Coping with Combat

VFW Magazine, Dec, 2002

I read with great interest "Coping with the Emotional Numbing of Combat" (October) by Mark Van Ells, which discussed the effects of combat on individual soldiers. The author hit the nail on the head. After more than 50 years, I still wake up at times in the middle of the night with sweat running down my forehead and a strange feeling of sorts. I wish every person who has never had to experience the taste of war would read this story. I salute Mr. Van Ells for telling it like it is years after combat.

Charles V. Christian, Baltimore, Md.

"Coping with Combat" brought tears to my eyes. My husband fought on Okinawa using a flamethrower.

A Seabee, he also served aboard the USS Ticonderoga, which was hit several times. He never talked about the war, except in his nightmares. He experienced trouble sleeping for many years and had a stroke in February 1987.

Thelma Davis
Pilot Point, Texas