The strongest memory I have from last Wednesday is finding a small poem left behind on a small memorial for Vietnam. The poem was simple and brief, but it was heartbreaking anyway. In it, someone described their brother's return from Vietnam, and his subsequent crippling depression and suicide.
Up until recently, ptsd and other afflictions that plague soldiers after war have been taboo subjects in our country. Like the war itself, they were best forgotten and ignored, until at least as many returning soldiers committed suicide as died in the war itself. If the memorials recognize sacrifice, are their some things that our country is willing to sacrifice by keeping these losses hidden?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow that is heartbreaking. I know someone who had come home from Iraq during Christmas time and got in a car accident and died back in his home time. It was devastating and reminded me of this. I feel like our country does put up a front about our soldiers. So many people view them as heroes and safe and sound when they return home, but so many of them suffer just as much and in different ways once they come back. A friend of a friend got back from Afghanistan last year and is still suffering from traumatic experiences. But there aren't too many news stories about those situations because so many people equivocate soldiers being back home as them being safe and sound and back to everyday life.
ReplyDelete