Jim Frame, post: 409306, member: 10 wrote: That's a great interview. I tried many times to talk my Dad into writing of his experiences -- he was a good writer -- and he said he'd do it someday, but based on a quick look through his things he never did get to it.
My father's experience wasn't as positive as your dad's. The fellowship with his unit members was certainly there, but he experienced so many horrific things that it scarred him for life. The nightmares dogged him right to the end. It was a sad fact of his life, but there wasn't much I could do about it. A few years ago I came across a book written by a WWII combat vet who realized in his old age that he had PTSD, and he got treatment for it. He wrote that it ran against the grain of his generation to do that, but he encouraged others to seek out treatment because it had benefited him so much. I sent my Dad a copy of that book, and his wife told me a few days ago that he kept it handy and read it periodically, but he never followed up with any treatment. At least he doesn't need it any more.
What you say is correct.
Nobody sought treatment for psychological effect of war in that generation for a wide variety of reasons. In the end, it was something they would cope with in life, no
matter how hard the struggle.
Another obstacle to challenge them in life.
A few years before my father died, my mom was in the hospital. I decided to visit and stay with him for awhile.
A few mornings, he would have breakfast with a couple of guys from the WW2 generation. One cold morning, talk was about WW2 and how cold one got.
There was an Italian guy originally from NYC. You can tell he was a tough guy and a bull of a man. He was at the Battle of the Bulge as a 17 yr old kid. He started remembering something and tears flooded his eyes. This was an eighty yr old man.
One just felt the pain of his youth in war.
Jim sorry your dad had it so bad. We never new anything like that from my dad, other than he did not talk about any of the bad stuff only good stories. I this think my dad was 87 or 88 when he got hooked up with the VA, and his doctor put him in with a group of veterans that would meet once a month. My dad really started to open up after that. We would even travel back to his regiment reunions once a year. War is hell, and my dad always had some distaste for polititions who treated war lightly with their political speeches. Jp
