My Daddy and I, likely about 1961. I only wish I had actual memories of closeness with him, but I do of fishing and hunting, construction work, practice at the shooting range, laughing over 60's TV comedy shows. He was the son of immigrants who rose from working coal mines in West Virginia to owning small business venues, to commercial business success in Los Angeles. He suffered PTSD from Korea, then an impact head injury when I was very young, too proud to pursue ongoing treatment as he should have. He worked hard for his entire life to maintain the appearance of an average mid-century family, likely a mystery to his peers. He died suddenly of a heart attack in 1996, when I learned I was the only one he had disclosed his ongoing symptoms to.
8
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Thank you for sharing your story - and the adorable photo of the two of you. He sounds like an exemplary man of that age, who loved you the very best he knew how.
Lauren
Level 8
June 21, 2020
1
Yes, I know my parents did their best, and instilled some great values in us. It just saddens me as I have learned the confusion and limitations they lived through from their familys' past history, though I believe every generation of every family has it's progressive changes.
@tinkercreek I apologize: on rereading, it may have seemed as though I was admonishing, and I didn't intend to. I meant to commend him for trying his best within the considerable limitations he had to work with. It's very sad that those limitations made it so hard for him to have a richer relationship with you, which would have meant the world to you both, and possibly even have healed him.
Lovely photo and touching story. Definitely it was not manly to be emotional back then. Thankfully that has changed somewhat. I was never close to my father ad have no idea what his WWII experience was like.
itsmedammit
Level 8
June 21, 2020
2
Thank you for sharing your dad's story. It made me cry a little. Keeping secrets seems to be a thread that runs through many men's lives. My father never spoke of the years as a soldier in the German army or the time in the Russian Prisoner of War camp. I keep thinking that my mom's love and loyalty and the way his children turned out gave him some kind of satisfaction for the pain and horrors he must have endured. I hope the same was true for your dad.
Spinliesel
Level 9
June 21, 2020
1
Yes, my mom, sisters and I only learned from 'hunting camp tales' brought back from my brother-in-law, only a few years before he died. Soldiers were just boys, snipers, horrific stories of slain comrades. He also saw all of us married and raising children, which was a great joy through his lens. Soldiers of that era can all be respected for moving on to live a life.
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