Evening star., 1944-11-19
When the Boys Come Home Give Them Chance,
Says the Air Surgeon; They May Be Just Tired
By Miriam Gutenberg

Just because the boy next door has
come home from the wars and somebody
told you he'd been discharged "for
mental reasons" don't jump to the con-
clusion that he's crazy"
Nine chances out of ten he's as nor
NAL as you are, says Maj. Gen. David
NJ w. Grant, the air surgeon. 1t may
be that he just didn't "fit" in his Army
job at the particular moment he was
given that job to fill or he may be just
a tired boy" as Gen. Grant calls the
flyers who have come home.
Gen. Grant is one Of the top-ranking
officers now seriously concerned about
what's happening to the 100000 men al
ready discharged for what is medically
knows as "psychoneurotic symptoms"
but what is, in fact, a severe form of
the same kind of upset you get when
you're worried about something.
Gen. Grant told of a flyer who had
more than his share of combat missions
and was finally discharged from an AAF
convalescent center because he wasn't
suited for any more combat flying and
for which he was needed.
Entirely Sane
The airlines wouldn't touch him with
l0-foot pole" said the air surgeon.
And that boy would have made a
darned good civilian flyer But now
he'll have to do something else. Why,
he was no more crazy than I am.
These men are surrounded by the
stigma of misunderstanding. Some en-
ployers won't hire them Their neigh
bors, even their relatives, look at them
with suspicion. If a man is DISCHARGED
and doesn't show up with a Purple
Heart, he's definitely suspect"
This becomes a real problem for the
Air Forces, the general explained. for,
unless our flyers are given something to
look forward to, unless they have some
assurance that they can fit int proper
niche, they become disturbed. What
happens to the boys who were dis
charged last month gets to be known by
the ones who may be coming home next
month. We can't afford to let them
CIV NAoSoaAoSSA. VIC hllo" lile DONS III
combat do better when they have some
thing to look forward to-"
Unofficially, there's another explana-
ton for the attitude of the air surgeon
and the officers he has assigned to help
put across to the public what these So
called "neuropsychiatric' discharges
are all about
Said flight surgeon: They're still
our boys, whether they're in the Army
or out of it. That's not official-lts Just
the way We feel about them"
They Didn't Fit
Why were the men discharged? First.
they were the ones who didn't fit"
To basic training center at Atlantic
City came shipment of men from
the backwoods of Kentucky and Ten
nessee. They had never seen the ocean,
some Of them didn't know there was an
ocean In one day, they saw more
men than they had seen in their whole
lives in the backwoods. They had no
idea there was man who could tell
them what to do. and If they didn't
do it. put them in the guardhouse.
For them explained a flight sur
geon, "it was like being in a foreign
country. They felt cut loose from
everything they had known. There
was nothing they could tie to or be
certain Of
Some OF these men were sent 10 out
lying posts TO build air bases. In
smaller groups, working with an ak, they
found enough that was familiar to give
them foundation and from there they
can progress to being good soldiers on
other jobs. Others. however, suffered
so acutely that they had to be dis
charged
The Ca' er's Case
The another man who had been
gambler all his life. His stories, it
was said, topped fiction and most of
them were true. He had made his own
way since childhood and was totally
independent and self sufficient. He
had travelled the big liners and run
gambling houses in the mining towns
Of the West and south Of the border.
He liked his comforts and spent a
lot Of money to get them. He did
what he wanted when he wanted but
he had a strong moral code and played