Anzac Day
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@canefan My friend wants to forego our next dive trip and go to Normandy. I think I need to go.
Do it if you get the chance. Base in Paris and you could do both. There were British centric tours in Normandy as well
I am sure he would be interested in both. Funny thing is that his Dad is German but he is American through and through. He works a lot with serviceman who have come back with PTSD from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Based on my very small experience I would try and get on tours run by ex-Military. The guy on the Somme was able to strike the right note in terms of the tone of the experience, and was able to provide insight into the battles that occurred where we were taken
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….and so many of those that came back had loads of other issues to deal with.
I had a relative (second cousin I think) who had served in North Africa and was dairying up near Mangawhai.
I think I only met him the once when I would have been less than 10. He scared the beejezuz out of me.
I can now recognise he very clearly had PTSD but he just seemed to a little kid as odd, angry, sullen, withdrawn.
My Mum tried to explain things to me but I guess I was simply too young.
The farm was marginal, he drank, he suffered constant headaches and every now and then would dig bits of shrapnel out of his forehead. He was a conscientious objector who nevertheless volunteered for the medical corp. Poor bastard was injured captured and then spent three years as a POW.
Then came back to a life as a character in one of those very bleak, black and white films NZ cinema used to seemingly specialise in where there's only about 12 words of dialogue in the whole movie and everyone is miserable.
I never saw him again. He died - suddenly - a few years later and was never mentioned.
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….and so many of those that came back had loads of other issues to deal with.
I had a relative (second cousin I think) who had served in North Africa and was dairying up near Mangawhai.
I think I only met him the once when I would have been less than 10. He scared the beejezuz out of me.
I can now recognise he very clearly had PTSD but he just seemed to a little kid as odd, angry, sullen, withdrawn.
My Mum tried to explain things to me but I guess I was simply too young.
The farm was marginal, he drank, he suffered constant headaches and every now and then would dig bits of shrapnel out of his forehead. He was a conscientious objector who nevertheless volunteered for the medical corp. Poor bastard was injured captured and then spent three years as a POW.
Then came back to a life as a character in one of those very bleak, black and white films NZ cinema used to seemingly specialise in where there's only about 12 words of dialogue in the whole movie and everyone is miserable.
I never saw him again. He died - suddenly - a few years later and was never mentioned.
That's awful. And probably not that uncommon.
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….and so many of those that came back had loads of other issues to deal with.
I had a relative (second cousin I think) who had served in North Africa and was dairying up near Mangawhai.
I think I only met him the once when I would have been less than 10. He scared the beejezuz out of me.
I can now recognise he very clearly had PTSD but he just seemed to a little kid as odd, angry, sullen, withdrawn.
My Mum tried to explain things to me but I guess I was simply too young.
The farm was marginal, he drank, he suffered constant headaches and every now and then would dig bits of shrapnel out of his forehead. He was a conscientious objector who nevertheless volunteered for the medical corp. Poor bastard was injured captured and then spent three years as a POW.
Then came back to a life as a character in one of those very bleak, black and white films NZ cinema used to seemingly specialise in where there's only about 12 words of dialogue in the whole movie and everyone is miserable.
I never saw him again. He died - suddenly - a few years later and was never mentioned.
That's awful. And probably not that uncommon.
Absolutely. I can’t upvote the original post for that reason.
The sacrifices that generation made for us are immense, unimaginable really……and I’m sure they all did it purely so subsequent generations “wouldn't have to go through what they did”.
So many of them would have been eaten up inside from what they dealt with. If only the support network was available to them. It could be argued Vietnam Vets had it worse on account of it being such an unpopular war ( the first Rambo isn’t all a bullshit action movie, there’s a poignant message there too ) and the way some of them were treated when they returned home was disgraceful ( those that DID return home that is ).
Thank goodness there are avenues to try and address this nowadays.
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