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Soldier from the War Returning: The Greatest Generation's Troubled Homecoming from World War II
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.
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.
340 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
July 21, 2014
I'm a little torn on this one. On the one hand, it was meticulously assembled and provided a lot of detail into something that I rarely see examined in history: not the great, not the oppressed, but the ordinary middle. Not joyous success, not total despair, but lives of quiet desperation. Not the war, not the peace, but the uneasy gap between the two.
And, specifically, not the trauma of WWI, not the trauma of Vietnam, but the trauma of WWII--which I feel we often elide in America, because that was our unarguably Just War. Our undisputed Victory. Our men, fighting for a cause they and we believed in. So surely they came out of it feeling triumphant, and surely the nation rose to fete them? Surely our failures to treat veterans from other conflicts fairly is a result of specific issues with those conflicts, and not a deeper society flaw? Only, as Childers shows, not so much. The numerous articles he quotes from period newspapers and magazines about the "problem" of veterans are particularly damning.
(A side note: when I was interning at my local congressperson's office in college, as you do, we had a local gentleman who had served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during WWII. He used to come around the office regularly to inquire, terribly politely, what could be done to get him a pension--because the merchant mariners, for political reasons, were never given one. And the answer [though we never told him this] was that if every congressional office in America had just such a gentleman making inquiries on just such a regular basis, a bill to retroactively grant them pensions would pass in a heartbeat. But they didn't. Most merchant mariners were dead of old age. There was no political capital to be gained from the issue. And so Congress was never going to give him and the thousands of men he served with the benefits they deserved. They still haven't. The last proposed bill to address the issue was introduced in 2011 and quietly died in committee for lack of support.)
So why torn? One, the scientist in me wants a control group. Childers draws exquisite portraits of men trying to hold themselves together and failing, but it's rarely clear how much of what they struggling with is a direct result of their military experience. I wanted to look at men with purely civilian backgrounds, too, to help separate issues of the era as a whole from PTSD.
Two, I find Childers's choice to write about his father and a family friend as though they were strangers baffling. The patina of objectivity does nothing for me. If he is biased--and how can you not be biased when writing about your own family?--I want him to admit it up front, to pick apart his blindspots, his desires to create a meaning for the mysteries of his childhood. There's no shame in bias, but I am deeply suspicious of efforts to hide it. It makes me distrusting--probably undeservedly so--of the rest of the book.
And, specifically, not the trauma of WWI, not the trauma of Vietnam, but the trauma of WWII--which I feel we often elide in America, because that was our unarguably Just War. Our undisputed Victory. Our men, fighting for a cause they and we believed in. So surely they came out of it feeling triumphant, and surely the nation rose to fete them? Surely our failures to treat veterans from other conflicts fairly is a result of specific issues with those conflicts, and not a deeper society flaw? Only, as Childers shows, not so much. The numerous articles he quotes from period newspapers and magazines about the "problem" of veterans are particularly damning.
(A side note: when I was interning at my local congressperson's office in college, as you do, we had a local gentleman who had served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during WWII. He used to come around the office regularly to inquire, terribly politely, what could be done to get him a pension--because the merchant mariners, for political reasons, were never given one. And the answer [though we never told him this] was that if every congressional office in America had just such a gentleman making inquiries on just such a regular basis, a bill to retroactively grant them pensions would pass in a heartbeat. But they didn't. Most merchant mariners were dead of old age. There was no political capital to be gained from the issue. And so Congress was never going to give him and the thousands of men he served with the benefits they deserved. They still haven't. The last proposed bill to address the issue was introduced in 2011 and quietly died in committee for lack of support.)
So why torn? One, the scientist in me wants a control group. Childers draws exquisite portraits of men trying to hold themselves together and failing, but it's rarely clear how much of what they struggling with is a direct result of their military experience. I wanted to look at men with purely civilian backgrounds, too, to help separate issues of the era as a whole from PTSD.
Two, I find Childers's choice to write about his father and a family friend as though they were strangers baffling. The patina of objectivity does nothing for me. If he is biased--and how can you not be biased when writing about your own family?--I want him to admit it up front, to pick apart his blindspots, his desires to create a meaning for the mysteries of his childhood. There's no shame in bias, but I am deeply suspicious of efforts to hide it. It makes me distrusting--probably undeservedly so--of the rest of the book.
January 1, 2019
Very interesting story on 3 WW2 soldiers that survived the war but had great difficulty surviving their lives after the war. There are many details in this book that you usually do NOT get to read in other WW2 stories.
I hate to say this but after finishing the book I realize that it was more like a soap opera. Family struggles, life struggles, and emotional struggles.
It just - for me - got too long-winded.
I hate to say this but after finishing the book I realize that it was more like a soap opera. Family struggles, life struggles, and emotional struggles.
It just - for me - got too long-winded.
April 27, 2020
This was a very readable account focusing on the lives of three men and their families, and how WWII changed and affected them not only during the war, but for the rest of their lives. It follows a navigator who was shot down and spent time in a German POW camp, an army man who lost both legs in an explosion in Italy, and a man who served on an air base in England and lost his brother-in-law (an airman stationed at a nearby base) in the final weeks of the war.
This was a worthwhile book, because it’s important to see the true cost of the war—and that includes more than statistics on those killed or wounded. It also includes the changed personalities, the broken marriages, and the nightmares that lasted decades into peacetime. Having said that, it was also a sad book to read, because I find stories about families disintegrating among the most depressing topics out there.
I liked the author’s approach. He wove in big picture descriptions and statistics with quotes he found in archives, but the focus was on three men and their families, and that gave the narrative greater impact. On the other hand, the focus on just three men made me wonder if some of the men might have had problems anyway. Two of the couples reminded me a lot of the dysfunctional families in Hillbilly Elegy. So was the war completely to blame, or would those marriages have been troubled regardless? It’s hard to know. But it’s worth remembering that the effects of war are both long lasting and far reaching.
This was a worthwhile book, because it’s important to see the true cost of the war—and that includes more than statistics on those killed or wounded. It also includes the changed personalities, the broken marriages, and the nightmares that lasted decades into peacetime. Having said that, it was also a sad book to read, because I find stories about families disintegrating among the most depressing topics out there.
I liked the author’s approach. He wove in big picture descriptions and statistics with quotes he found in archives, but the focus was on three men and their families, and that gave the narrative greater impact. On the other hand, the focus on just three men made me wonder if some of the men might have had problems anyway. Two of the couples reminded me a lot of the dysfunctional families in Hillbilly Elegy. So was the war completely to blame, or would those marriages have been troubled regardless? It’s hard to know. But it’s worth remembering that the effects of war are both long lasting and far reaching.
June 1, 2020
World War II as a book subject never gets exhausted. There were so many battles involving so many people all over the world that it is easy to find a different angle to cover. I enjoy them as much as anyone. There's one aspect of that conflict about which I have read little, that of the lives of the returning veterans. They had been given a glimpse of a different way of living, one far removed from their prewar existence. Childers' book helps fill that void. He deals with three veterans, one of them his own father. Each man is followed from his life at American entry into the war through the conflict and the aftermath. Much like the veterans in "The Best Years of Our Lives," none of them enjoy a seamless return to civilian life. Some marriages end while others, remarkably, do not. The only complaint I have is that three case studies feel a bit slight. That was probably necessary to ensure these experiences were not reduced to mere statistics. Read Solder From the War Returning before you read or watch another World War II story; it will give you a much fuller appreciation for the sacrifices made by the people who fought in it.
August 1, 2011
If you're a student of WW2 history, reading this book is absolutely a must. I started it on a Friday morning and finished it in the early, wee hours of Saturday. That's rare for me, but it shows just how good this book really was.
We often tend to think the Greatest Generation didn't have many problems when they came back from the war, but the effects of the war continued to ripple in these mens lives years afterward.
It almost reads like a novel, and tells the story of three men, their experiences during the war, and after. Not one of them came away from this conflict emotionally unscarred.
A compelling, incredibly important read.
We often tend to think the Greatest Generation didn't have many problems when they came back from the war, but the effects of the war continued to ripple in these mens lives years afterward.
It almost reads like a novel, and tells the story of three men, their experiences during the war, and after. Not one of them came away from this conflict emotionally unscarred.
A compelling, incredibly important read.
July 1, 2012
We Baby Boomers grew up among the WWII veterans; many of our fathers were vets. We have been led to believe that the Greatest Generation returned to cheering crowds and good jobs. From my own father's experience and conversations we had, I know that the period of adjustment after they returned wasn't easy. Childers examines the experience of three veterans, their wives, and the decades after the War. As I finished the book I wondered about the men of my small town youth. How many of those men who were so 'normal' in public wrestled with terrible demons left from the War? How many of their families became victims of the men's memories? This is a chapter of popular WWII history that we need to know.
March 31, 2024
What a ride. I was so invested in these true stories of soldiers returning home from WW2. At one point, I gasped out loud, prompting my husband to ask, "Are you ok?"
August 3, 2011
This might just be the best book on the "Greatest Generation" that I have ever read. So many historical accounts view the immediate postwar period with rose-colored glasses that it is easy to assume that all WW2 veterans had a joyous homecoming and an easy transition back to civilian life. This book shows that all was not as it may seem, and that even veterans who showed every outward sign of being well-adjusted and successful could be haunted by post-traumatic stress. Ultimately, many veterans and their families paid a high price.
Childers' book has given me fresh insight into the Greatest Generation, so much so that I feel I have a new understanding of my late grandfathers, who both served during the war. The stories Childers tells are congruent with things I have seen and heard, but never understood, within my own family.
Childers' book has given me fresh insight into the Greatest Generation, so much so that I feel I have a new understanding of my late grandfathers, who both served during the war. The stories Childers tells are congruent with things I have seen and heard, but never understood, within my own family.
August 17, 2022
This was a well researched book about life during WWII for soldiers and their family. It was divided into three sections. The first was life during war, the second the transition from war to home, the third the years after war. Often the hard adjustment can be overlooked in the shadow of the heroism. I really appreciated this book, as heart breaking as it was, to show the toil war can have on people.
September 1, 2023
A historical narrative based on extensive interviews, documents, and other research that pieces together the stories of three men before, during, and after WWII and the impact of the war in their lives and society around them. These three men also represented three types of soldier out of many who returned home mentally and physically broken at a time when heroism was applauded, veterans were suspicious to the general public, and PTSD hadn't been studied enough to know how to help.
The book is divided into three sections with three chapters each (one per soldier story, though the last section combines them more as their stories overlap).
🦦PART 1: When this bloody war is over
Introduces stories of soldiers and surrounding circumstances.
🦦PART 2: Soldier from the war returning
Describes homecoming, adjustments, losses, marriage struggles, dealing with war memories
🦦PART 3: Echoes of war
Life for these men years after, difficulties finding work, social and political tensions, broken family life decades later, how they dealt with trauma
I appreciated the author's thorough evaluation of the topic and the firsthand accounts he used to make these stories come alive. The "greatest generation" was truly one of the greatest but their brokenness and severe struggles have been largely overlooked.
This book made me have a greater understanding of PTSD in soldiers, greater sympathy for their families, and more awareness of even something as simple as handicap parking. It was an excellent book.
⚠️Some language profanity, immorality, domestic violence, as part of story, not author's trademark style.
The book is divided into three sections with three chapters each (one per soldier story, though the last section combines them more as their stories overlap).
🦦PART 1: When this bloody war is over
Introduces stories of soldiers and surrounding circumstances.
🦦PART 2: Soldier from the war returning
Describes homecoming, adjustments, losses, marriage struggles, dealing with war memories
🦦PART 3: Echoes of war
Life for these men years after, difficulties finding work, social and political tensions, broken family life decades later, how they dealt with trauma
I appreciated the author's thorough evaluation of the topic and the firsthand accounts he used to make these stories come alive. The "greatest generation" was truly one of the greatest but their brokenness and severe struggles have been largely overlooked.
This book made me have a greater understanding of PTSD in soldiers, greater sympathy for their families, and more awareness of even something as simple as handicap parking. It was an excellent book.
⚠️Some language profanity, immorality, domestic violence, as part of story, not author's trademark style.
May 18, 2019
I asked a friend to buy this book for me in the States, but there was a mishap with the luggage so the book ended up with a lot of people until it finaly got to me a year later. And it seems it did stir quite a few emotions along the way as they read it.
In spite of the title, the book is much smaller in scale - it refers to 3 stories that go into a lot of uncomfortable details (so I appreciate the soldiers and the families a lot for the courage the tell these sotiries) and it also mentions what was happening at a larger scale too. This book is important as it breaks the myth that only Vietnam vets were troubled while the winners coming back from WW2 where all good boys who went back to work like nothing happened. I can only wonder how WW1 vets were treated.
The book is written beautifuly even if what happens in it is hardly poetic. This book is great at showing the ripple effect as entire families and generations are affected. This book is by no means comprehensive, but it is necessary. All I can hope is that the care provided today is much better than the one provided that. And also that no other war at that scale will ever take place.
In spite of the title, the book is much smaller in scale - it refers to 3 stories that go into a lot of uncomfortable details (so I appreciate the soldiers and the families a lot for the courage the tell these sotiries) and it also mentions what was happening at a larger scale too. This book is important as it breaks the myth that only Vietnam vets were troubled while the winners coming back from WW2 where all good boys who went back to work like nothing happened. I can only wonder how WW1 vets were treated.
The book is written beautifuly even if what happens in it is hardly poetic. This book is great at showing the ripple effect as entire families and generations are affected. This book is by no means comprehensive, but it is necessary. All I can hope is that the care provided today is much better than the one provided that. And also that no other war at that scale will ever take place.
August 28, 2016
A heart breaking look at the men who returned from the "good war" broken and hurting. The statistics are sobering in and of themselves, but Childers does a masterful job of narrating the stories, helping us feel what life was like for the soldiers returning as well as their loved ones.
It seems to be well-researched with a tremendous amount of detail.
It seems to be well-researched with a tremendous amount of detail.
April 18, 2019
This is the third of a quartet of this author’s excellent writings on the experience of World War 2 soldiers, veterans and families. Remembering my uncles who were veterans with nightmares, recalling the hyper medicated veterans with glassy eyes at the local VA,this all rings true for me.
July 13, 2019
A realistic look into the lives of three WWII veterans and their struggles to readjust to civilian life after the world. The book sheds light on another side of what’s been called the Greatest Generation. Highly recommended for anyone interested in life after the war.
May 14, 2011
Just witnessed the loss of the last surviving combat veteran of WWI, the so called Great War, which so closely followed the "Splendid Little War" in the 1894. It is important to remember that our WWII vets are leaving us and our Viet Nam vets are reaching retirement age. Anyone I've ever talked to who's been in a shooting war has been generally reticent about their experience. That we were compelled to participate in the war of 1939-1945 was of little comfort to the veterans who witnessed events no one should have to experience. I think it was generous and gutsy of the vets profiled in this book to share their lives. Their stories should be required reading for the chickenhawks who are draining our blood and treasure in several scattered, incoherent, open ended conflicts. That last WWI combat veteran (who served in both WWI and WWII in hazardous duty) was quoted as saying "Wars are started by old men sending in young men to fight. If young men tried to send in old men to war, maybe we wouldn't have any more wars".
April 3, 2011
I thought this was an interesting book. So much has been written about the war and so much of it has been romanticized, but this was a very frank look about the aftermath of war, something not written about often.
You can not talk about Vietnam and not hear about bad things when the soldiers came home, but for some reason WWII doesn't have that stigma. Those soldiers had the same problems but it seems like this is the dirty little secret of WWII. It makes a person wonder if these stoic men could have talked about their experiences things would have been different for them.
I liked how these 3 men had vastly different experiences while in the war, but at the heart of the story their problems were the same when they came home.
Overall when done with this book I found myself feeling sad for these men, and all like them. They have given a lot by "going to war" and when they come home it should end, but it is hard for those horrors to be wished away.
You can not talk about Vietnam and not hear about bad things when the soldiers came home, but for some reason WWII doesn't have that stigma. Those soldiers had the same problems but it seems like this is the dirty little secret of WWII. It makes a person wonder if these stoic men could have talked about their experiences things would have been different for them.
I liked how these 3 men had vastly different experiences while in the war, but at the heart of the story their problems were the same when they came home.
Overall when done with this book I found myself feeling sad for these men, and all like them. They have given a lot by "going to war" and when they come home it should end, but it is hard for those horrors to be wished away.
January 23, 2024
Soldier from the War Returning by Thomas Childers, part of a series about war veterans, follows three WWII veterans with brief summaries of their service. It then focuses on the vets’ and their families’ lives for the rest of their lives.
The press and the public view suggest that the men who come back from war soon adjust and live normal lives. Childers provides a different view. My father was a combat veteran of WWII, Pacific Theater. What Childers writes fits well with my family’s lived experience during the (only) eighteen years of my father’s post-war life. My grandmother said he lost his sense of humor “over there.” I noticed his exaggerated startle response. For me, he was a present absence—physically there, but never fully involved. My mother found him "undemonstrative."
I highly recommend Soldier from the War Returning for a realistic look at what actual veterans of any war experience, along with their families.
The press and the public view suggest that the men who come back from war soon adjust and live normal lives. Childers provides a different view. My father was a combat veteran of WWII, Pacific Theater. What Childers writes fits well with my family’s lived experience during the (only) eighteen years of my father’s post-war life. My grandmother said he lost his sense of humor “over there.” I noticed his exaggerated startle response. For me, he was a present absence—physically there, but never fully involved. My mother found him "undemonstrative."
I highly recommend Soldier from the War Returning for a realistic look at what actual veterans of any war experience, along with their families.
July 18, 2016
This book surprised me, but only because of our collective idealization of World War II and "The Greatest Generation." In following in-depth 3 ordinary soldiers and the impact of WWII on their lives and those of their families, Childers paints a horrifying picture of PTSD that we've come to expect in Vietnam War vets, but not in WWII vets.
This is the 3rd of 4 books on the untold history of that war, by a history professor who's a darned good writer! I bought it because its title reminded me of more recent works on the moral casualties of war by Rita Nakashima Brock. (I couldn't find Childers' 4th book in the series.)
One of the soldiers in this book was Childers' own father; another (the amputee) was the father of a childhood friend. He conducted extensive interviews of each veteran and family, and used lots of primary documents and popular literature of the time.
This is the 3rd of 4 books on the untold history of that war, by a history professor who's a darned good writer! I bought it because its title reminded me of more recent works on the moral casualties of war by Rita Nakashima Brock. (I couldn't find Childers' 4th book in the series.)
One of the soldiers in this book was Childers' own father; another (the amputee) was the father of a childhood friend. He conducted extensive interviews of each veteran and family, and used lots of primary documents and popular literature of the time.
December 1, 2014
A detailed examination of three soldiers: their wartime experiences in WWII, how they adjusted or failed to adjust to civilian life, and the effects their wartime service had on their families and throughout their lives. It is a history based on extensive interviews and documents, but deliberately written to read like a novel or character study rather than an academic study. The author succeeds in presenting the profound influence war has on those taking part in it, and the problems which have tended to be glossed over in relation to WWII veterans and which so many military personnel are facing today.
April 24, 2016
A great addition to World War II history. It peeks into the private lives of returning American veterans and their families to reveal that things weren't as relentlessly positive as we have been led to believe. Their war never ended. It followed these men home and settled in with them in the forms of infidelity, substance abuse, domestic violence, and quiet emotional absenteeism.
It was unsettling when the author talked in third person about his own birth and instances of childhood heartache as a result of his father's PTSD. However, I suppose it was necessary to keep the flow and story telling mechanisms of the book consistent.
It was unsettling when the author talked in third person about his own birth and instances of childhood heartache as a result of his father's PTSD. However, I suppose it was necessary to keep the flow and story telling mechanisms of the book consistent.
June 17, 2016
Although PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is normally attributed to veterans of the Vietnam War, this is a false assumption. Childers entwines the stories of three American GIs and their families—including his own—in this grim portrait of the Greatest Generation’s return from World War II. The violence of battle inflicted both physical and psychological wounds, leaving many veterans to struggle with PTSD, nightmares, and survivor’s guilt, while their bewildered wives found that the men they welcomed home were irrevocably changed from the men they had married. This account of PTSD, broken families and stormy marriages is dark and depressing, but informative and well worth the read.
July 21, 2009
I was intrigued by this book mainly because all you ever hear is how soldiers from WWII came home and had great lives, but there were so many that dealt with effects of the war the rest of thier lives and it tore apart families. I was always told that my grandfather had a hard time when he came back from the war and as I read the book I wondered if he could have identified with these soldiers. Maybe someone could have helped him.
March 23, 2014
A well-written, thoroughly researched book that vividly demonstrates the emotional and psychological scars combat left on "The Greatest Generation". My dad was one of those vets, and after reading Childers' work so much of his behavior--insomnia, occasional emotional distance, anxiety, nightmares, etc., all made sense. I wish he was still alive so I could say, I get it, daddy. I understand, a little, the price you paid. And that sometimes the worst scars are the ones no one can see.
June 29, 2009
Excellent, excellent book. My father was in WWII, and that generation really never spoke about PTSD, although many suffered from it (as I am sure my own father did, having survived the Normandy Campaign and the Battle of the Bulge)... it read like a novel but the stories were true. I finished it in two days!!!!!
August 9, 2011
For those of you who read Tom Brokaw's book "The Greatest Generation" this book will tell you what it was really like for vets coming home from WWII. These guys struggled with PTSD and missing out on the best years of their life and it is rarely talked about. A great book for anybody who had a dad/grandfather in WWII.
September 6, 2013
My mother, although she was grateful for the recognition the WWII generation received following Brokaw's book, despised the label "The Greatest Generation". She didn't care for generalities. Childers expertly relates a story that absolutely needed to be told, in a straightforward manner. Excellent book, beautifully written and very moving.
August 4, 2016
Moving and heartbreaking. I grew up with a WWII combat vet and this book helped me to continue to put in perspective and forgive some of the behavior and hard times I didn't understand as a child. I wish my father had gotten some of the help he needed. It would have been a happier life for all of us.
September 5, 2020
One of the most interesting and informative books I've read about WWII and its effects on servicemen and their families. Superb craftmanship, penetrating observation and thought-provoking analysis by Thomas Childers here make for engrossing reading. Highly recommended.
December 17, 2024
very informative
This is a fascinating story about 3 WW2 veterans and the wounds of the war and how they affected their lives and their families for the rest of their lives after the war ended. It never ended for many veterans after they returned home
This is a fascinating story about 3 WW2 veterans and the wounds of the war and how they affected their lives and their families for the rest of their lives after the war ended. It never ended for many veterans after they returned home
December 18, 2024
A 'must read' for all ex-military personnel, future military people, military historians. Truly, 'war is hell' no matter how you are associated with it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews