That story of a generation not interested in family war service history of a father or grandfather is played out repeatedly. I was reading today on a local news site a story about a British WW1 War medal being auctioned online. It attracted a lot of interest because the named medal turns out to be the first New Zealand soldier KIA in WW1, in 1915. The family (who didn't own the medal) makes an appearance when the bid reaches $1,000 saying they had no idea where the medal was for decades and some people even suggested the seller, who had legally acquired it from another collector, should return it (gift it) to the family. What was not mentioned in the media story was the likelihood that a member of the family had in fact sold the medal years ago, as at the time they had no interest in it. And back then it would have sold for $10.
There's nothing like monetary value to spur some people to take an interest in their ancestors history. How often were granddad's medals sold to buy an iphone?
Though to be fair to the family in this example, in the case of a KIA medal sent to family at end of war, quite often in these cases after a few years the widow or mother wants rid of it as it's a painful reminder.