Survival - or not
Today they would call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. Help would be at hand. People would understand. Maybe they did then, but the sheer volume of returners with harrowing tales to tell... or in most cases, not tell, prevented any one serviceperson being singled out as having special needs.
The world has learned, the country has learned, but maybe not everyone has learned that adjustment-making goes two ways.
Romantic novels would give comfortable resolution to this story. Real life is different. His diabetes was under control until... a simple NHS prescription error did what Changi hadn't. Killed him.
- Category: True Stories Told As Fiction
- Tags: PTSD. WW2. Returning PoW. Changi.
5 comments add one below
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Neville Hunt over 6 years ago
That's it. All true. Thanks for reading if you have. He was a very decent man. I liked him a lot.
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Steve McBrevity over 6 years ago
Our senior partner was in Changi and back in the 1970’s vetoed buying Japanese photocopiers or other products ..so ironically we had German machines instead!
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Neville Hunt over 6 years ago
Thanks Drew. It's a sort of tribute to him. I'm going to give a copy to his
Iittle sister (ma-in-law) when we go over to Suffolk at the weekend as the content is hers. I'm absolutely certain you're right in that loads of similar stories probably remain untold. :-( -
Christopher over 6 years ago
Very moving, Neville. And wonderfully written.
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Neville Hunt over 6 years ago
Thanks very much Christopher.
