# You weren't alive in World War II. But how has it affected your life? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384 "2015-03-19T14:59:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/61 "2015-03-21T00:18:07Z")
We were born in Hawaii. 'nuff said! ---
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/62 "2015-03-21T00:39:09Z")
From everything I’ve read and seen, Guadalcanal was one of the worst hellholes of the Pacific campaign. I have a lot of questions for some of the generals and brass, well, “in general,” about some of the decisions that were made about which islands to take and which to bypass. I particularly have questions for “Dugout” Douglas MacArthur, who was apparently almost universally despised by everyone under his command. But yeah, I can only imagine the looks on the Marines’ faces after they landed and the entire US Navy proceeded to sail away. ---
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/63 "2015-03-21T01:02:31Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > May I ask what they are denying in japan? They’re denying quite a lot. I just typed up a long list, but I don’t want to invite a flame war, so I’ll confine myself to the most egregious examples: They assert that the thousands of Korean, Asian and yes, European women that were forced to work in military brothels ([Comfort women](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women)) were legally hired and well paid . . . they deny that [Unit 731](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731) ever existed, they deny that the [Nanjing Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre), that is estimated by some historians to have cost up to 300,000 Chinese lives in a matter of weeks ever happened. Of course, a lot of modern Japanese wouldn’t deny anything, just because they aren’t even aware of any of this, because of course, they haven’t been told. ---
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/64 "2015-03-21T01:04:39Z")
> [@campp](#): > > My wife’s father was in D-day and suffered greatly in the Battle of the Bulge. 82nd Airborne, 325th Glider Regiment. > > He lives with us now (he’s almost 93). We have to rub medication on his legs every few days. This is to help his damaged leg skin from frostbite. > > So here we are still treating an active war wound in 2015. My God. A hero still lives! My dad lasted to 86. he would have been 93 next April 11 . . . ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/65 "2015-03-21T01:07:54Z")
> [@Kamakiri](#): > > They’re denying quite a lot. I just typed up a long list, but I don’t want to invite a flame war, so I’ll confine myself to the most egregious examples: They assert that the thousands of Korean, Asian and yes, European women that were forced to work in military brothels ([Comfort women](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women)) were legally hired and well paid . . . they deny that [Unit 731](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731) ever existed, they deny that the [Nanjing Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre), that is estimated by some historians to have cost up to 300,000 Chinese lives in a matter of weeks ever happened. > > Of course, a lot of modern Japanese wouldn’t deny anything, just because they aren’t even aware of any of this, because of course, they haven’t been told. Thanks **Kamakiri**. I already started a separate [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=752204) about this. ---
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/66 "2015-03-21T01:08:01Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > My dad’s parents came to America as a young married couple, shortly after the end of WWI. The family farm in Germany had been severely damaged in the war and the family felt it could no longer support two young families. So my grandfather left and his older brother, Heinrich, remained. The brothers stayed close, exchanging letters and phone calls. Heinrich and his family followed the Nazis. Whether because of idealism or pragmatism, I’ll never know. It split the brothers apart as both sent their eldest sons (my dad and his cousin) off to fight. > > Both my dad and his cousin suvived the war. The cousin was seriously injured, however, and lost the family farm when his father passed away. We were told that the cousin, his wife, and a younger brother, all moved to Oregon after the war. We never spoke to them or them to us. > > The war created (or at least exposed) an enormous rift between a family that had once been so close. Had there been no war, I might have had family to interact with either in Germany or here in America. Reminds me of that memorable scene in Band of Brothers where one of the Airborne guys stumbles on a German POW who’s actually American . . . but was forced to move back to Germany at the beginning of the war by his family. In the next scene . . . well, I won’t spoil it for you. ---
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/67 "2015-03-21T01:09:20Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Thanks **Kamakiri**. I already started a separate [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=752204) about this. Yeah, I wasn’t sure quite how far to take this . . . I can see how some people might . . . um . . . _disagree_. I’ll check out your thread!! ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/68 "2015-03-21T01:57:42Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > … > > In kindergarten, 1947, my teacher was excited about buying a new car, and explained to us kids that new cars had not been available for a few years because of the war. > … I was born in 1946 and I calculate that my parents decided it was OK to conceive another child on or about the time The Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. (My mom was apparently super-fertile and could conceive at will.) I dimly recall my folks being glad they could buy stuff without rationing, like a tricycle for me, and shoes. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/69 "2015-03-21T02:55:53Z")
> [@Kamakiri](#): > > My God. A hero still lives! My dad lasted to 86. he would have been 93 next April 11 . . . I have a patient who jumped in with the 101st on D day. He still lives by himself and works on heavy equipment daily. He’s awesome! ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/70 "2015-03-21T04:12:35Z")
I first went to Japan in the early 80s as a Mormon mission, (obviously back when I was still LDS). I moved there again in 1990 and worked for or owned several businesses until two years ago when our family moved to Taiwan. Depending on how Japan would have been without the war, my life as an adult would be completely different. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/71 "2015-03-22T05:14:20Z")
The war’s Spanish prologue and its subsequent isolation are the main reason my parents’ generation is generally in worse health than their parents: children of the war, malnutrition was pervasive. The levels of stress I imagine can’t have been good, and it wasn’t only those who’d been “in the front” who were traumatized by war. Families were broken; there’s graves whose occupants still haven’t been identified and people who are still wondering what happened to some of their relatives, both in the Spanish war and in WWII (many people had fled Spain for France or Belgium). It also led to that generation growing in a much more restrictive environment than those born in the previous 40-50 years; not just because of the dictatorship, but because of, again, restrictions on what goods were available. And it produced an influx of “exotic” lastnames, refugees from the war. Most of them were on their way to somewhere else, but quite a few stayed. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/72 "2015-03-22T14:35:43Z")
My father grew up in Belgium durin WWII during his formative years. Due to malnutrition it changed his DNA . His teeth were mess. So we’re mine and my sister’s. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/73 "2015-03-22T16:37:11Z")
My grandparents remained locked into that wartime ‘scrimp-and-save, make-do-and-mend’ mindset, as did my parents generation to an extent, and me (somewhat less). ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/74 "2015-03-22T20:08:48Z")
My grandfather and his family, (mostly) ethnic Italians, were kicked off their farm in what became Yugoslavia after WWII. My grandfather then worked as a cook on a big American base in Trieste. The family subsequently moved to the U.S. My dad was able to go to university and I was raised in the U.S middle class. I don’t know if any of that would have happened without WWII. I also lost relatives, but no one I knew of course–I’ve been told one of my father’s uncles was taken away by partisans and never seen again. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/75 "2015-03-22T20:34:09Z")
I owe my existence to WWII. My Grandfather met Jim when they served in the army together, and that’s how he came to be at Jim’s wedding to Lil, and that’s how he met Lil’s sister, Rose - my Grandmother. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/76 "2015-03-23T05:57:47Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > My father grew up in Belgium durin WWII during his formative years. Due to malnutrition it changed his DNA . His teeth were mess. So we’re mine and my sister’s. Malnutrition can’t change DNA, to the best of my knowledge, and depending on what “mess” means, that mess may or may not have a genetic component. I have a crooked left top eyetooth; so does my mother; so did her father; so did his father (none the corresponding spouses does). My brother’s sunk palate, on the other hand (and corresponding pileup of teeth), doesn’t affect any other known relatives. ---
**Author:** ![Rutrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ebca7d/32.png) [@Rutrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rutrow)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/77 "2015-03-23T22:38:34Z")
Although my father hardly ever talked about the war, we always watched war shows on television when they aired. My siblings and I are the recipients of my father’s PTSD. Yeah…it affected my life even though I wasn’t born until after the war. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/78 "2015-03-23T22:59:20Z")
> [@Rutrow](#): > > My siblings and I are the recipients of my father’s PTSD. Yeah…it affected my life even though I wasn’t born until after the war. Because of his untreated/self-medicated PTSD, and both of us being a bit crazy, I didn’t have a good relationship with my father until a Vietnam-era VA doctor told him, “I know what you have. You guys thought you were too tough for it.” ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/79 "2015-03-23T23:27:58Z")
I remember during WWII I knocked out Adolf Hitler over 200 times! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rutrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ebca7d/32.png) [@Rutrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rutrow)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384/80 "2015-03-24T01:26:37Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Because of his untreated/self-medicated PTSD, and both of us being a bit crazy, I didn’t have a good relationship with my father until a Vietnam-era VA doctor told him, “I know what you have. You guys thought you were too tough for it.” Musing about our plight as children…I decided that they must have not had a treatment for “shell shock” back in that day. I don’t want to think that my father wanted to tough it out although he appeared to be tough and all the neighborhood kids were afraid of him like we were. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-werent-alive-in-world-war-ii-but-how-has-it-affected-your-life/715384.md?page=5)