Soldier's Heart

Today is Veterans' Day, and on this day, 92 years ago, the armistice was signed that ended the Great War. Unfortunately, many soldiers know that the war doesn't end with the fighting. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, afflicts many war veterans.

Today HBO premiered their documentary, about PTSD from the Civil War to the Iraq War, called Wartorn: 1861-2010.  It is a heartbreaking look into the lives of soldiers who suffer psychologically from war. The studying of war's psychological effects started with the Civil War. These soldiers were said to have suffered from soldier's heart, hysteria, melancholy, insanity, and with each war this "affliction" was named differently. In WWI it was Shell Shock; WWII it was battle fatigue; Vietnam War it was Post-Vietnam Syndrome.

I had put up a post a few weeks ago called Shell Shocked, about PTSD in WWI survivors. But much of what I posted was from the British Army. In Wartorn, they read an anecdote of a shell-shocked American WWI vet. It describes how little the government did to help these soldiers after the war ended. They actually touch upon this in HBO's new drama Boardwalk Empire . One of the characters, James Darmody, has just returned from fighting in France during WWI, and you can see how the war affected him both physically and mentally. He calls himself a murder.

Watch Wartorn. It will make you extremely gratefully to the soldiers who are fighting for this country right this minute.

The photo above is from www.Old-Picture.com . Great site with great photos. Click on the picture for more info about it.  I always did love old Civil War photos. The quality for the time is amazing. I use my $100 digital camera, and sometimes you can barely tell who is in the picture. Then again, the men in this photo probably had to pose like that for 15 minutes.

Shell Shocked

I was watching one of my all-time favorite movies (for the tenth time ;) the other day --- A Very Long Engagement. Without giving too much away, the story is about this young girl, who despite being told that her fiancé has been killed in the war (the 'Great' one), tries to find out the true story. It's not just a love story, but a story about war and how it affects people.

I love the 1910's, but I'm not into the politics of WWI. I do like to learn about the lives of the soldiers. I can't imagine living in the trenches with bombs, gunfire, and mustard gas. A Very Long Engagment also touches upon the issue of 'shell shock.' It's now called combat stress, which can lead to post traumatic stress disorder. Even though I'm sure that there were people who suffered from combat stress in every war ever fought, it is strongly associated with the First World War. If you've ever seen a documentary about this war, you've probably seen some shocking video of shell-shocked soldiers. Below are a few interesting ones I found on Youtube.

WARNING: Some of these videos can be very disturbing.

Uncle Jack (Gioacchino) (repost)

Ok, so this is a repost of my "Uncle Jack" post I put up last month. Apparently I received the wrong information. I finally found the truth (or at least what I'm told is the truth.... and if not, oh well, I'm sticking to this one) about my grandmother's Uncle Jack.

He was in the Italian army during World War I. He was captured by the Germans, and kept as a POW for nine months, during which he ate mostly potatoes. After he came back from the war he would never eat a potato again. He also spent some time in Ethiopia, when Italy was in control of the country.

The photo was probably taken sometime during the 1920s.

Special thanks to Megan, who cleaned and restored this photo for me. Thank you!