Turning Defects to Advantages: The Discourse of Labour in the Autobiographies of Soviet Blinded Second World War Veterans

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 651-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Galmarini
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Second World

scholarly journals Coping with traumatic memories: Second World War veterans' experiences of social support in relation to the narrative coherence of war memories

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAREN J. BURNELL ◽  
PETER G. COLEMAN ◽  
NIGEL HUNT
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Narrative Coherence ◽  
World War ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Traumatic Memories ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
Second World

ABSTRACTThis paper reports a qualitative study that used narrative analysis to explore how social support helps many armed-services veterans cope with traumatic memories. The analysis was carried out on two levels, that of narrative form (level of narrative coherence), argued to be indicative of reconciliation, and narrative content (themes of social support), which allowed exploration of the types of social support experienced by veterans with coherent, reconciled and incoherent narratives. Ten British male Second World War veterans were interviewed regarding their war experiences, presence of traumatic memories, and experiences of social support from comrades, family and society. Different patterns of support were qualitatively related to coherent, reconciled and incoherent narratives. Veterans with coherent narratives were no less likely to have experienced traumatic events than those with reconciled or incoherent narratives, but they reported more positive perceptions of their war experience and of the war's outcomes, more positive experiences of communication with family in later life, and more positive perceptions of societal opinion. The results are discussed in relation to how veterans can be supported by family and friends to reconcile their traumatic memories, thus to lessen the burden in later life when vital support resources may be unavailable.

MAU MAU'S ARMY OF CLERKS: COLONIAL MILITARY SERVICE AND THE KENYA LAND FREEDOM ARMY IN KENYA'S NATIONAL IMAGINATION

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
TIMOTHY H. PARSONS
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Combat Veterans ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Combat Experience ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Mau Mau ◽  
National Imagination ◽  
Second World

AbstractScholarly and popular histories of Kenya largely agree that African Second World War veterans played a central role in the Kenya Land Freedom Army. Former African members of the colonial security forces have reinforced these assumptions by claiming to have been covert Mau Mau supporters, either after their discharge, or as serving soldiers. In reality, few Mau Mau generals had actual combat experience. Those who served in the colonial military usually did so in labor units or support arms. It therefore warrants asking why so many Kenyans accept that combat veterans played such a central role in the KLFA and in Kenyan history. Understanding how veterans of the colonial army have become national heroes, both for their wartime service and their supposed leadership of Mau Mau, reveals the capacity of popular history to create more useful and inclusive forms of African nationalism.

scholarly journals Commentary

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 217-218
Author(s):  
Leigh A. Neal
Keyword(s):  
Vietnam War ◽  
Far East ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Combat Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
World War ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Second World

It is a sobering fact that the average age of the surviving veterans of the Second World War is now close to 80 years. The available information indicates that the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in all Second World War veterans is slightly higher than the 15% lifetime prevalence found in Vietnam War veterans, although there are few reliable studies on which to base this conclusion. It is, however, consistent with the finding that combat stress, based on casualty rates, during periods of the Vietnam War was equivalent to the severity of combat stress in the Second World War. There are several epidemiological studies (Beebe, 1975; Tennant et al, 1986) of more specific Second World War veteran groups such as Far East prisoners of war and, predictably, they show higher PTSD prevalence rates, ranging between 30 and 50%.

scholarly journals Commemoration reconsidered: Second World War Veterans’ reunion as pilgrimage

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyoko Murakami
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
The Real ◽  
Second World

This article recognises the crucial role cultural and social contexts play in shaping individual and collective recollections. Such recollections involve multiple, intertwined levels of experience in the real world such as commemorating a war. Thus, the commemoration practised in a particular context deserves an empirical investigation. The methodological approach taken is naturalistic, as it situates commemoration as remembering and recollection in the real world of things and people. I consider the case of a war veterans’ reunion as an analogy for a pilgrimage, and in that pilgrimage-like transformative process, we can observe the dynamics of remembering that is mediated with artefacts and involves people’s interactions with the social environment. Furthermore, remembering, recollection and commemorating the war can be approached in terms of embodied interactions with culturally and historically organised materials. In this article, I will review the relevant literature on key topics and concepts including pilgrimage, transformation and liminality and communitas in order to create a theoretical framework. I present an analysis and discussion on the ethnographic fieldwork on the Burma Campaign (of the Second World War) veterans’ reunion. The article strives to contribute to the critical forum of memory research, highlighting the significance of a holistic and interdisciplinary exposition of the vital role context plays in the practice of commemorating war.

“They suffered with us and should be compensated”: Entitling Caregivers of Canada's Veterans

2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (S1) ◽  
pp. 117-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Struthers
Keyword(s):  
Cost Saving ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Veterans Affairs ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The State ◽  
National Service ◽  
World War ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Second World

ABSTRACTThis article examines the struggle to win lifetime eligibility for selected home care benefits provided through the Veterans Independence Program (VIP) for veterans' widows in recognition of their years of unpaid caregiving – a policy change eventually implemented between 2003 and 2004. It explores how arguments on their behalf shifted from discourses of dependency, cost-saving, and compassion to ones of entitlement and commemoration between 1981 and 2004 as the large cohort of Second World War veterans and their wives moved towards the end of their lives. This policy victory for veterans' widows marked a historic shift in mandate for Veterans Affairs Canada and an important recognition by the state of unpaid caregiving as a form of national service. If Canadians are to learn from this example, however, it must be through seeing all caregiving labour – not just that of veterans' wives – as equally heroic and worthy of compensation.

scholarly journals Prevalence, predictors and covariates of functional status impairment among Finnish Second World War veterans during 1992-2004

2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 508-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Leskinen ◽  
T. Laatikainen ◽  
M. Peltonen ◽  
E. Levalahti ◽  
R. Antikainen
Keyword(s):  
Functional Status ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Second World
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