Soldier From The War Returning

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.

Soldier from the Wars Returning is one of the truest, most profound and readable personal accounts of the Great War. The author waited nearly fifty years before writing it, and the perspective of history enhances its value. He writes only of the battles in which he participated (including the Somme and Passchendaele), though his comments on affairs beyond his knowledge at the time, through later study and reflection, are pungent and stimulating. Among other topics, he describes the politicians, the generals, Kitchener's Army, Hore-Belisha, German gas attacks, Picardy, dug-outs, tanks, the sex-life of the soldier, scrounging. trench kits and the censoring of letters. The author saw the First World War from below, as a fighting soldier in a line regiment. In the Second World War he served as a staff officer liaising between the Army and the RAF; serving two tours at RAF Bomber Command HQ at High Wycombe. This equipped him to draw forthright comparisons between the conduct of the two wars.

Scarred by memories of World War II, soldier Sam Richardson returns home in 1946 and strives to manage changes in his family, which includes a young son who barely remembers him and a wife with a new sense of independence from her wartime job.

"I looked around my cell and saw the sheet of paper taped to the door at chest height. It listed everything in the room, chair, bed, soldier box … For a moment I thought it meant the cell itself; a box to put soldiers in." When the War on Terror began, Briton Joe Glenton felt compelled to serve his nation. He passed through basic training and deployed to Afghanistan in 2006. What he saw overseas left him disillusioned, and he returned home increasingly political and manifesting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. When he refused to return for a second tour, he was denied his right to object and called “a coward and a malingerer.” He went absent without leave and left the country, returning later to the UK voluntarily to campaign against the wars. The military accused him of desertion and threatened years in prison. Soldier Box tells the story of Glenton’s extraordinary journey from a promising soldier to a rebel against what he came to see as unjustified military action.

Publisher Description

The Women of Brambleberry House are back! Returning home to Cannon Beach and living in Brambleberry House, a place where good things seemed destined to happen, had brought Melissa Fielding and her young daughter such joy. Perhaps it was no accident when the single mom “bumped” into Eli Sanderson, and discovered the handsome doctor was also back in town. The ex-soldier was still so captivating, but also more guarded. Was now the time to put old ghosts to rest?

William Newby - Or, The Soldier's Return is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1893. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

Life after war is not what you expect it to be. Whether you have served in front-line combat or experienced second-hand the destructive forces of war-your soul has been impacted. For war survivors and their families, life after war can be a confusing time. What happens after war? What can you expect? What issues will you face? In Close to Home, combat survivors and their families find a raw, tell-it-like-it-is, compassion-filled account of what survivors often go through when they come home. Facing deep emotional, mental and spiritual wounds, war survivors feel shattered on the inside. In this book, survivors find hope, inspiration and encouragement to pick up the fragments of "life before war" and rebuild a new identity. Families gain invaluable insight into what goes through the hearts and minds of survivors and what they can do to help. The journey to healing is long, but it no longer has to be silent. "This is an important book because it confronts an issue which thousands of soldiers face-how to return to "normal" life after war ." --Edith M. Lederer, co-author of War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Reporters who Covered Vietnam

Childers (history, U. of Pennsylvania) draws on correspondence and diaries from US airmen to tell the story of one of the last air missions in the European theater of WWII. He reconstructs the lives and deaths of the 12-member crew of the Black Cat, and tells of the families' search for details about crash survivors. Childers is the nephew of the Black Cat's radio operator. Contains bandw photos. Lacks an index. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR