As America's first black president attends D-Day commemmorations in Normandy, the Second World War's forgotten African-American soldiers say they enjoyed more freedom in Britain in the 1940s than in the United States..........
Saturday, June 06, 2009
D-Day Veterans......
African-American D-Day veterans celebrate Barack Obama's trip to Normandy
D-Day: Another Side of All Wars
Back on the 25th, of last month, for Memorial Day I put up a post to cover an interview about a new book release I caught on NPR's WBUR Here and Now, out of Boston.
While waiting for them to put up the stream link after the show I did some searching, for information on the book as well as some back information on what's covered in same.
Below you will find that post but UpDated, with a few more links and audio discussion, I've found since the posting.
Today is the Celebration for Europe and the United States of D-Day President will address veterans at American cemetery on Omaha Beach, this is not to celebrate but to Remind, and in many cases Instill in everyones minds, there's other sides, long living results, of All Wars Waged and not only for those who serve in them!
********************
The Greatest Generation’s Troubled Homecoming
I had a first hand view, though very young than, and like the rest of the extended family didn't realize it, of what War does to those that serve in them, and you then have to extend that to those that live in where they occur.
I won't go into the details but to say it was an Uncle who was one of my favorites, he was a gifted craftsman but a troubled soul. He was full of life trying to live it that way, than he suddenly snapped! He died alone in the little home he built, more the size of a shed it was supposedly to become, by the lake, shortly before I left Panama and went to 'Nam. There were a couple of other uncles who showed the results of serving in WWII in other ways as well, and like the book and articles, it was just said "They cam back different then how they left.". While in 'Nam I started to understand what he might possibly had been going through, understanding what the rest of the extended family, and his friends, didn't. And probably still do, as I'm the only one of the recent branch of the family, especially my large immediate family, till a couple of younger distant cousins kids served in Gulf War I, that has served in a combat/occupation theater.
Caught a discussion of a new book on NPR's "Here and Now" and did abit of searching for some more information.
Book looks at the effects of combat stress on WWII vets
Found the above after the discussion and book info linked below.
Listening to the discussion the book isn't only about the mental stress of War but also what many returned to especially right after, living conditions and much more.
I than found the following:
The above is the first, apparently, of a two part report about Thomas Cecil Berzett and his life after World War II, the second to be printed tomorrow, 5.26.09.
Earlier this morning I just caught a rather short report, on the top of the hour News, about an Ohio Mental Health Center. Tried to find some more about it as it mentioned soldiers, before the the time of Vietnam and the Finally realization of what we now call PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress. All I could come up with was this short local report.
You have to be a subscriber to view the rest of the above. I do hope that what is found someone will bring out for others to read, and I'm sure similar can be found around this Nation, as well as others, to teach us much more!
And apparently this Athens Mental Health Center has quite a history, as well as being suspected of being haunted. If you do a search of it the web site links that pop up lean in that direction.
The following The Ridges Cemetery Project you can find more information, with links, about this project, along with these two audio discussions:
Ceremony honors vets, others buried on OU's Ridges
The more we ignore what War does the easier it is to be led into Wars of Choice by those that don't serve in them. We also need to better understand the lasting remnants of, not only for those who fight them but those that live where they take place. Leading to the understanding of what we now call Post Traumatic Stress and that it occurs to many who never serve in Wars but experience extreme Trauma Events in their lives, and live silently or lashing out on others, with the results from those events on their minds and lives.
While waiting for them to put up the stream link after the show I did some searching, for information on the book as well as some back information on what's covered in same.
Below you will find that post but UpDated, with a few more links and audio discussion, I've found since the posting.
Today is the Celebration for Europe and the United States of D-Day President will address veterans at American cemetery on Omaha Beach, this is not to celebrate but to Remind, and in many cases Instill in everyones minds, there's other sides, long living results, of All Wars Waged and not only for those who serve in them!
********************
The Greatest Generation’s Troubled Homecoming
I had a first hand view, though very young than, and like the rest of the extended family didn't realize it, of what War does to those that serve in them, and you then have to extend that to those that live in where they occur.
I won't go into the details but to say it was an Uncle who was one of my favorites, he was a gifted craftsman but a troubled soul. He was full of life trying to live it that way, than he suddenly snapped! He died alone in the little home he built, more the size of a shed it was supposedly to become, by the lake, shortly before I left Panama and went to 'Nam. There were a couple of other uncles who showed the results of serving in WWII in other ways as well, and like the book and articles, it was just said "They cam back different then how they left.". While in 'Nam I started to understand what he might possibly had been going through, understanding what the rest of the extended family, and his friends, didn't. And probably still do, as I'm the only one of the recent branch of the family, especially my large immediate family, till a couple of younger distant cousins kids served in Gulf War I, that has served in a combat/occupation theater.
Caught a discussion of a new book on NPR's "Here and Now" and did abit of searching for some more information.
Book looks at the effects of combat stress on WWII vets
But there’s something else Gold keeps from the war that you can’t see, not unless you’re with the 88-year-old retired obstetrician in the dark of morning. That’s when his nightmares come — and he’s back in a burning bomber in which two friends were killed, or back in that German prison and starving. That’s when Gold shows his greatest WWII keepsake: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Actually it comes at other, less private times, too. Take for instance, a meal. “Don’t mess with my food,” he says...........
Technically no one during WWII or immediately after it suffered from PTSD; because it didn’t exist. The disorder wasn’t officially recognized until 1980. So before that, few sought help for something they didn’t have. They just suffered in silence............
Found the above after the discussion and book info linked below.
Memorial Day {this link brings up their player page to listen}
{You can also click here to listen with Real Player or here to listen with Windows Media Player }
A new book paints a devastating picture of life for American veterans returning from war. "Soldier from the War Returning: The Greatest Generation's Troubled Homecoming from World War II" interweaves the stories of three families whose soldiers were, as the phrase goes, never the same after the war, and the effect that had on their families. Author Thomas Childers joins us for a Memorial Day conversation. Childers is professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania.Book Description:
One of our most enduring national myths surrounds the men and women who fought in the so-called "Good War." The Greatest Generation, we're told by Tom Brokaw and others, fought heroically, then returned to America happy, healthy and well-adjusted. They quickly and cheerfully went on with the business of rebuilding their lives.
In this shocking and hauntingly beautiful book, historian Thomas Childers shatters that myth. He interweaves the intimate story of three families—including his own—with a decades' worth of research to paint an entirely new picture of the war's aftermath. Drawing on government documents, interviews, oral histories and diaries, he reveals that 10,000 veterans a month were being diagnosed with psycho-neurotic disorder (now known as PTSD). Alcoholism, homelessness, and unemployment were rampant, leading to a skyrocketing divorce rate. Many veterans bounced back, but their struggle has been lost in a wave of nostalgia that threatens to undermine a new generation of returning soldiers.
Novelistic in its telling and impeccably researched, Childers's book is a stark reminder that the price of war is unimaginably high. The consequences are human, not just political, and the toll can stretch across generations.
Listening to the discussion the book isn't only about the mental stress of War but also what many returned to especially right after, living conditions and much more.
I than found the following:
Was there more to the man known as ‘town drunk’?
Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”
One could only guess the unsung songs of Thomas Cecil Berzett when he crawled into the back of a parked Tennison taxicab to sleep off a night of drinking on March 26, 1975, and died...........
The above is the first, apparently, of a two part report about Thomas Cecil Berzett and his life after World War II, the second to be printed tomorrow, 5.26.09.
Earlier this morning I just caught a rather short report, on the top of the hour News, about an Ohio Mental Health Center. Tried to find some more about it as it mentioned soldiers, before the the time of Vietnam and the Finally realization of what we now call PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress. All I could come up with was this short local report.
Service to honor former patient
The Ridges Cemeteries in AthensThere are nearly 2,000 former mental health patients buried at The Ridges Cemeteries in Athens and, as locals do more research, they are finding that some of the men and women buried there were courageous war heroes before entering the Athens Mental Health Center.
Records reveal a number of veterans entered mental hospital post-war.
According to Tom Walker, chairman of the Ridges Cemeteries Committee, the 1,965 former patients buried at The Ridges have graves marked simply by small gravestones with numbers. He said the men and women were buried separately and given a numbered marker............
You have to be a subscriber to view the rest of the above. I do hope that what is found someone will bring out for others to read, and I'm sure similar can be found around this Nation, as well as others, to teach us much more!
And apparently this Athens Mental Health Center has quite a history, as well as being suspected of being haunted. If you do a search of it the web site links that pop up lean in that direction.
The following The Ridges Cemetery Project you can find more information, with links, about this project, along with these two audio discussions:
Click the players below to listen to a one hour Conversations from Studio B interview of NAMI member Tom Walker, by WOUB library archivist Doug McCabe (Oct 2008):
First half hour
Second half hour
Ceremony honors vets, others buried on OU's Ridges
A number of Athens residents gathered at the Ohio University Ridges’ cemeteries on Memorial Day to hold a ceremony in honor of the servicemen and servicewomen buried there.
Since 2005, these ceremonies have been held to honor the many veterans from the Mexican and Civil Wars through the Korean War who never previously received any such recognition.
Ridges Cemeteries Committee chair Tom Walker said the ceremonies the committee has been organizing are for the purpose of dignifying those buried on the Ridges, not just the vets but all 1,965.........
The more we ignore what War does the easier it is to be led into Wars of Choice by those that don't serve in them. We also need to better understand the lasting remnants of, not only for those who fight them but those that live where they take place. Leading to the understanding of what we now call Post Traumatic Stress and that it occurs to many who never serve in Wars but experience extreme Trauma Events in their lives, and live silently or lashing out on others, with the results from those events on their minds and lives.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Suicides: Military and Veterans Of
Story by Michelle Michael
AFN's Michelle Michael takes us inside the mind of a Soldier with suicidal motives after war. Here is the story of an Army captain who is going public with her struggles for the very first time.
American Forces Network Europe
In Their Boots: Vets For Hire, Episode 3
In Their Boots Website for the two previous of this year and links to last years online productions, as well as the other important site links.
One of those being Their Resources Page for Military/Veterans and Their Families.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
The Unseen Wounds of War
Grassroots efforts to help the troops
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Legacy of Wars............
Special Initiative on Agent Orange/Dioxin
Above comes from an embedded link in an article found at Mother Jones Agent Orange: Treatment For Vets Still Lagging, Says Report
With linkbacks to a couple of previous articles on our subject of 'Agent Orange' and the other Defoliants used than.
Back to the Ford Foundation site link at the top you'll find the video above along with links to their strategy and those partnering with them, the members of the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group, and finally the grant program totals so far and more.
I've done a few posts on Agent Orange and Defoliants from the occupation many many many of us served in, one just recently. All of them, in these last couple of years of renewed discussion by just a few, lead to this site Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign - VAORRC and were posted leading up to and following a Vietnamese delagation that traveled to the U.S. on their court case against the United States and the Chemical manufacturing companies, loosing again. But we did have abit of good news just recently, US Doubles Funds for Agent Orange Cleanup, it's a drop in the bucket of what we owe to those who've suffered all these years since, as well as those of our brothers, many now gone from the results of their contamination and suffering!
Wars Don't End, what is done, especially in these Wars of Choice that become more of testing grounds for the billions of dollars spent on extremely high priced weapons of mass destruction, is leaving behind for those that fight them and especially those that live in these occupied countries lifetime suffering, some of that carried into further generations!
We've now had, since Vietnam, Gulf War Syndrome still not resolved as those exposed are suffering from a variety of ailments, many having died already, and births of their children with physical problems!
There are many questions about our use of Depleted Uranium, nuking others, in our artillery and use in the vehicle armor. We have some soldiers returning that are now suffering ailments. some devastating and life threatening, from possible exposure to a whole host of chemicals and contaminants from the burn pits at bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These aren't the only problems of aftermath of these occupation, there's land mines, cluster bombs that didn't explode, and a whole host of other dangers right along with the trauma that's been caused!
Tens of thousands are killed, they don't suffer the after! Do you think those that survive will forget, or how about the young and those newborn during that grew up these years, that's all they know!
Wars Don't End!!
Backround
From 1961 to 1971, U.S. military forces sprayed more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides on forests and crops in southern and central Vietnam. The campaign had both human and environmental consequences. The immediate effect was to defoliate and destroy vegetation over wide areas. The delayed impact came from dioxin, a highly toxic chemical in Agent Orange that is critically harmful to humans................
Above comes from an embedded link in an article found at Mother Jones Agent Orange: Treatment For Vets Still Lagging, Says Report
The Ford Foundation will release a report Tuesday calling for continued study of the environmental and health effects of Agent Orange, as well as for stepped-up diagnosis and treatment of US veterans exposed to it. Used as a defoliant in Vietnam to destroy vegetation used as food and cover for the Viet Cong, the dioixn--named for the orange stripe on its label--has been the subject of controversy ever since its first use in 1962. Over the ensuing ten years of hard combat, some 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides were sprayed over six million acres of Vietnamese jungle. (See the box below for a selection of Mother Jones' earlier coverage of Agent Orange and the federal government's history of inadequate response to veterans' complaints.).............the rest found here
With linkbacks to a couple of previous articles on our subject of 'Agent Orange' and the other Defoliants used than.
Back to the Ford Foundation site link at the top you'll find the video above along with links to their strategy and those partnering with them, the members of the U.S.-Vietnam Dialogue Group, and finally the grant program totals so far and more.
I've done a few posts on Agent Orange and Defoliants from the occupation many many many of us served in, one just recently. All of them, in these last couple of years of renewed discussion by just a few, lead to this site Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign - VAORRC and were posted leading up to and following a Vietnamese delagation that traveled to the U.S. on their court case against the United States and the Chemical manufacturing companies, loosing again. But we did have abit of good news just recently, US Doubles Funds for Agent Orange Cleanup, it's a drop in the bucket of what we owe to those who've suffered all these years since, as well as those of our brothers, many now gone from the results of their contamination and suffering!
Wars Don't End, what is done, especially in these Wars of Choice that become more of testing grounds for the billions of dollars spent on extremely high priced weapons of mass destruction, is leaving behind for those that fight them and especially those that live in these occupied countries lifetime suffering, some of that carried into further generations!
We've now had, since Vietnam, Gulf War Syndrome still not resolved as those exposed are suffering from a variety of ailments, many having died already, and births of their children with physical problems!
There are many questions about our use of Depleted Uranium, nuking others, in our artillery and use in the vehicle armor. We have some soldiers returning that are now suffering ailments. some devastating and life threatening, from possible exposure to a whole host of chemicals and contaminants from the burn pits at bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These aren't the only problems of aftermath of these occupation, there's land mines, cluster bombs that didn't explode, and a whole host of other dangers right along with the trauma that's been caused!
Tens of thousands are killed, they don't suffer the after! Do you think those that survive will forget, or how about the young and those newborn during that grew up these years, that's all they know!
Wars Don't End!!
Women: Defense Budget
Women's Take - Georgia State Senator Nan Orrock: We are on a dangerous path to a militarized society
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Afghanistan.........!
Ann Jones is the Author of: Kabul in Winter: Life Without Peace in Afghanistan
Visit Rethink Afghanistan for much more and to support!
"Torturing" the Moral Soul of America!
This week on Al Jazeera's Fault Lines, Josh Rushing joins a panel of experts in front of a live studio audience for a town hall debate on torture. We will ask what it will take to dismantle the Bush administration's legacy of torture and if those responsible will be held to account.
June 1, 2009
Bush's torture legacy Pt.1
Fault Lines: Panel of experts in front of a live studio audience for a town hall debate on torture
June 1, 2009
Bush's torture legacy Pt.2
Fault Lines: Panel of experts in front of a live studio audience for a town hall debate on torture
Monday, June 01, 2009
'Playing For Change' Peace!
And Peace Through Music
How Producer Mark Johnson put it all together.
New Episode #9, "A Change Is Gonna Come.", Now up at PLAYINGFORCHANGE.COM
Songs Around The World (CD + DVD)
Songs Around the World
How Producer Mark Johnson put it all together.
Morning Edition, May 4, 2009 - Until a video of "Stand by Me" had gone viral on YouTube, Roger Ridley had sung and played guitar anonymously on the streets of Santa Monica, Calif., for years. The video begins with Ridley and then mixes in 40 other musicians from around the world. It's part of a 10-song collection called Playing for Change: Songs Around the World.
Producer Mark Johnson got the idea a few years ago when he heard Ridley's voice on a street in Santa Monica.
"I approached him after the performance and said, 'Hey, if I come back in an hour with some recording equipment and cameras, I'd love to record you, film you, add musicians around the world to it,' " Johnson says. "And he looked at me really funny, sort of thought I was crazy. But he said, 'OK, if you come back, we'll do it.' "..................Rest Here with Video Links to a Couple of the Songs
Brings up the NPR Player to Listen to Discussion
New Episode #9, "A Change Is Gonna Come.", Now up at PLAYINGFORCHANGE.COM
This performance of Sam Cooke's classic anthem was recorded and filmed live in New Orleans this past year. It showcases the power and love created when musicians from Playing For Change meet and perform together for the first time. Grandpa Elliott and Clarence Bekker had only known each other through the "Stand By Me" video until they met in person to perform as the Playing For Change Band.
I invite you to witness the soul and perseverance of these two special people who sing with so much conviction that it becomes clear we can truly come together as a human race, one song at a time. As you will see, this performance demonstrates that we are the Change we want to see in the world.
To learn more about the concert where this amazing song was recorded, check out the blog entry that was just posted: "Seeing Through the Eyes of Grandpa."
Songs Around The World (CD + DVD)
Songs Around the World
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