World War II veterans aren’t any kind of mystery to me. They’re getting rather rarer these days, which makes me a little sad. They were matter of fact kind of people.

They really didn’t go looking for any trouble. Their fathers had gone off to Belleau Wood to end the First World War, but only because it needed doing. They didn’t pass down any animus towards any corner of Europe to their kids. The doughboys’ children had problems of their own, and would have preferred to be left alone to find three square meals and a warm place to sleep during the Depression. It was not to be.

When it became necessary, they all shrugged and did their duty. They watched training films like this one, and they jumped out of planes when they were told to. They fought like tigers because they were born tigers, not because they were part of some weird militaristic society. They didn’t mean anything by killing you. It was just necessary to make you knock off running amok all over the map. The minute it was over, they shrugged and went back to their plows and their ledgers, and never said a bad word about the people that had been shooting at them.

They were better people than you or I, and in a few years, they’ll all be gone.