One of the most prevalent signs of advanced age is the triggering of smell memories. The brain sort of short circuits and spews a memory. There was a study I read some time back that reported the most vivid sensation in the moments just before death accross the board was not pain, visual or life memories, it is smell memories. Personally, I look forward to smelling Mom's cooking just before she greets me at Heaven's gate!
May God Bless your Dad, and keep him well. My Dad had the same horrible memories of fighting in France in the days and weeks after D-Day. My father was a mine sapper & ordinance specialist. He removed booby traps left in the wake of the retreating German forces. On one patrol outsde St. Lo, he and his buddy were the only two to return after a night mission of a group of 16. I can still hear his anguished cries as he slept when I was a child, my mother cautioning us kids to stay clear until he fully awakened for fear he would lash out at us as the enemy. Only when really drunk would we get snips of the carnage seen by him. His job often called for him to come only after someone had "found" a booby trap. Today's soldiers are facing the same memories; I surely hope their wives are as calm and knowing as my mother was when terrors break the surface.
