kr1333

Hello Norm. Thanks for your invaluable posts about your ANZAC experiences. My Dad was in New Guinea during the war as an airplane mechanic with the US Army Air Force. He would talk only occasionally about his experiences, and they were all positive stories about his friends or life in the jungle and the strange snakes and insects they came across. Every few years he would travel to see his buddies from his unit who had returned to the U.S. with him. None of us six kids bothered to ask him about his experiences, because he would usually retreat into silence.

The only other thing we knew was that he had caught malaria, and returned from the war weighing less than 100 lbs, and had lost all his hair and his teeth. Our Mom said she barely recognized him when he got off the train on his return. At least once a year he would have a terrible few days of sickness when malarial fever returned. He'd be locked up in the bedroom and come out a few days later when he was well enough to go back to work.

About a year before he died he confided to my wife that he had been a prisoner of war of the Japanese for over a year. This was a great shock to the rest of us, but he clammed up again and we understood not to ask any further questions. It did explain a lot, though. It explained the little things, like the fact we were never allowed to eat fish or rice in our house, which apparently had been his sole diet in the camp. It explained the weight loss and loss of teeth and hair. It explained why he never talked about the Japanese. This was a bit hard on me, as by the 1970's I was involved in international business and took many trips to Japan. I would come home and visit my parents, and talk about Tokyo, Kyoto and so forth. My Mom took me aside once and told me to lay off on discussing Japan, and that was very good advice. I served on a welcoming committee that prepared for Emperor Hirohito's state visit to the U.S. in the 1970's, and I got to shake his hand. I am grateful to this day for her alerting me not to bring up this fact with my Dad. He wouldn't have said anything but he still had deep animosity toward the Japanese.

Looking back, I think like a lot of veterans, my Dad didn't want to talk about the war or his nightmares (we could every so often hear the screaming down the hall when he had a bad dream), or his malaria. He just wanted to get on with things, but I believe he also wanted to spare six kids from growing up knowing about certain horrors. It was a gift to us; we thought of the war as a remote adventure for him, and something that shouldn't affect how we thought about things - or even about the Japanese - growing up in the 50's and 60's.

He died about 20 years ago, but I know he had a great fondness for you Aussies. Someone gave a wallaby to his unit and it became their mascot. That was one of his good memories and something he was happy to talk about. He even looked at getting one as a pet for us in the U.S., but that wasn't possible. Later in his life he expressed an interest in visiting Australia, because he had heard many interesting things from mates like you. Sadly, he died before he could make the trip.

What the hell is wrong with Barack Obama? Up here in Chicago we've known him for a long time - my wife first met him in 1996 and was impressed with his intelligence and passion for liberal causes. He came to our neighbor's house in 2004 for the Senate primary, when hardly anybody knew who he was. We've been supporters for a long, long time, but whoever that is in the White House is not the Barack Obama we knew in the Illinois Legislature or as a Senator. Sure, he's got to compromise somewhat to get things done. But reducing Social Security benefits on his own initiative? Ignoring Bush administration war crimes? Not bothering to prosecute one bank executive for fraud? Throwing whistleblowers in jail while expanding "state secrets"? Getting rolled constantly by the Republicans? Insisting he has the right to kill Americans anywhere at any time just on his say so?

What happened to this guy, and why can't any of you Democrats in Congress get him to see people are tired of him talking like a liberal but acting like a Bush Republican?

You're right, we do have a lot in common. In fact, my Dad might have serviced the aircraft your father was assigned to. There weren't that many Army Air-Force landing strips in PNG. I'm sorry to hear about his life-long problems with his injury, but as you say, that probably saved his life.