Returning Home: Harsh Realities for Soldiers after the War.

After WWII ended, millions of soldiers’ time with their countries armed forces would come to an end and they would, hopefully, return home to their loved ones and try to resume normal lives. In an ideal world, this process would be supported by the government and society at each stop, making the reintegration of all these soldiers as seamless as possible. However, our world isn’t always ideal and these veterans unfortunately faced a lot of hardship and obstacles when coming home from war.

In America, soldiers coming home from war was seen as an exciting occasion, with them being hailed as heroes. Public perception of this time remembers it as being much nicer than it was, however, with many problems faced by veterans (especially those who were black, disabled, or both) being glossed over or ignored completely. An example of an issue these veterans had to deal with was how compensation for injuries and disabilities caused by the war was awarded. How it worked was the Veteran Administration (VA) would give wounded veterans a rating based on the severity of their disability, which would then be used to determine what compensation they would be eligible for, if any. This sounds fine in theory, but no rating system is perfect and having this rating be determined by other people who may or may not have their own prejudices could, and did, end up causing problems. Henry Williams, a disabled black veteran, was one such victim of this system. He had his disability rating reduced from 60 to 20 seemingly out of the blue, making him ineligible for any compensation. This must have been a terrible thing to have happen to you as someone who just came back home from fighting a war for your country, a war which caused you permanent bodily damage not to mention any possible mental impacts. This was not an isolated incident, with many other injured and/or black veterans being denied help they were owed, with the best explanations being that America’s racial biases were causing many of these hardships, and that the U.S. wanted to preserve the publics image of their heroic veterans, and officials thought that having these disabled – or worse, mentally ill people associated with that image would do it harm.

Wounded soldiers being visited by Hellen Keller

The Soviets also had their share of issues, despite their similarly grand public perception of the return of their soldiers after the war. Much like in the U.S., or perhaps to an even greater degree, soviet veterans felt left behind by their country which they saw as corrupt and uncaring. This was not without basis, with “documents confirm[ing] that corruption and bureaucracy
were widespread problems” (Dale, p.113). Very few soviet veterans received the heroes welcome, government assistance, and reintegration into society that the public did and still does believe they got. The soviets achieved this impressive feat of nationwide gaslighting with extensive propaganda campaigns celebrating these war heroes, only to very rarely actually give them the support they were promised. In some cases, their experience returning home was almost identical to those of DPs, which in my opinion is simply heartbreaking. These people who risked their lives for their country return home to a new culture without getting the help they need, whilst their country believes they are being welcome back with open arms and getting everything they need to reenter society as heroes.

Both American and Soviet veterans faced their share of difficulties, some shared some not. An interesting difference between them for me would be how the American public seemingly is much more aware of the mistreatment their veterans have been victim to nowadays, while in Russia people very widely believe to this day that their troops were welcomed home as heroes and got all the assistance they needed. In reality, the Soviets likely faced more difficulties than Americans. No American came home feeling like a displaced person (at least I hope not). I’m glad that veterans in the U.S. are more openly celebrated now (even the disabled ones), with events such veterans parades helping to make them feel more appreciated. With that being said, we still have a long way to go, this being best evidenced by former president Trump saying he didn’t want any amputees present at the parade held during his term, as it could make spectators “uneasy”.