Veteran Secretkeepers

Every kid believes dad is a hero, but too few learn in time the secret truth of how or why that's true.

Teresa Irish of Saginaw, Mich., discovered her father's secret in his trunk after his death.

A month and a day following Aarol Irish's death his daughter lifted the lid of his "Army trunk" and found thousands of letters describing his soldiering experiences during WWII. He had promised his children that one day he would show and tell them about his baggage. The day, too late for him to tell, finally came and as proud as Irish is of her father — and even as she now knows what horror her father commemorated every year on April 9 — she still regrets she didn't get a chance to talk with him about this part of his life.

Charlie Watson's superpower secrets were kept in his lungs. Two years before cancer killed him — lung cancer traceable to the Army's "wheelbarrow-full" distribution of Camels and Luckies — he showed and explained the story of his Bronze medal and much else of his life to son Warren.

** If the child doesn't ask when the father wants to talk, both lose. **