Taking father-son bonding to an extreme

A candidate for Congress in Ohio, Richard Iott, likes to reenact military adventures. He has taken part in reenactments of the Civil War and World Wars I and II. He seems to especially like WWII as he has played the part of a U.S. infantryman and a German soldier. He decided to act the part of an SS member to further bond with his son. He picked a specific division, the 5th SS Panzer Divisions Wiking, that fought primarily on the eastern front and, thus, did not oppose U.S. troops; it fought the Russian communists. Howsomever, that does not mean that they were boy scouts; they were as vicious and racist as other SS divisions. Iott contends that he was only interested in reenacting the WWII experience. Why acting the part of a U.S. infantryman was not enough is a question? As is why he felt a need to support his son in backing a group that did evil things?