Need recommended reading re soldier's life after war

[jansanderson]

In talking with family members about relatives who served the war's impact on behaviour and lifestyle has become increasingly fascinating and I'd really like to know if some of the ideas I am playing with have any justification generally. Hence I'm looking for recommendations for good, detailed investigations of the experiences of ordinary soldiers following the war. Certainly the psychological adjustments they faced but also the practical ones work, status, pensions etc. Also for the ones who came home physically scarred the system which they experienced and how well it coped. I'd like to get some kind of impression of how long veterans were "fashionable" as a national concern whether there were increases in suicide, crime etc. As an example, among family papers, I have come across a pamphlet about a village established near Lancaster especially for veterans in need. I'd be happy with something which concentrated on a specific geographical area or an individual but want something more than a social history of the country or world of the period. It would also need to be reasonably easy to get hold of.

Thanks for any suggestions

Jan

[Tim Lynch]

Hi Jan,

Interesting post. I was involved in getting the whole issue of Post Traumatic Stress onto the agenda after the Falklands and struggled to find material about the reintegration of soldiers after the world wars. Basically, everyone was in the same boat but they had all been through it and so groups like the British Legion and ex-service's clubs acted as a support network providing the informal counselling that is lacking today - men would be able to talk over a pint to others who understood what they were talking about. Certainly the whole political situation in the 20's stemmed directly from veterans finding a new sense of unity and common purpose. There are lots of anecdotal stories of suicides and murder rates increasing as there are after every war. (As a little aside, the striped jerseys worn by burglars in cartoons originated in newspaper cartoons during the early 19th century and was based on the uniforms of Nelson's sailors who turned to crime when they were made redundant after Napoleon's navy was defeated)

The only book I know of that covers these issues is from an American perspective - "The Wages of War" by R. Severo & L Milford (Simon & Schuster, 1989). It covers all US wars up to Vietnam and gives a very good overview of issues around pensions, employment etc and the 'Bonus Marchers' of 1932 when the veterans set up camp in Washington.

Hope that helps

Tim

[jansanderson]

Thanks for your thoughts Tim. I think I'm going to follow up on the British Legion and see what I can come up with about the organisations origins and precursers. Seem kind of odd that there is such a huge amount about these people during the war but not a really good text on the effect this massive influx of individuals who had experienced a protype of armageddon had. Society had changed but no one who had been involved in the whole war machine could return home unaffected. I'm wondering if some just didn't go home. I know my Gt Uncle, who had served in East Africa, came home to marry and then took his bride back to South Africa all in a matter of months pretty much never to be seen or heard of again.

thanks again

Jan

[Tim Lynch]

A major problem in finding information is that Britain is one of the very few countries in the world not to provide statutory aftercare for its veterans. As a result, once a soldier leaves, it becomes very difficult to find information about the later effects of the war. The public tend to switch off fairly quickly and expect veterans to do the same. The only exception, interestingly, is WW2 where people in the UK were affected and so they had some common ground with the returning soldiers (even now, ask 10 people in the street about 'the last war' and they'll tell you about the Blitz).

One of the things that came out of our research was that a lot of guys came back and threw themselves into work and families - some described it as feeling the need to live a life for a friend who didn't survive as well as their own. It was only when they reached retirement that they had time on their hands and it all came back. If you want to get an idea of the real impact of the war, you need to look 20-30 years or even later and at what was happening then. There were something like 38,000 British men still in receipt of pensions for 'Shell shock' when WW2 broke out in 1939 for example.

The British Legion is a good starting place but you could also look at James Jones's book WWII published by Futura (you can often find it in second hand shops fairly cheaply). In that he talks about his own experiences of becoming a soldier and later of trying to become a civilian again. It explains why you hear so often that a veteran "doesn't want to talk about it" - they do, but how do you explain an experience like the trenches to someone who wasn't there? Well worth a look, as is Wendy Holden's 'Shell Shock' (Channel 4 Books).

Good luck with the research,

Feel free to drop me an e-mail if you think I can be of any help

Tim

[Chris_Baker]

The "Aftermath" web site is a good starting point for this, too.

[Drover]

Hi. I've seen an illustration of the cover of a magazine published in 1919 (Nov) titled "The Ex-Service Man - The Independent Paper for those who served".

I've never seen an actual copy, but there may be a run in the British Library.

Good hunting!

Jim

[jansanderson]

Thanks to you all for contributing ideas. I'll definitely follow up on the British Legion and the Aftermath ideas not sure if I'll be able to track down the magazine but I'll definitely give it a try. As I mentioned in my original post my curiosity was roused by what I have perceived from family stories. One story was of a veteran who came home to the village where the family farmed and hardly ever left it again for the rest of his life. Apparently his brother, who also served, used to come on a Saturday and took him to the football and then to their mother's for tea and that was it. This is from his daughter who strongly disapproved of his insularity. To the other extreme some were remembered as extravagant, socially very active, real charmers but totally unreliable partners and breadwinners. Of course, these characteristics could well have been present pre war but I don't have any difficulty in imagining either reaction to experiences in the war. They all functioned and won't feature in any WW1 statistic regarding the impact of war - other than that they served.

Thanks again

Jan