Infantry Attack: the Prospect of Horrible Death

WWII: 300,000 infantry killed. This is a story about PTSD.

From the Art Shade article: The Demons of War are Persistent on viewzone.com

(MOLALLA, OR) - There is very much widespread ignorance about what PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is all about. There has been a litany of "homesickness", "miss their mothers", "miss their girlfriends". PTSD is the fear of death while it is erupting all around a soldier.

I have heard just recently about a soldier who landed on D-Day in France but survived til the end. He was the only D-Day survivor in his company of 200 men. He could not TALK OF HIS EXPERIENCES. Does anybody doubt this was PTSD?

I am reading 'Flags of our Fathers' about the flag raisers at Iwo Jima. They author, James Bradley, was the son of the Navy Medic raising the flag. Of the six man-boys who raised the flag, three died on Iwo Jima in the next few days. About 80,000 Marines were there, 7,000 died in the worst battle for the Marines ever. About 20,000 were wounded. Ira Hayes, the Pima Indian, died in 1955, drowning while drunk in an inch of water. Rene Gagnon died in 1979. He never recovered from PTSD.

John Bradley, the only true survivor of the group, lasted until 1994. He never "talked" about his experience on Iwo Jima or any other place. His children found a box of his military memoirs in the attic. In there was a Navy Cross for valor, second only to the Medal of Honor. He never spoke of that either. Now I ask you: "Do you doubt that any of these survivors did not have PTSD!!

I have written about 300,000 infantry deaths. There were also about 600,000 infantry wounded. Despite these casualties, the infantry received only 9% of the decorations, usually Bronze Stars. This is approximately 10,000 medals. The artillery got 3.5%, the medical corps got 1.5%, and the rest of the Army got 3.4%.

The Air Corps received 83% of the decorations, a total of about 120,000. About 90,000 were Air Medals, one medal for every five air missions. Comparatively speaking, what is the Combat Infantry Badge worth, compared to the Air Medal? The infantryman went on the attack at least one third of the time. The standard life expectancy was about 150 days. In the Air Force, that 150 days would be worth 30 Air Medals. Very few airmen received more than five for 25 air missions. Few Air Force planes and their crews lasted more than 21 missions. (The Memphis Belle, a B-17, was the first plane to survive 25 missions.)

Don't get me wrong, the air crews got PTSD also. They lost 65,000 planes, their total casualties were about 120,000, with 40,000 killed, about 100 thousand of all forces were missing or POW (prisoners of War) The POW's suffered about as many casualties as those who continued fighting. Most POW's ended up with PTSD but they didn't even call it that.

In our recent wars, PTSD has become the most common and worst problem of the fighting forces. The stay at home, swivel chair wafflebutts, are trying to deny PTSD ever happens.

More information on the history of Dr. Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of WWII about his own experiences "from a foxhole".
Order the book by mail by following this link: Dogface Soldier

If you are a World War II history buff, you don't want to miss it.

Watch for more streaming video question and answer segments about medical marijuana with Bonnie King and Dr. Phil Leveque.

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