The Untold Stories of Our War Veterans

A friend recently shared the following article with me and in honor of all of the United States of America Veterans I wanted to share as a reminder to say "thank you" to all Veterans for your service to this country. God bless America! 

Growing up in Waycross, GA during the '50 and '60s, I was privileged to meet several WW II veterans. They lived in our neighborhood. Marshall, landed on Omaha Beach D-Day, June 6, 1944. He described a beach so filled with dead bodies, he was forced to step on them to get ashore. As he would tell me about his experiences in the war, he never tried to present himself as a hero. Marshall loved his country and was glad to have served. His body contained shrapnel he received in battle.

Leonard, was a P.O.W. in a Japanese Camp. He would not talk about his war experiences. However, he mentioned that he was so cold there that he stuffed newspapers in his clothes to try to stay warm. His war wounds were deep inside and he turned to alcohol to try to manage his pain.

Another WW II Vet, Frank, was a gunner on a B-17 bomber in Europe. He rarely spoke of his experiences, but the pain of them was etched on his face. His Christian faith helped him to cope after the war.

Harry and Henry were in the Korean War. They fought in South Korea at the Chosin Reservoir where thousands of Red Chinese died. Both of them survived the frigid weather but saw dead servicemen stacked on trucks like cord wood. Those memories never go away.

Vietnam was my generation's war. I served on active duty as a chaplain during that era but was not in the country. Several young men that I knew died there. Others described their horrific combat experiences to me. When vets returned from Nam, they were not greeted as war heroes as others had been in other wars. They were greeted rudely by angry war protesters who hurled insults at them.

During this time period a new medical concept was advanced to describe the emotional/mental injuries these returning veterans suffered with. It was called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD). In earlier wars the term was "shell shock" or "battle fatigue."

Today a new diagnostic term is used to more creatively describe this condition. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome(PTSS) is preferred over PTSD. Most of us would feel stigmatized if someone said we had a disorder instead of just saying we had a syndrome.

Some macho military people have said that there is no such thing as PTSD or PTSS! However, MRI's have been done on persons diagnosed with this condition. The test revealed that those with severe PTSS had brain images similar to stroke victims. Now,  Veterans have been awarded a Purple Heart for their injuries.

The purpose of this column is to remind our community of the price our war veterans paid while serving our great nation. We have  Veterans from several wars that carry the scars of battle with them until today. There has been a spike in suicide deaths from our Vets returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan. This could be linked to PTSD/PTSS in my opinion!
Our Veterans do not expect special favors or honors. This Veteran's Day andthroughout the year they just need to hear us say, "Thank you for your service!" 

Proverbs 25:11, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." 

Rodney O. Callahan
Chaplain(COL) US Army (Ret)