Dad holding a captured Germany rifle and what looks like a captured German Kübelwagen, and the banner photo is of Dad after returning from War, about 1945.

By piecing together his war history, I learned why my father was so anxious, and so frightened by the slightest thunderclap that graced our section of north Missouri, that he was a broken man, and I know why he was hard to live with. I like to remember the good times with him, but he was deeply philosophical, most of it lost on my young mind. He was highly self-educated, and he had a great understanding of the stars, but most of all his PTSD isolated him from people. He didn't like doctors, and didn't like closed in spaces like elevators (I assume that was from the constant bombardment he had  to endure.) He had an extensive library and I seldom saw him at rest without a book in his hand, God rest his soul!

Dad lived in South St. Louis, Missouri, about 1995/6.

After the war, one of the things he did, obediently, was build a shelter for us to hide in case of war or tornado, and he dug it by hand. He was a character; he was strong, boisterous liberal democrat. When cable news first came to us in 1970, he was the liberal Archie Bunker. He had his chair, he controlled the TV set, and when watching CNN news he was up on his feet arguing right along with them, and said loudly, "You God damned Republicans!"

I replied, "Dad, you know they can't hear you?"

"Yeah, but those God damn Republicans think they know it all." He controlled what he could, us, and the things "we" owned, as children we think we own it, too. We think, after all, they're going to die soon anyway and it will be ours, a common attitude of children. I didn't know the working dad, so I was embarrassed when it came to telling the school class what he did. He was the stay at home dad, while other dads worked. My father was a broken man and I blame the government for throwing away its veterans with mental trauma, and they still do it. Although PTSD was recognized, war was a terrible scar to carry with you. My Uncle was a marine and fought on Iwo Jima, and he wrote mom, and in his reply I hear, Walter has it worse than I do, what? he's on Iwo Jima and he's telling mom Dad has it worse. God, everyone knows how rough Iwo Jima was.