Good war’s bad effects on soldiers

NONFICTION

To be bearable, wars need myths that celebrate heroes and sacrifice.

And because World War II was one of those rare good wars, we have saluted its warriors as supermen. But, as historian Thomas Childers argues in his thoughtful "Soldiers From the War Returning," the "greatest generation" also experienced post-traumatic stress.

They came back, haunted by searing memories, only to fight another battle, this time in "main streets -- in hospitals and courtrooms -- but often in parlors, kitchens and bedrooms." The challenge they faced was finding work, adjusting to disabilities, and reconnecting with loved ones and family in a now unfamiliar world."

To illustrate how war affected the men, Childers describes the lives of three soldiers -- one of whom was his father -- who survived but were permanently changed. As Childers' mother observed on the way back from the cemetery after they buried his father decades later, "You know, he was never the same after the war." It was, as Childers learned, a common observation.

The stories of Mike Gold, Willis Allen and Tom Childers are at the heart of the book, as the author tracks them from the day they enlist to their return home. Gold became a POW when his plane went down over Germany, Allen lost both legs fighting in the Ardennes and Childers, involved in bombing missions, had to work with destroyed planes and their mutilated crews.

As he describes their difficulties at work, with spouses and children, Childers persuasively demonstrates that their experiences were not unique. There were not enough veterans hospitals to treat the 1,000 blinded men, the 40,000 hearing-impaired and the 2,000 who had suffered severe spinal injuries. A million veterans were classified as "neuropsychiatric -- and by 1946 more than 10,000 men were reporting to VA hospitals each month with a psychoneurotic disorder."

Unemployment was high, housing was in short supply and labor strikes were endemic. In a 1947 poll, almost half of the veterans felt the war had been "a useless experience [and that] they had lost the best years of their lives."

The realities of peace, as Childers so perceptively shows in this readable account, were more daunting than the nostalgic accounts seen in movies and books. And this is an eloquent reminder that not even good wars are cost-free.

Judith Chettle is a Richmond-based book reviewer and writer.