Category: War & Veterans
-
Japanese-American internment camps in World War Two
Gregory RuteckiCleveland, Ohio, United States Bill Mauldin’s cartoons regarding the NISEI15 “What constitutes an American? Not color…race…An American…(is) one in whose heart is engraved the immortal second sentence of the Declaration of Independence.”1 “Any person who considers himself…a member of Western Society inherits the Western past from Athens and Jerusalem to Runneymede and Valley Forge, as…
-
Francis St. Vincent Morris: The pilot poet
Paul DakinNorth London, UK I discovered his original notebook and correspondence when sorting my late uncle’s effects. They were given to him by Morris’ sister Ruth. Francis St. Vincent Morris was a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. Three weeks after arriving in France he crashed in a snowstorm and died of his injuries at…
-
The aftermath of trauma
Shaili JainCalifornia, United States The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government. This writing is a work of nonfiction. In an effort to protect individual patient privacy, the patient stories depicted…
-
The wartime chemist
William TierneyCleveland, Ohio, United States My great-grandfather was a four-star general. During the First World War, he was a commander in the trenches near Flanders when the first chlorine-gas impregnated shells fell from German skies, giving birth to a new era of wartime trauma. He was a chemist, trained at West Point in the arts…
-
Building a legend
Vladimir SimunovicCroati During the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina the number of health care professionals declined precipitously. None of those who stayed were trained or mentally prepared to work under war conditions. Nobody had taught us skills that would be useful in war, and some of us found ourselves in roles we never expected to play. New…
-
One by one
Sonia SethiPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States My mother was only five years old when my grandmother went off to war. She remembers waving goodbye, not comprehending the gravity of the situation until her mother embraced her and a teardrop fell silently on her forehead. My grandmother kissed her children, one by one, before leaving and tried…
-
Union or Confederate, American women played crucial roles in the Civil War effort
Sarah BahrIndianapolis, Indiana, United States “I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them,” Clara Barton, a Civil War nurse and later founder of the American Red Cross organization, once said.1 Though they were prohibited from serving…
-
“Dust Off” and the power of perseverance
Robert RobesonLincoln, Nebraska, United States “…I think I should say one word, too, a special word, about the ‘Dust Offs’–the Medevacs. This was a great group of men. All those who flew them, all those who did it. Courage above and beyond the call of duty was sort of routine to them. It was a…