Combat Veterans Tell Us What We Need to Know About War

[bluescribbler]

https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2020/01/08/war-veterans-military/?

Charles Battle’s voice, gentle and soft, is little more than a whisper when he recalls his time at war. No visible scars give testimony to his tour in Vietnam, but when he talks about his combat experiences, his eyes glaze with tears. He pauses as another resident of the North Carolina veteran’s home in which he temporarily lives ambles past the picnic table where we talk.

“I saw so many awful things I can’t forget. I don’t want to burden you. Are you sure you want to know what war is?”

Battle was one of 65 participants in a photographic series I have worked on for more than three years in which I asked combat veterans and those who have worked with them a single question: “What should we know about war?” I asked each person to write a brief answer.

More at the link.

[Jarqui]

1. Asked my Great Uncle about his service in the war

He just teared up.
He would not speak of it - ever.

To me, that probably said more than anything he could have told me.

He saved my father's family when his father died.
We often communicated without having to say anything.
I was incredibly attached to him.
I've never bonded with anyone like that. Our souls were attached.
I knew I was so safe with him.
We were a lot alike - connected in so many ways.

I have other family members who served but none who went through what he did.
My brother and I researched his service after he passed.
Brutal conditions, battles and the war wounds, mental and physical, to prove it..

He's been dead 52 years. November 11th doesn't go by without me thinking of him.
It's a mix of agony for his tremendous suffering and gratitude for having got to spend quality time with him.

[Hugin]

3. Thanks for taking the time to share this.

He would be glad you did.

[bluescribbler]

9. Yeah, my granddad fought in "The Great War".

He was 101st Infantry, Yankee Division, MA National Guard. His outfit was the first American unit into the trenches of France. I inherited his Purple Heart. I never heard him talk about his time in the war, but I knew him as a heavy smoker and an alcoholic.

[Jarqui]

11. For a while, the Germans used phosgene gas in that war

My maternal grandfather was wounded by it during the first use of it along with an exploding depot of mortar shells
After he came home wounded, he wheezed to death from being gassed during the war.
The Germans stopped using phosgene apparently because it was "too effective". It was a silent killer. The Germans preferred to maim as the allies would try to take care of their wounded and a wounded soldier would burden them more than a dead soldier. The Germans bombed the hospitals for that reason and broke my grandfathers back when a hospital wall fell on him. So the Germans stopped using phosgene gas and went back to mustard and chlorine or other chemicals.

A key problem with phosgene, apparently, is at times, in some circumstances, it could not be smelled or seen. 10-30 minute exposure and a soldier could just drop dead. They found that soldiers who smoked developed a funny taste while smoking when they were being gassed. So a bunch of them started smoking as a means of protection from being gassed and would put on their gas mask when their cigarettes started tasting funny.

So he may have developed his smoking habit with legitimate intentions - for his survival.

A lot of them came home alcoholics after the horror of that war. All wars are bad. But I think WW1 was as bad a war as any. Rats growing to be as big as cats from eating fellow dead soldiers senselessly killed in no man's land, fighting over the same few hundred yards, and the disease and stench from that ... hard to stomach or comprehend. Two week shifts in those trenches destroyed minds if they physically survived.

[Hugin]

2. Nobody wins.

Ever.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. With all the vets I've known, those who saw action almost never talk about it. My father was in the.

Battle of the Bulge, but while he would wax prolific on K-rations and the cold, he never even got close to talking about any German soldiers he may have shot.

My stepfather was a medic in the Italian invasion, and never talked about soldiers guts hanging out.

I knew lot of 'Nam vets, many of whom actually felt guilt for being rotated out, not so much for killing VC. I remember one guy who took an extra year and went back. He couldn't handle those guys he fought with stuck there when he was safe.

[Hugin]

8. My Mom's job was individually debriefing combat troops returning from Korea...

I wasn't aware of this until I was well into my 40's. She never talked about it and I didn't learn about it until another relative told me.

I guess they did those things back then.

What I find striking is that she did talk about her time working at a state penitentiary and seeing the lights flicker during an execution. So she surely heard much worse from the troops.

[dware]

5. Unless you've been there, done that,

the horrors of war cannot be accurately described.
I did 2 combat tours in Vietnam and a combat tour in Desert Storm, and I can tell you that war is hell, physically and mentally.

[Dustlawyer]

6. My screen name, Dustlawyer, comes from my years working asbestos and silica litigation (Dust docket)

Over approximately 2,000 depositions of my clients I have heard real life accounts of almost all of the battles of WWII and even a few WWI. Also many Korean and Vietnam veterans told their stories. None of these men really wanted to talk about their service but the defendants wanted to see what asbestos they may have been exposed to during their service. This testimony is recorded in deposition transcripts and would be a great place for historians to learn actual details.

Watching these men testify to the horrors of war was chilling at times. I understand why they would not want to relive any of it.

[sarisataka]

7. It is mostly boredom and waiting

However the non-boring parts tend to stay with you.

Forever

[pwb]

10. Combat Veterans are the nicest people.

They appreciate life more.

[albacore]

12. This USMC combat vet has one Veteran's Day request.

Why doesn't this country stop making so goddam many combat vets?

[bluescribbler]

14. It's a reasonable request.

Any nation which fails to care for its vets relinquishes the right to create more.

[dware]

15. This USMC combat vet agrees with you 100%. nt

[IBEWVET]

13. It is not healthy for anyone.