“In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.”
Jose Narosky
There can be little doubt that war changes a soldiers vision of the world, for ever. Sometimes with devastating effect.
And some wounds of war are more visible others, the Shellshock of the World War I straddled the physical and the psychological (the film clip is disturbing, the music beautiful) nothing is ever perceived in quite the same way again.
Anecdotally, from a lady now well in her eighties, talking about her friends husband, coming home from a Japanese prisoner of war camp
He was never the same again, nightmares, nightmares every night; he used wake screaming and sweating. They used to have to dose him with brandy; to calm him. Terrible. Terrible. You know, he died young? In the 1950’s, cancer of the oesophagus.
It’s only since the 1980’s that this would be called Post traumatic stress disorder, but it doesn’t really matter what you call it the effects are just the same.
(I’d forgotten I’d written this post; we shouldn’t forget.)
You are quite right – we should never forget all those men and women who died in war nor those whose lives were destroyed even though they survived. War is a dreadful thing.
A superb post! xx
very moving mrs uhdd sara.xx
That thing you did to the poppies was really effective. It showed how trauma, like a filter, changes the way people see everything, even innocent daily sights and sounds. The Youtube clip I shall not soon forget.
Yes very moving. I ran the fell race yesterday in my Poppy and have done so for years.
The poppy pictures are a nice way of remembering
Agreed, terrible war
Phew was thinking about the trenches tonight. I headed out with Badger over the hills in pea soup fog, Down to 2 metres at times. Complete with Poppy on my running top, 1 x border collie complete with torch on his collar and a torch for myself we made our way over the newly thickly ploughed fields. Made me wonder what it must have been like in those trenches all those years ago.
Must have been a horrendous time. The odd firework didnt help tonight.
I was thinking about those brave people. Suppose thats what remembrance is all about
I’ve been giving a lot of thought to this, and I’ve concluded that in war there are not only no unwounded soldiers, but no unwounded nations. When I was young I was sure I knew what to do about all this. I am no longer young, and no longer sure, but wars still rage.
The freedom we enjoy is thanks to the people who fought and we remember today.