There is nothing romantic about assault. (And I’m sure he fought under the pretense of protecting those at home, not the right to exert his own controle over them.) The only really romantic men I’ve known – and I’m thinking in particular of friends who did fight in the second world war and came home to build loving families and live exeplary lives – are those of strong character, who live with respect for the people around them. There is nothing “manly” about exerting force over someone in position of relative weakness to yourself.