there's still people around from WW1? damn... they gotta be 100. 1914-1916 right? - 18 = 1899 ish they were born??? impossible. sure, there may be a few left, but not enough for you to see on a semi-regular basis.
my grandfather was in ww2, and signed in when he was 17 a couple months before pearl harbor and served on the uss hancock. hes 82 now. wwII is nealry 25 years after wwI... hell, most of the korean war vets are over 60 now... i don't buy it...
but anyway, yes, the shit you see will stay with you forever. my great uncle was like that.
he was a strapping young lad... had a new wife. went out to wwII, and got shrapnel hit in one of his legs from a reckoshea. they "repaired" him, but he limped for the rest of his life... his wife left him shortly after he got back...
he chewed cigars. never lit them... just chewed on em till they were stubbs.
he mumbled to himself constantly, and having a conversation with him was impossible.
I only knew him from his 60's till his death about 5 years ago... and he was 83 i think when he passsed.
60 years after the fact, he was still "retarded" from what he went through.