He shrugs at the sympathy, never really certain how to respond to it. He's grateful for it on some level but resents it on another. It shouldn't have happened in the first place, he should be dead for the condition Black Ghost found him in. Or maybe he's grateful to Black Ghost on some level too, but he can't acknowledge that and still reconcile that they only existed to do ill to the entire world. It's a complicated mess and has been for seventy years now - or far more, given that he's further out of time than ever - and so he just expresses everything in a simple shrug.

"It's not surprising, no. Not always because of that experience though. I grew up during World War II and the Cold War. Did you ever get to that in school?" He's not sure if he needs to clarify further.