Grandfather never talked about it. Now, it's too late.

Last night, I finished watching the new series by Ken Burns, "The War". What really struck me was a statistic. Over one thousand veterans of this war die each day. Did they share their stories? Some did, and some are gone forever.

My grandfather is gone, and he never shared his stories with us. We saw pictures of him in uniform, and knew he was stationed on a submarine near Iceland, but he never told any personal stories about it. I have to wonder what it was like, his war service, but it's too late now.

Why am I sharing this downer with you? I just want to encourage everyone out there who has a veteran in their family to ask questions. They may not wish to go into detail, or to discuss it at all, but you can at least ask.

Their generation was raised not to speak of unpleasant things, to put the war behind them and move on, so in many cases they never shared their stories. What a loss. We've all seen war movies, seen John Wayne in a dogfight in the sky flashing his movie star grin after he downs an enemy plane. For many men, that wasn't the reality, and it's time we stir our stumps and find out the truth.

Oh, and in case you couldn't tell, I recommend seeing 'The War'!