I have a would-be-interesting question.

Generally war veterans have post-war trauma.

How didn´t Michael go crazy after the WW2 and how could Vito trust him to become a Don?

Most of the(And I would dare to say everybody)WW1 and 2, Vietnam, Falkland Island veterans went crazy, maybe more or less than others, but a war is a war.

Intriguing question. I think it would have been interesting if maybe Mr. Puzo would have written a side-story to the trilogy about Michael's war experience. I don't know, but I think it would have made a better read than The Sicilian.

I've got it, sense Mr. Puzo isn't around to write something like that, I think Plaw should have the rights to publish a story like that.

Yea its really something to think about-did Michael go through mental changes during the war. I think that the war experience made him tougher a little more "cold hearted" and maybe even smarter.

Hey you stole that observation from me

I hardly think that to be the case.

I personally know several Viet Nam veterans, and while one or two of them definitely did come home a bit changed by the experience, none were changed dramatically.

And most, one of whom I'm still quite friendly with, didn't seem to change at all.

I also know several veterans of WW II.

Although I obviously didn't know them before the war, so I can't judge the changes that they may have undergone, none of them seem "crazy" to me now.

A little old maybe.....

If every WWII vet went "crazy" there wouldn't have been many sane men left in the country (or the world) afterwards. The percentage of men between 18 and 45 who fought in that war was HUGE.

Yes, that could be, but I guess it would be a different point of view if you had the chance to live with those people in a house. Of course, there are people who are stronger psichologicly than others, but you know, being in constant danger of being killed, bombs exploting around you, bullets above you, etc, I guess nobody is the same person. I still say a war is a war.

As several have already, I take issue with the assertion that participation inevitably results in trauma that leads to any less than stable mental condition. As a veteran of Vietnam, I consider myself to be quite stable as I do of my battle collegues. Madonne!

A relative minority of veterans of all the wars you cited actually suffered tangible, life-affecting trauma. We tend to read a lot about this type of trauma today because it gets so much publicity. But it's also a case of the news media playing up negatives to increase circulation. How much "news" value is there in a story whose headline is, "Vietnam Vet Leads Normal Life"?
As for Michael: World War II was considered a "just" war by the vast majority of Americans who fought in it; and nearly all physically fit men either volunteered or were drafted into the military. As we saw at the end of GFII, Michael was gung-ho to join the Marines. But in the Vietnam era, only a small percentage of draft-eligible men were drafted, which tended to make some of them resentful of those who had deferments or otherwise didn't serve. And more than a few American soldiers who fought in Vietnam questioned the justice or rationale for American involvement in that war. As a result, some (but not a majority) suffered from trauma.

Your mental health could depend on the victory or failure in a war? Are there more veterans with trauma who fought in a war which was lost?And less in a war which was won?

Don Pappo, you totally miss Turnbull's point.

It does not come down to a matter of winning or losing a war.

When the USA got into WWII, it was for a just reason. Pearl Harbor, it's military and the Amercians had been attacked. The country and it's people were up in arms about being attacked the way that we were. Public support for getting into WWII was extremely high. Americans were gung ho in fighting those who attacked us. I think that it is safe to say that volunteer sign up for the military was probably very very high for WWII. So it was not as though the majority of the young men sho fought in WWII were forced to go to war.

With the Vietnam war, it was a bit different. The USA was not attacked, we were helping to fight a civil war. Many young men were forced to go to Vietnam, against their will.


So I think that it is safe to say that while there are mental problems in soldiers resulting from any war, in the case of Michael, being that it was WWII and he was gung ho in signing up, there was a very minimal mental affect on him from his fighting in that war.

If anything the war may have helped him in carrying out his "mission" of saving the family by taking out Sollozzo and eventually the heads of the other families.

So in the content of the lifestyle that he chose, his experience in WWII was probably a plus for him more than a negative.


Don Cardi

the war most likely had an affect on michael because the whole experience is traumatic.

I'm sure not every single war veteran was dramatically changed after being in war. I know a WWII war vetran as well and he served for a couple years and he came back and lead a normal life with his family.

Not every single war vetran would be dramatically changed by the event. I think with the experience of being in WWII made Michael a smarter and quicker person and I think Vito respected that.

Yeah, I know lots of veterans and almost none of them was changed drastically by it. I'm sure alot of people were, but not everybody.

well yea not everyone is different but my great uncle had to bury bodies in the war - he came back and wasnt the same.

Going back to the original question, who says Michael wasn't a bit crazy?