Evening star., 1944-11-19
Sketch by Newman sudduth.

1e air surgeon, "and that boy
Sketch by Newman sudduth
with the gunner still inside. Before
the raid was over, the bombardier saw
10 American planes crash and very few
parachutes open. His own plane was
so badly damaged that it groundelooped
on landing
That night. he broke down in the
barracks while the clothes of his miss
ing roommates were being packed w.
1t was also that night that he had
his first battle dreams. He went on
two raids after that but he had reached
his breaking point.
When Nerves Go Bad
Some of the men, Gen. Grant ex-
planned, had reached the end point
at their first or second mission or
even before they got into combat One
man with 2,3o0 hours of commercial
flying to his credit began to show
symptoms of bad nerves after he saw
on his first mission. Another was all
right until he heard his wife was going
to have a baby. Then he suddenly
realized the chances he had been
taking Another, navigator. got lost
once in fog over England on train
ing mission. Air-rescue Spitfires led
the plane to safety but from that mo-
n1ent an tho payiOof tor haoop tn faar he
would make some mistake that would
cost the lives of the crew.
The flight surgeon. Gen. Grant ex-
planned, is the family doctor of the
airmen. It's up to him to see that
the load is lifted Oh a mans back
before it gets too heavy. He may
recommend that the man be given a
rest when he's completed a given num-
ber of missions or after some par
ticularly horrible experience. Or he
may suggest that the flyer be taken
OF combat missions and assigned to
cargo flying or operational duty ut
the base-jobs where he can be useful.
Or he may recommend sending the
flyer back to an AAF convalescent
the time to get over those symptoms
of carrying too heavy a pack too long
Time to Recover
What the flight surgeon recommends
for the men still in the service, Gen
Grant is asking employers, friends and
relatives. to give the men who have
left the service-time to recover, and q
useful job.
1T isn't just that mans feelings are
hurt when people look at him with sus-
picion,' Gen. Grant explained. It's
that if he's given the opportunity to be
a working person with a purpose in life,
hes going to get we'll.
There's more to the community's re-
sponsibility than being tolerant and un-
derstanding. It's the conmunity's re-
sponsibility to help make these men
we'll"
But understanding helps, he admitted.
There's No Such Thing
First of ALL" he said, "the public has
got to realize there's no such thing as a
psychoneurotic man. Saying a man Is
psychoneurotic is just as ridiculous as
describing all OF man S wants and his
feelings and his ideas by saying he's
mechanic.
There are psychoneurotic symptoms
in everybody. Whenever you dislike
something or somebody without reason,
whenever you fly off the handle at little
things or get unreasonably irritated or
feel upset at your stomach when you're
worried about something, you're display
ing 'psychoneurotic symptoms
And what are these symptoms that
we notice in man who's suffering from
operational fatigue or a bad case of
not fitting into the Army routine?
They're no more mysterious than the
symptoms you notice about yourself
when you just miss being hit by car
Your heart pounds faster. Your hands
shake. You break out in a cold sweat
You may dream that night about the
car that just missed you. These men
show the same symptoms-only their
symptoms are more severe because
they've been up against something q
lot rougher than being Just missed by
a car"
Give and Take
Gen. Grant advised that in spite Of
whatever symptoms a man may show,
he should be treated like a well person
"a social give-and-take relationship is
what will help him."
OF course, If you happen to be with
him In . restaurant where the man at
the next table Is obviously getting his
goat and he's liable to fly of the handle,
Gen. Grant suggested. it might be
good idea to leave.
There may be OCCASIONS" he added,
when he will feel sick at the stomach
or be unable to sleep or to get inter.
ested in things. At the same time, the
less you deal with his symptoms and
the more you consider all the rest Of
him, the better it Is for him"
Just remember" he warned, that An
unreasoning prejudice is q psychoneu-
rotic symptom. The employers and
neighbors who are prejudiced ssainst
thesh discharged men are a. 'psycho&i
neujDtic As the men they Judge"