Yes he did. And i, too, deserved what I got. Many children of the 30s grew up hard and expected their children to absorb those lessons. I think we are better for it (though my teenage self would disagree)
Funny, growing up, I always thought we were a poor family. After my dad retired from the military, we lived in a smaller house than most of my friends, never bought a new family car, always used, and in general I never got the cool expensive Christmas gifts that all my cousins got.
When I was out on my own living about 6 hours away from my parents in my late 20's, told them I was going to buy a "truck" car as I could afford the loan. Mom told me that they would cover the loan and I would pay them directly, and they wanted to do it so they could save me interest as they didn't want me paying interest to the bank. I told my mom that I couldn't do that to them, as I didn't want to break them financially, and that I could afford it. She just laughed and gave me a glimpse of the checkbook. The point was made on me that my parents came from poor coal mining immigrants, but that if you saved and wasn't a fool with your money, you can do all right by yourself.
I also laugh because whenever I lived at home as an adult (mostly college), my parents charged me a pretty penny for rent and held me to it. What I didn't understand at the time was my parents were saving it for me.
Got to give credit to my one 17 year old. He bought his first used car yesterday, paid cash for it with his own money, saved 13k working his job the last two years (still working even when school starts next couple of weeks), but he only spent 7k for the car as he didn't want to wipe out his bank account. We didn't want him spending the money at all and didn't think it was a great desicion, but he's been a good kid, worked his butt off, stays straight and narrow, so if that's what he wanted to do with his own money, were weren't going to stop him. I have the feeling that he just wanted to be proud and own it all on his own with his own money, and that may not be a bad thing.
My son even says with a grin that he's a cheap bastard like gramps LOL
I'm just glad my boys got to know my dad. Never knew either of my grandfathers as they both died in their 50's in the coal mines.