> He still talks about it like it was a personal attack

Not surprising, otherwise he wouldn't hold the grudge for so long.

Many climate change deniers feel like even implying they're a (tiny) part of the (systemic) problem is a personal attack, hence their shitty attitude about science.

I know a guy who died recently who didn't eat rice and exclusively bought Chinese and Korean electronics as a result of his involuntary relocation to a certain pacific island from 1942-45. He wasn't personally the target by any of the orders that the people he was wronged by were following yet I think most people would consider the grudge reasonable since he was personally affected even though it wasn't personally targeted at him. I consider OP's grandfather's grudge to be along those same lines albeit over a much more minor wrong.

> He wasn't personally the target by any of the orders that the people he was wronged by

I study WW2, especially the Pacific.

Trust me, that war was taken very personally, especially by infantry.

(The next time you watch a documentary on Saipan or Tarawa, note the American rifles are pointed at the ground, since the enemy was coming up through cave networks behind lines. Talk about close quarters fighting!)