Sinking The Tirpitz

[poliphilo]

Our friend John was persuaded to talk about his naval service yesterday. (Actually we didn't know he'd been in the war- we didn't think he was that old) and he mumbled something about "D" day and the Tirpitz, then hurried on to the training he did after being demobbed.  Isn't that marvellous? I don't really buy into all that "greatest generation" guff but I love it when a man who was involved in two of the legendary campaigns of the Second World War would rather talk about almost anything else. 



The Tirpitz was the biggest German battleship of World War II. She spent the war holed up in Norwegian ports and- in spite of never actually firing a shot in anger- hobbled the Royal Navy by compelling it to maintain a strong defensive presence in  the North Sea. The British sank her- after many attempts- in November 1944. Nearly a thousand men went down with her.

Comments

[oakmouse]

My dad was in the Marines in WWII; the only stories he'll tell are the highly seasoned tales about off-color escapades on base that the lads got up to during lulls in the nastiness.

A friend's dad was a POW for a while after his plane was shot down over Italy, and only in the last couple of years did he open up much about it. Even so he mostly talks about his friends, rarely about himself.

Funny how they won't talk about it. I think it's a generational thing: don't dwell on bad things, and if you're male don't talk about things that will make you want to cry.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think it has a lot to do with a now old-fashioned ideal of masculine virtue. You don't brag, you don't show emotion, you maintain a "stiff upper lip".