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Gabi Hayes

(28,795 posts)
5. my father was never, ever sick, despite having had half his ass literally blown off
Thu Jun 23, 2016, 10:35 AM
Jun 2016

in Belgium right before the Battle of the Bulge, and spending almost a year in hospitals as a result.

hand grenade, but no observable head trauma (which has been posited as a possible cause), other than pressure wave from the explosion, whatever damage that might have caused. he was wounded other times in battle, but who knows what could have happened.

none of that seemed to affect his health, though

landed in france after d-day as a buck private, and in his two months there, made it to platoon sergeant, mainly because almost everybody else in his unit got killed. lord knows what sort of physical/mental toll that must've taken

read Paul Fussell's books on his time as a soldier if you want to get an idea what it was like to be a ground grunt in WWII

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