The effects of Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) on service men and women are well documented. The latest studies suggest that, for specific combat eras, this rate can range from 15% to 30%. (Vets, non-vets work together to understand PTSD, National Science Foundation, Nov. 14, 2022).
PTS was officially recognized as a mental health condition only in 1980. Before 1980, combat trauma was often described as “soldier’s heart” (Civil War), “shell shock” (WWI), “war neurosis” (WWII), or “combat fatigue” (Korean War). (PTSD and Vietnam Veterans: A Lasting Issue 40 Years Later, Agent Orange newsletter, Summer 2015).
As we approach Memorial Day, which honors military personnel who died in service, I remember the people I knew who did not die in service, but who suffered due to service-related issues. I recount here some of those stories.
My husband found out years later that his father, having lost a leg to a WWII German shoe mine suffered from nightmares and depression into his seventies. Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of WWII, became a famous actor, but also suffered from PTS. He became a drunk and struggled with fatherhood.
My elementary school neighbors, Oliver and Allan, returned from Vietnam combat hooked on drugs and engaged in criminal behavior to feed their habits. Oliver was imprisoned, and Allan was killed on the streets.
An actor friend, a Vietnam Vet, resisted removing his shoes during an audition for a footcare product commercial saying, “My feet are messed up from jungle rot.” His heart gave out in his 60’s.
High school friend Clifford has been hospitalized numerous times due to combat injuries. And my cousin, Vallen, has lingered in a VA hospital for almost a year because of exposure to Agent Orange near Korea’s DMZ.
We fly the American flag at half-staff, visit cemeteries, and have parades in memory of those who died in conflict. But let’s not forget the men and women who were adversely affected by their service. Some of them are still at war.
Transitions – No Mail, Low Morale: The Unsung Soldiers of the Six Triple Eight
