( CNN ) -- Every war veteran has stories . They can be shocking , harrowing , tragic -- sometimes even funny . The problem for families trying to understand those experiences , on Veterans Day and every day , is that they wo n't hear much about them . Many vets have trouble talking about them . This was the case with my father , who saw lots of action as an artilleryman in the Philippines during World War II . When I was a kid , I 'd beg him for tales about the war . Usually , he waved me away . Sometimes , though , he gave in to my badgering . I found it strange that most of his accounts were short on the blood and guts bravado that my G.I . Joe comic books had led me to expect . Mostly , they were about men who simply wanted to do their job and go home , but found themselves subject to the deadly coin toss of war . Like today 's soldiers recovering from injuries , suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or haunted by images of fallen friends , he soon learned after returning home that he could n't explain war to a civilian . He would carry this alone . `` There 's no way anyone who was n't there could understand , '' he would say . He shook his head telling about the time he had been relieved of duty at a forward observation post . Moments after he walked away , an enemy shell hit the site . It obliterated everyone there , including the friend who had just taken his place . He was lucky in war . I think that bothered him , too . His unit saw 187 days of active battle , but his only injury came when his leg was peppered with shrapnel during an assault . Gangrene set in . Doctors told him the leg had to come off or he could die . He refused to let the doctors operate , and they reluctantly respected his wishes . Then a new `` wonder drug '' arrived . It was the first batch of penicillin to reach the Philippines , and his life was saved . Why was he spared and others not ? Again , he could n't explain . One day , he heard that an acquaintance -- a kid from his hometown in Missouri -- had been killed in a nearby conflict . He drove to the battlefield to search for the body , but most of the dead were too disfigured to be recognized . Finally , he gave up . He could n't understand why he had wanted to find him . Or , what he would have done if he had . `` Really , I did n't even know him , '' he told me . At some point during those evenings , he would stop and turn his head . I knew he was finished then , and I would wander off , leaving him to his distant world . Years later , as a reporter , I wrote a series of articles about WWII veterans . Each had his own accounts of exploits and escapes . Like Dad , they usually had to be coaxed into talking . Often , the interviews astounded members of their own family who were hearing the stories for the first time . Like many veterans today , the war never left my father . For years , he suffered bouts of malaria from his time in the South Pacific . His wounded leg sometimes gave him trouble . He regretted not signing up for disability pay while getting his discharge . But the line of injured vets was too long for him to wait . He wanted to get home to a bride he had n't seen in 3Â½ years . And a 4-year-old son he 'd never met . My father respected the sentiment behind Veterans Day , but it was n't an observance he enjoyed . Dad became a successful businessman in a small Midwestern town after the war and , each year , the Veterans Day parade filed past his storefront . He never joined it , or added his voice to the cheering crowd . While everyone else saw the ranks of veterans parading past , he saw the wartime buddies who were n't there . So , he simply watched grim-faced until it was over . Then he went back inside and tried to forget all over again . Join us Facebook/CNNOpinion . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of James Kindall .
James Kindall : War veterans have tales , sometimes harrowing ; many ca n't tell them . Others ca n't understand , he says ; it was like this with his father , who served in WW II . He says sometimes , though , he 'd share stories of friends killed , of nearly losing leg . Kindall : Dad did n't enjoy Veterans Day . When parade passed , he only saw friends lost .