“Why They Never Talked About It”

This week I have watched another lecture. This one was presented by Dr. E. Bruce Heilman. He gave a lecture to a leadership class with the topic of Military Leadership. To begin with, what caught my attention almost immediately to this lecture was the title of the lecture: “Why They Never Talked About It.” Once I realized this lecture was going to be given by someone who had served in the military, my interest only grew greater, because I wanted to know the answer to the question of why they, as in people in the military, never talk about it. It being war. 

At the beginning of the lecture, Dr. Heilman created a timeline with his life. He explained how he had lived through the Great Depression, WW1 and served in WW2. He went on to express to the class that the hardships he faced at war, especially at such a young age as a teenager, prepared him for the challenges he later experienced in life. He then followed by explaining the surface reason why returning military did not talk about their experiences at war with their family by saying there wasn’t enough time to do so. They returned home to their wives and family to find jobs and continue living, without the time to address stories at war. At that moment Dr. Heilman addressed my interest in the topic by acknowledging that the lack of communication of those war stories, left future generations on a cliff hanger, hungry for what actually happened at war and what it was like. 

Dr. Heilman reveals to the audience that the reason he will reveal those realities was that he believed that they would increase the appreciation of the military and those who gave their lives for the country. He explains three things war movies have not been able to illustrate, the sound of the dying, the smell of the body decay, and the process of dying on the battlefield. These things he explains are things that veterans cannot to this day surpass. Interestingly but not surprising, Dr. Heilman, also divided into the idea of survivals’ guilt. He describes it as feeling selfish for surviving. He continuously expresses the questioning of his survival by talking about things his comrades were unable to experience a college education or the formation of a family. By the end of the lecture, Dr. Heilman reveals to us why veterans never talk about it. He says that he and his partners understood the severity of their experiences, and understood the lack of social norms they had. They were that their war stories were not presentable in table-talk.