fellow journalist. He was always telling stories along the lines of "back in the war, when I was a spitfire pilot...", and everyone knew it was completely false, earning him the reputation of being an incorrigible liar. But the one story he did NOT tell was about his one act of extreme bravery - when he attempted to save his girlfriend from a shark attack. One of the witnesses told my father he actually got astride the shark and was punching it in the head to get it to release her. He received a bravery medal for it, but did not talk about the event later. I've often wondered if it was because it was so traumatic - the victim died in spite of his efforts. (I'm obscuring the names here - the attack is famous in Australia, and I've since met people who knew the victim).
My brother, on the other hand, is trying hard to convince his little nephews that he did NOT fight in a war. When they visit with my parents they stay in his old room they go exploring, and have found his small collection of militaria...a WWII era American helmet, a bayonet, a lot of books...their mother tried to convince them he wasn't a soldier, but when they found a plastic gaming gun in a drawer they took it to her as definitive proof: "SEE! He was in the war!" (We wonder which war they think he was in).
My father new a self-aggrandiser back in the 50s, a fellow journalist. He was always telling stories along the lines of "back in the war, when I was a spitfire pilot...", and everyone knew it was completely false, earning him the reputation of being an incorrigible liar. But the one story he did NOT tell was about his one act of extreme bravery - when he attempted to save his girlfriend from a shark attack. One of the witnesses told my father he actually got astride the shark and was punching it in the head to get it to release her. He received a bravery medal for it, but did not talk about the event later. I've often wondered if it was because it was so traumatic - the victim died in spite of his efforts. (I'm obscuring the names here - the attack is famous in Australia, and I've since met people who knew the victim).
