Keeping Alive Memories That Bedevil Him (NY Times)

From The New York Times:

By DAN BARRY
Published: August 13, 2009

Albert Perdeck, who still has nightmarish flashbacks to World War II, works to preserve V-J Day in the public’s mind.

"...You’ve seen these Al Perdecks all your life — sipping early-morning coffee, say, with buddies at McDonald’s — but less so now. Stocky, not tall, with shock-white hair and a Norman Mailer look of pugnacity. Wearing shorts, dark socks and a boxy baseball cap embroidered with the name of the ship on which he served. You’ve seen him....."

"....You’ve seen these men, these men who would never talk about it. But now, in the embrace of their own, they did, sometimes with sobs. One of them recalled killing an enemy soldier who was little more than a boy...."

“Last year, 2008, there was no mention of this on the news,” reads his handwritten note to The New York Times. “I am requesting to have the day remembered by your in-depth reporting.”

Find that reporting @ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/us/14land.html?hp
with accompanying slide show - and thank you, Mr. Perdeck - for then and now.