The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1945-02-02
Your Health
Medical Problems
to be Most Serious
For Next Ten Years

All AaiNAaaAaH n AHAfaH - HHH o ""hHT AsAH -
THE MOST important problem
for the American people. for the
next ten years at least, is essen
TALLY a medical one, II is the ad-
justment Of members Of the armed
forces TO normal American life.
Even for the person who has not
been wounded, or even had any
DR.. Clendening will answer
questions Of general interest
only, and then only through
his column.
nervoGs shock or fatigue from
combat, the adjustment is going
TO be very difficult and gradual in
the majority Of instances.
A fellow who has been away
from every normal home influence,
very much on his own much Of the
time, subject to exact discipline the
rest Of the time, occasionally under
gunfre. and in q strange country,
is going 70 have quite a time set
ting in a small town in America
and quietly going to work every
morning In a hardware store.
Problems Of Adjustment
These problems Of adjustment
are wisely considered by DR..
George X. Pratt, Psychiatric Ex-
Rminer, U. s. Armed Forces, New
Haven, Conn, in a recently pub
lished book Soldier To Civilian"
published by Whittlesley House
New York;.
With the frankly mental disease
cases Of returned men l will not
deal here. There are many men in
Quoted into service who are found
to be mentally deficient, or others,
who, under the strain of war con-
ditions, develop personality dis
orders and euroses-what used to
be called shell shock, now perhaps
designated combat fatigue, which
sometimes cures itself in q few
days, sometimes remains more or
less permanently.
Those must be dealt with
through the regular medical re-
habilitation methods of the Army
and Navy.
A Case History
What interests me more is such
a case as that recited by DR.. Pratt
of a man, Lieutenant Fred W. He
lived before the war in a small
Ohio town, had graduated from
High School, gone to work in a
local plant and was about twenty
years old when the war came
along.
He entered officer training camp
for the Air Force, got his wings,
and married n girl he had been
going with for about a year. She
was an average small town girl,
and left alone they would have de-
veloped into an average small
town couple - perfectly happy
with limited interests.
But Fred shipped abroad, met
in ENGLAND groups Of people who
discussed books, music and inter-
national affairs with familiarity
which opened new vistas to him.
He was wounded and sent home,
and went back to his old job in the
factory. But before long he was
deeply dissatisfied. He missed the
glamour Of flying. He made COM
pArisons between the small town
people who used TO be his friends
and the people he had met abroad.
He had met a number Of attractive
women abroad and his wife Mar
tina didn't measure up to them.
Fortunately Martha was a SEN
sible girl who found that some
thing was the matter with Fred,
and talked 1t all out with him so
that he got adjusted TO normal
American life.
But there are going to be thou
sands of boys who will not have
such good wives and for whom the
adjustment will not be made.
For these men land women
too. because the WACs and the
WAVES, ETC., have had a taste Of
q new life) it is most impsstant
that every city and village in our
land have some sort Of community
services for returnees, to guide
and coordinate and adjust their
viewpoints after their return and
discharge. Such services are now
being planned by the National
Committee on Service to Veterans
and the National Social Work
Council. II behooves every Ameri-
can community 10 get in touch
with them.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
V. WHAT should be the
care Of bunions? have been wear
ing special shoes walk eleven
blocks TO and from work a day. Is
this harmful? Is surgery indi-
Gated?
Answer: Good shoes and pro-
tective pads help bunions in the
early stage and tend to prevent
complications Walking certainly
does bunions no good. Surgery is
indicated IN severe forms. Only
the surgeon can decide when.
ATLANTA -AP- Roth branch