<b>Life lessons for Father’s Day</b> Tom Mathews’ <b>Our Fathers’ War: Growing Up in the Shadow of the Greatest Generation</b>, is a moving look at the struggles between combat veterans of World War II and their sons. Mathews breaks through the unwritten code of silence to reveal the emotional turmoil of these veterans and shows how their experiences altered their views of life, family and their role as fathers. The book is an emotional tour of traumatic pasts and strained relationships (few more so than Mathews’ own fractured connection with his father, a veteran of the 10th Mountain Division’s bloody Italy campaign). For the civilian, it is a rare window into the shocking hell of war, confessed by men who descended into it and returned, wounded in body, mind and soul, unable and unwilling to explain their experiences to those they should be closest to. To read this book is to understand that the sacrifices of war don’t always end when the combat does, and that even victory can leave scars that cross generations.
<i>Howard Shirley is a son and a father.</i>
