From what his son says, he is talking more about his experiences - almost as if he wants to pass them on while he can.

My Dad served in the Medical Corps in London and never wanted to talk about his experiences, though I managed to glean that he saw hundreds of horribly wounded men coming back from the fronts, often gangrenous, so it was 180 degrees from exciting and glamorous.

My father-in-law, on the other hand, was a flight instructor and test pilot (he was too old for combat), so he had a great time in the war, flying pretty much every allied plane and many German ones. He had no end of stories.