(no subject)

I went to a talk tonight (part of a regular history themed series) by Don Malarkey, a WWII vet whose E company platoon (101st airborne paratroopers iirc?) was the subject of HBO's Band of Brothers series. He was a very entertaining speaker, if a bit...disorganized (he has my grandmother's love of extreme digression), but I really wish I'd either read one of the books about them, or seen the series (preferably both!) before the talk, because it was a bit hard to fully understand the context behind some of the stories.

( Notes to remember some of the talk by the time I get around to finally reading about WWII. )

Obviously these were all stories he's told many many many times since (and he now also has a book out called Easy Company Soldier. My aunt, who went to the talk with me, and I had a conversation afterwards about (among other things) the difference in oral histories between WWII and Vietnam, given how different the veteran's experience was between the two wars. (The book On Killing also reflects on this, particularly in terms of how it effects PTSD)