Sandisondaughter,
First let me welcome you back, (after a five-year plus absence !), into the Good Fellowship of this Best of Threads in the Best of Forums in PPRuNe ! And now first of all, you've hit the nail square on the head with
I guess the culture was that there was nothing special about anyone!
That's what I've been saying here for a long time. Our generation were just ordinary folk who happened to find ourselves in the firing line in '39/'45. There was a job to be done, and nobody else in sight to do it, so we simply got on with it. Luckily, when endurance and heroism were called for, there was plenty of it on offer.
Now if you've been following this Thread recently, you'll have seen that, contrary to all expectations, there has been a sudden new crop of nonagenarians in town, some happily still with us and others speaking through their sons or others, either directly or by means of their logbooks, notes and diaries, etc. left to us. Can I urge you to persuade your Dad to join our happy band ?
We'd all welcome him (and I could relinquish the onerous burden of being the Oldest Inhabitant ?) and enjoy his many stories. For us, remember, the clock is ticking !
As you see from my callsign, I was in the third tranche of entrants into the Arnold Scheme, and so would just have missed 42A. First question, what did your Dad think of the 'Hazing ? And if he was at Carlstrom, what was the true story of the legendary 'Riot' there ?
Awaiting expectantly,
Danny42C.