Reply #2: My father-in-law was very similar.

[rurallib]

he was at the front of the D-Day landing among other things. he didn't tell me that, my MIL did. And she knew only because of his letters.
Once he got home, the war was never spoken of again. The medals were thrown into a drawer and never removed.
Only twice did I ever hear anything about is service: R&R in Iceland in the summer (midnight baseball) and on the 50th anniversary of D-Day his cousin, a nurse, wanted my FIL to return to Normandy for all the ceremonies. That really set him off. He never ever wanted to see Normandy again, or for that matter hear of it.

I did try to ask some questions, but got the hint big time that he just would not talk of it.