War produces all types of casualties, from horrific death on the battlefield to lingering injuries that degrade and impede life’s joys for a life time and may ultimately contribute to death years later. In reading Since You Went Away by Judy Barrett Litoff and David L Smith there were a number of letters written to injured combatants by their loved one back home. In one instance, the wounded man had extensive electroshock therapy for “shellshock” and continued, although married, employed and a father, to have monthly treatments for the rest of his life. There were several summaries of the correspondents lives after the war that mentioned the lifelong implications of physical and physiological injuries sustained in combat. Many of these soldiers were never given the full hero treatment just as today some wounded Middle East Veterans come home to an uncertain future and ambiguous status.
A Muskegon Chronicle article from March 20, 2008 focus on a local man, Daniel Nichols, who became a victim of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from his Iraq war experience. The article, titled The Invisible wounds of the Iraq War opens:
“As dawn broke over Baghdad…March 20, 2003, U. S. Army Pvt. Daniel Nichols…driving a Humvee…on his way to war.” Nichols, only twenty-one, “had joined the army our of a sense of patriotism after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.” Nichols saw extensive combat, the deaths of many friends and comrades, and was “blown off” the roof of a two story building. Although he came home without any physical injuries, Nichols has suffered nightmares, panic attacks, and a lack of concentration. He has been diagnosed with PTSD and may have some Traumatic Brain Injury. Nichols can’t hold a job and is now, with his family, homeless and living in the Muskegon veteran center. The theme of the article is that Nichols is an invisible hero, who served his country bravely and now lives under miserable conditions. To read the full article see:
http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/03/the_invisible_wounds_of_the_iraq_war.html
Another related article my Google Reader account picked up was on the Wall Street Journal online edition titled “Wounded Soldiers see the Pentagon in Private Parade” featuring Cpl. Kenny Lyon who lost a leg in a mortar attack near Fallujah. WSJ reports “Cpl. Lyon was taking part in a little known event called the Wounded Warrior march, which brings military personnel who suffer serious injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan to the Pentagon for a parade unlike any other.” It’s a simple event, closed to the public, in the corridors of the Pentagon, no speeches, no dignitaries and no cameras that gives opportunity to those at the Pentagon to honor and pay respects to soldiers and marines they had never met and who may never have a parade down Mainstreet. To read the full article, see:
http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/03/the_invisible_wounds_of_the_iraq_war.html
