Jim Tabb, who writes the wonderful occasional blog post at OldTimer, has an exceptional article about the history of the American veteran as abused and discarded, after he'd served his usefulness.
Here's just one excerpt about how difficult the conditions World War II veterans returned to at home:
"In 1946, the VA had beds for about 82,000 patients but the VA rolls swelled to 15 million in just a few months and the hospitals were virtually all swamped. There were 26,000 non service related cases also on the waiting list. The VA was building new hospitals but had money for only 12,000 more beds. They came too few, too late."
Eddie Livingston, pictured at left, was an American hero, but you've probably never heard his name. A World War II veteran and former P.O.W., he was with the 82nd Airborne 504, 3rd Battalion, I Company. He fought in five European campaigns. When he came home, he felt abandoned by his government, and lived with his wife, Helen, without lights or running water for 30 years. Periodically he wrote his thoughts down and shared those with others, in letters to elected officials. He also told his story to family members, such as his loving niece, Pam Baker, with whom he came to live right before he died. Pam has since shared parts of his painful story with others. The snippets that emerge are of an amazing "everyman" veteran, who speaks from his heart about the agony and very little ecstasy after combat. Eddie Livingston's story is very much consistent with what Jim Tabb writes about, in the tradition of the American veteran being abused and discarded after war.
The Greatest Generation didn't talk about PTSD, though many, like Eddie Livingston, endured it. In another excerpt from a letter he speaks pointedly, though obliquely, about his PTSD:
"I have just one question: How callous and uncaring can one's government get? I understand Germany -- West Germany -- has made a remarkable recovery thanks to billions in American aid. But I have not done so well and am getting worse. All I have ever received from my government has been insults and abuse and 10% ($19.00) service-connected compensation per month for the scars, multiple of wounds (7) suffered in action. $19.00 for the scars; nothing for the wounds."
