Old Fella,
No group who went through trauma bother moaning about the bad bits that happened to them; they remember all the happy, fun bits when they get together.
All the old soldiers had a wow of a time at their reunions ... came home rotten and full of bonhomie.
I had a friend who spent the war in Changi. He was a bit of a loner and when he came home, dug a little hole, got in and covered himself over.
Most nights when I stayed at his place, twenty five years later, I'd wake to hear him talking to the Jap with the bayoneted rifle on his shoulder and the bamboo pole in his hands, standing at the top of the bed.
Each year his old mates would ring him and try talking him into coming to the 'bamboo and barbed wire' reunion.
No way... didn't want to dredge up old horrors.
He continued his nightly chats with the guard who couldn't get him , "But I can see you there".
Somehow, someone got him to the forty year get together.
He couldn't believe the mood of the booze up; laughter at some of the nasty things that happened and all the, 'Remember when Lofty/ Shorty/ Billy... '
He came home singing his head off and was too noisy for the Jap guard to stand at the head of the bed.
He went to the next and next reunion till Cancer got him.
The guard appeared occasionally but he got told to 'Buggerr off!'
Have you noticed that no venues have been mentioned so far.
Oh there's plenty of get togethers organised by those who hold each other in great respect.
We talk to each other and if we didn't get an email, we'd ring a mate and ask what's happening this year.
Like the old fellas before us we have a ball catching up on blokes we haven't seen in years and are entertained at the adventures he's had.
WE all come home happy and so do our wives/partners who catch up with the mates they made twenty five years ago.