ptsd Speaking Of Age

[jsdwd]

I have just gotten a claim approved for ptsd resulting from my service in Vietnam. Some folks have asked me if ptsd ever goes away or gets cured. I would offer the following quote from Henry Allingham, the British WW I veteran who just passed on at the age of 113.

From the NY Times:

" He transferred to the western front in France the following year, where he was a mechanic transferred by the naval air service to the Royal Flying Corps, again flying as an observer and a gunner in sorties over the battlefields of the Somme. In later life, he recalled his time in the Somme trenches as the most searing of all his wartime memories.

He described standing in water up to his armpits, surrounded by the smell of mud and rotting flesh. “I saw too many things I would like to forget, but I will never forget them, I can never forget them,” he said."

80 years later and he still was bothered by nightmares of falling in the trenches and being buried.

(Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/world/eu...9allingham.html )

[john999]

There are lots of WWII vets who suffer from PTSD. It was the dirty little secret that patriotic Americans did not speak about in the 50's and 60's when many of these WWII vets were drinking themselves to death. There are great books about WWI vets who suffered greatly during and after the war. I think 20,000 Brits were KIA'ed in one day at one of the mighty battles of WWI. They got up out of the trenches and just walked into machinegun fire. 18th Century tactics with 20th century weapons.

[Pete53]

My Dad died in 1982 and had undiagnosed PTSD. The VA knew it but would not tell anyone to protect his privacy. I really hate the bastards for that

[john999]

Pete

You really have to wonder if the VA was protecting your dad's privacy, or protecting the compensation they would have to pay if they let his family members in on the truth. If they knew he had PTSD why did they not initiate a claim for him?

That would have been in his self interest.