Directed by John Huston, "Let There Be Light" gives an up close look at how the psychiatric casualties of WWII were treated. Drawing his title from the Bible verse in Genesis 1:3, Huston's film gives the public an up close look at a topic that wasn't commonly discussed in public at the time and shows how the mental health of the soldiers, sailor and Marines of the Second World War was addressed so that they could heal and transition back into civilian life.
I am not a vet. So I cannot relate. But the sucky thing to me in WWII in the pacific is some islands were of no importance. The japanese could have just starved to death. Instead they try to take the island and it costs 10,000 US soldiers.
ReplyDelete? Huh? You know we did skip over many Japanese held islands, right? Do you have any single one particular island in mind that you think should have been skipped, that we didn't? And explain why?
DeleteThe only one that comes to mind is the hell that was Peleliu. That turned out to have been to have been more-or-less wasted effort, as had been argued before it took place
DeleteLet me guess.... The answer wasn't to give a blank check to a bunch of psychobabble PhD's dispensing Oprahisms at $300/hr on taxpayer money. And players are competing for a VA Disability Lottery payout for life. This stuff is best left to treatment by faith and family.
ReplyDeleteMy dad wouldn't/ couldn't talk about the combat for more than 45 years after the war. It wasnt until the 90’s that he could talk about 1943 and seeing most of his crew go down in flames on a day when half the planes in his squadron were shot down before they even reached the target. After that he flew 20 more missions then came back in 44 and flew another 35. He never got any help and was miserable most of his life with screaming nightmares until he died. Only time I ever heard him admit there was a problem was commenting ” I did 35 years of Budweiser therapy after the war.” I think as many guys came home with their souls damaged as their bodies and there was a lot of resistance to seeking help. You know, real men dont get help you just suck it up and get to work.
ReplyDeleteYour Dad was a hell of a man. I sure get the pull yourself up by the bootstraps mentality. I did it for twenty years. Finally I asked for help. I wish your Dad could have done that. I think my biggest first step was getting off the budwiser therapy. Then I found a bunch of combat Vets, with PhD's in the psychobabble field as so eloquently stated, that started a counseling agency. They saved my life. Your Dad was a hero.
DeleteQuite a film. The two sodium amytal reviews were both for hysteric conversion reation. I saw it done once. It's truth serum. The physican gives the shot really slow. It's not quick injection by any means. The whole time the physician is talking and taking the person back to the root of the problem. Once the root is found then there is something to work with. It's an amazing approch. So good to see these fine men get treatment and ultimatly a handle on things. My hero's.
ReplyDeleteMom never talked about it. I know from relatives that she was a nurses aide in a burn unit. I think it was in Georgia. I think she took the echoes of the screams to her grave. Jean
ReplyDeleteMine was an Army vet that was injured in Germany. He seldom talked about the war and never wanted to go back to Europe to see what became of it.
ReplyDeleteIn his words, " it was a waste of good American lives to go save those ungrateful POS", and that was that...
Rest in Peace dad
JD