veterans

From "Shell Shock" to PTSD, Veterans Have a Long Walk to Health

by Charles Glass

Iraq War veteran Will Robinson brought himself out of a mental health crisis by hiking more than 11,000 miles of trail from the Pacific Crest to the Appalachian, following the century-old prescription of British military doctor Arthur Brock. 

Kathleen Belew: "Lone Wolf" Label Obscures Key Networks of Far Right Extremism

While hardly representative of all veterans, the far right in the 20th and 21st centuries has actively recruited former military members into their networks. 

The Dirty, Deadly History of Depleted Uranium Munitions

by Joshua Frank

If British shipments of depleted uranium munitions to Ukrainian forces are matched by Russian invaders, Ukraine will face an environmental and health catastrophe that will outlast the war. Regardless of who wins, Ukrainians will lose. 

Russian Soldiers' Calls Home Echo Moral Injury Testimony of Vietnam Vets

by Elise Lemire

Translations of intercepted calls from Russian soliders in Ukraine reveal guilt, shame, anger, and loss of faith in national institutions and leadership that echo the testimony of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Will these veterans help launch resistance to Russian militarism? 

Lindsey Fitzharris on the Pioneering Facial Reconstruction Surgeon Who Remade the Faces of Great War Veterans

by James Thornton Harris

As one battlefield nurse wrote home, “the science of healing stood baffled before the science of destroying.” Dr. Harold Gillies let the effort to catch up, arguably the only lasting "victory" of the Great War. 

How America Short-Changed Black WWII Vets, and Why it Still Matters

by Matthew Delmont

Black servicemembers immediately understood the insulting dismissal of their contributions to the war against fascism. But their exclusion, by legislative design and administrative discrimination, from the postwar benefits white veterans enjoyed was the longer-lasting harm. 

"Our Best Memorial to the Dead Would be Our Service to the Living"

by Allison S. Finkelstein

An overlooked cohort of American women who served in the first world war worked to establish service, instead of statuary, as a mode of memorialization. Their example offers a path out of the heated politics of commemoration. 

The Soldiers Came Home Sick. The Government Denied It Was Responsible

Veterans of post-9/11 wars are increasingly showing serious lung damage. Is the Pentagon concealing the role of "burn pits" in creating airborne toxins? 

Lawrence Brooks, Oldest Surviving WWII Veteran, Dies at 112

"Throughout his service in Australia, Brooks enjoyed a level of freedom he'd never experienced before, either in the military or at home. In interviews with the National World War II Museum, he marveled over that country's acceptance of Black soldiers, which were a marked contrast to the racist Jim Crow laws of the south at the time."

6 Inspiring Stories From Those who Remember the Pearl Harbor Attack

Learn more about the experiences of a diverse group of Americans who remember the Pearl Harbor attacks. 

Moral Injury and the Forever Wars

by Kelly Denton-Borhaug

"Andy’s story clarifies a reality Americans badly need to grasp: the destruction of war goes far beyond its intended targets. In the end, its violence is impossible to control."

Obituary: Henry Parham, Last of A Black Unit that Fought at D-Day, Dies at 99

“'We landed in water up to our necks,' Mr. Parham said, recalling a shorter man in his unit who had to be carried onto the beach because the water was over his head and he couldn’t swim."

A Black WWII Veteran Was Beaten and Blinded, Fueling Civil Rights Movement

A new documentary examines the attack on Isaac Woodward in 1946, which catalyzed demands for full citizenship and civil rights. 

Recommitting America to Historical Principles of Obligation to Veterans

by T. Nelson Collier

Policy that frames benefits to veterans as gratuities ignores a historical tradition of social responsibility for veteran care as an integral aspect of the common defense.

Man Travels to Virginia in Quest to Interview WWII Veterans

A young Californian has traveled across the world after founding a nonprofit agency to collect and preserve the stories of surviving World War II veterans. 

Recognizing an Unrecognized Chinese American WWII Veteran

by A.J. Wong

In December, Congress honored all Chinese American World War II veterans with the Congressional Gold Medal, and some of their families will be eligible to receive a replica medal in their names. Hoy You Lim (林開祐) was killed in action in France in 1944. None of his survivors could complete the paperwork to receive his medal. The granddaughter of another Chinese American veteran wants to recognize his service. 

New Memoir Tells Tale Of 1967 Beer Run To Vietnam

John "Chick" Donohue was in a bar in Inwood in upper Manhattan in 1967 when the bartender suggested the neighborhood's contingent of troops in Vietnam would appreciate a beer. He made the delivery. His new book explains how. 

Breaking Lincoln's Promise

by Shannon Bontrager

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address demanded that Americans keep the memory of both the Union dead and their cause alive and "hot." The cooling of that memory has enabled backlashes against justice through history, and today. 

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’

Sources close to Donald Trump cite multiple instances where the self-sacrifice of military personnel appeared incomprehensible to the President, who, those sources say, has expressed contempt for the military dead. 

Black Americans Who Served in WWII Faced Segregation and Second-Class Roles

“The experience was very dispiriting for a lot of Black soldiers,” says Matthew Delmont, a history professor at Dartmouth College and author of "Black Quotidian: Everyday History in African American Newspapers."