A Korean War Veteran gets help from VA

Bob:

My name is Bob, and I served in the United States Marine Corp from 1948 to 1952. I spent 15 months in Korea. I came back in the end of November, first of December of 1951. I never said anything to anybody. I never talked about it. And I can understand when I hear people don't talk about it because some of the things you see there are not things you really want to keep harping on or remembering. I just sort of grew back into the community and got involved in community things. Little League baseball and Pop Warner football and things like that.

I raised a family. In fact, even now, my kids say to me, “Dad, you never talked about that. We didn’t know you did that.” Well, yeah, I did. I had dreams about a lot of things that went on over there and nightmares you might call. And sometimes I’ll see something even today and I’ll think back of gee, I saw something like that. Or I’d see something on the news that I could take back there. It’s horrific type of things that you see.

I didn’t start going to the VA until 1996. I took some courses with the PTSD situation and group therapy type stuff. I got in that just because of encouragement from fellas that had gone through the PTSD program. I had mentioned to them that I had had some problems with nightmares and that coming back in flashes and so forth. And they said, “You know, we had the same thing, Bob. It’s really something that the VA has helped us with. Maybe it would help you.” So, I checked into it. Just being able to talk about some of the issues that you had in these flashbacks or these nightmares helped, I think.

The VA has treated me and checked me out thoroughly all the time. I go there probably at least 2 or 3 times a month for various things. They really helped me. If you ever go by a VA hospital, you’ll know. They’re doing that for everybody. I can’t say enough about the good things that they have done for me. I think it’s very important, especially if you’re having some problems. They seem to have people in all departments that can help you.