AMERICA’S ENTRY INTO THE 20TH CENTURY DOESN’T MAKE THINGS BETTER FOR OUR VETERANS
by Tom Pastore, Vietnam Veteran, ©2014
(Jun. 18, 2014) — The casual disregard for Veterans returning home from the Civil War made Veterans aware of the need to organize. One of the first Veterans’ groups was called “The Grand Army of the Republic.” This show of unity still didn’t discourage government disrespect and abuse, as was revealed after the trauma of World War I. Considering that 4.7 million Americans served in an extremely brutal war, the government should have been better prepared to welcome these men back home.
Though the government recognized the need to create an agency to address Veterans’ problems, they could never seem to avoid the self-serving greed of those they hired to represent our good Veterans. The new agency that was created was called the “Veterans Bureau.” The first director was Col. Charles R. Forbes, an acquaintance of Warren Harding. It was later revealed that Forbes entered into corrupt arrangements with a number of contractors, particularly with those involved in the operation of hospitals, and sold government property at a fraction of its value.
As the investigation began, Charles F. Cramer, an attorney for the bureau, committed suicide, which brought increased attention to the agency. In 1923, Forbes resigned his position and fled to Europe. A Senate investigation in 1924 found that Forbes had looted more than $200 million from the government. He was subsequently indicted for bribery and corruption, and was brought back for trial in 1925. He was convicted, fined $10,000 and sentenced to two years in Leavenworth…TWO YEARS, That’s all? He stole $200 million (that might be like $1 billion today) which could have served Veterans in the form of health care, shelter, and needed food, and Col. Forbes got only two years. This begs the question: Who else in the ranks of government were “unindicted co-conspirators” in this theft? What “deal” was made to keep Forbes silent by giving him such a minimum sentence? Once again, Veterans were abused by the government and the government remains “free”!!
World War I Veterans were to be abused further by this government of false representation. In March 1932, World War I Veterans who had come back to a nation of poverty and, while struggling to avoid becoming homeless, had to endure a collapsing economy and a crashing Stock Market, went to Washington, D.C. to plead for the Combat Bonus promised but never given by a U.S. government that used legislative trickery to delay giving them the needed money. At one point there were upwards of 40,000 Veterans and their families camped out in D.C. They are remembered in history as “The Bonus Marchers”….. no jobs, no food, and no respect by an arrogant “Aristocratic” government that publicly chose to disregard those who had placed their lives and future in the hands of a deceitful leadership. Though many camped-out Veterans were eventually persuaded to go back home, they left after being paid a pittance of “traveling money” (not the money owed them). At least 2,000-4,000 Veterans and their families remained, and despite their pleas for relief, they were evicted from the D.C. property in the darkness of night by the very U.S. Army in which they had recently served. Their “Tent City” and huts were destroyed and burned, they were tear-gassed, and with rifles bayonetted, they were physically forced from the properties by 600 troops, tanks, and cavalry. Over 100 casualties were reported that night along with two men who were killed and, reports state, at least one child. Americans were injured and killed by other Americans merely because their hunger and desperate need to survive were ignored by a “Frankenstein” (U.S. government monster) which had only false promises to give them, an abusive government initially and innocently created by the people, for the people, of a new country, merely seeking constitutional freedoms. All history notes that the Veterans remained peaceful and civil during the entire protest. There was no need for the violence of this misdirected government!! By the way, it was six years later that the government saw its way to give these starving Veterans their deserved bonus!
**It should be noted that this disgusting “attack” against the World War I Veterans was led by General Douglas MacArthur and another Officer named Eisenhower, an Eisenhower who would eventually become President and pave the way for the Vietnam War.
Why do these good Soldiers keep fighting for us?? We don’t deserve them.
World War II
There is a general consensus that this era of War Veterans received more benefits then their fathers and grandfathers before them. America welcomed them home in a fashion hardly seen before, with numerous parades and events. Even the concept of affordable housing, such as the creation of Levittown, was originated for the home-coming Veteran. Undoubtedly, this was good for our Veterans, but I suspect this was due, in part, to an atmosphere created by the facts that Americans at home had to sacrifice also and work on behalf of the War effort. They had a small understanding of what the soldiers were going through and understood some of the sacrifices involved, because they also had to sacrifice. Food rationing, fuel rationing, scrap metal drives, farm equipment rationing, along with other prohibitions of products purchased brought the war a little closer to home. The prohibitions and sacrifices gave awareness to the American citizens of what is required during war. There was a definitive connection between soldier and the citizen. Unfortunately, beneath this truth is the revealing fact that the government was not as dedicated to the soldiers as were the citizens. History shows that, once again, the government was not as ready nor able to treat the Veterans coming home.
In 1946, it was reported that the V.A. had beds for only 82,000 patients throughout the country, and though they were building more hospitals, that would add only 12,000 beds, which did not even come close to the hundreds of thousands of Veterans needing treatment. World War II also brought us into the Atomic era. Veterans were presenting illnesses not yet seen or understood.
Unbeknownst to many Americans, we were testing the effects of radiation on humans and using our military troops as “guinea pigs.” **Many young Veterans ended up suffering from a number of radiation-connected diseases but were not covered under the rules of the V.A. These illnesses originated in part due to Veterans’ medical claims of having been exposed to radiation during nuclear testing of devices that eventually would be used to bomb Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Testing continued for years after. Approximately 210,000 service members took part in atmospheric nuclear tests between 1945 and 1962 in the United States, the Pacific and the Atlantic. It wasn’t until 1988 that all radiation-related sicknesses were recognized under a new Veterans Compensation Act in which they all were able to get long overdue, V.A.-covered treatment, 45 years later!! How shameful!!
Testing and Medical deception continues on our Veterans of World War II
1942–The Chemical Warfare Service begins: Mustard gas and Lewisite experiments on 4,000 members of the U.S. military. Many “volunteers” believed they were testing a variety of different “summer uniforms” for the Military. They felt deceived and abused by a government they thought was their friend and partner in the fight against Germany and Japan.
1942-1945–A despicable Japanese doctor by the name of Dr. Shiro Ishii begins “field tests” of germ warfare and vivisection experiments on thousands of POW’s. Some of these “test subjects” were American Prisoners of War. These prisoners were called “maruta”(“logs”) by the Japanese. After succumbing to induced/injected (by the Japanese) diseases — including bubonic plague, cholera, anthrax — the prisoners were usually dissected open while still alive, for examination. In attempts to conceal these atrocities, their bodies were then cremated within the compound. Tens of thousands died. These atrocities were committed by some of Japan’s most distinguished doctors recruited by Dr. Ishii….. What was the U.S. government’s response to these vile, primitive acts on Americans and others?????? ***Our United States Government agreed not to prosecute the Japanese after the war for these disgusting atrocities in exchange for Japan’s scientific data on germ warfare. In other words, when it comes to human torture and sacrifice, even of American POW’S, the ends justify the means as far as the U.S. government is concerned.
***In 1995, the U.S. government admitted that it had offered Japanese war criminals and scientists who had performed human medical experiments salaries, money and immunity from prosecution in exchange for data on biological warfare research. How could anyone trust anything this government thinks, says and does, after knowing this????…….It has been stated in history that, once again, General MacArthur led this dishonorable compromise/deal-making with Japan…Disgraceful.
1944–As part of the “Manhattan Project”(creation of the Atomic Bomb), researchers injected 4.7 micrograms of plutonium into soldiers at the Oak Ridge facility.
1945–President Harry Truman accepts the resignation of VA Administrator Frank Hines after a series of news reports detailing shoddy care in VA-run hospitals, according to a 2010 history produced by the Independent Institute.
1946–It has been reported that researchers were using patients right out of the V.A. hospital for a variety of testing and experiments. In order to allay suspicions, the order is given to change the word “experiments” to “investigations” or “observations” whenever reporting a medical study performed in one of the nation’s veterans’ hospitals.
1946–The American Legion leads the charge seeking the ouster of VA Administrator Gen. Omar Bradley, citing an ongoing lack of facilities, troubles faced by hundreds of thousands of veterans in getting services and a proposal to limit access to services for some combat veterans, according to the 2010 history.
1947–A commission on reforming government uncovers enormous waste, duplication and inadequate care in the VA system and calls for wholesale changes in the agency’s structure.
1945-1953–**One of the saddest and most disrespectful performances on our American Veterans by an uncaring and Hitler-style U.S. government was the performance of lobotomies on at least 2,000 of our World War II Veterans. No one really knows how many more of these procedures actually occurred, since there appear to be gaps in the medical files.
**Lobotomy: A surgical procedure in which nerve pathways in a lobe or lobes of the brain are severed from those in other areas. Introduced in 1935 by António Egas Moniz and Almeida Lima, it came to be used to help grossly disturbed patients. Favored for patients who did not respond to shock therapy, it did reduce agitation but often caused increased apathy and passivity, inability to concentrate, and decreased emotional response. It was widely performed until 1956, when drugs that were more effective in calming patients became available. Lobotomies are no longer performed; however, psychosurgery, the surgical removal of specific regions of the brain, is occasionally used to treat patients whose symptoms have resisted all other treatments.
In 1945, the V.A. hospital and our government, not understanding (still) the trauma of combat, took Veteran soldiers who came home with depression, “psychotic behavior,” schizophrenia, and other combat-related trauma and decided to drill into their heads and neuter parts of their brain by severing connections between the pre-frontal area and the rest of the brain. This was not necessarily done with their consent. This was, in theory, a “medical procedure” that was suggested to make one “more passive.” The medical reports eventually uncovered showed that lobotomies resulted in adults ending up as “overgrown children.” Unable to now take care of themselves, they were subjected to seizures, amnesia, motor-function loss, and even death. This was the way the U.S. government showed gratitude to those who put their lives on the line. They “honored” their service by making them medical “zombies” until death brought them the peace they couldn’t find from their government or their Commander-in-Chief.
This makes me so SICK, that I have no more comment to make on this tragedy.