EFFECT OF WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 290, 7 December 1944, Page 2

EFFECT OF WAR

ON RETURNED MEN PLEA FOR UNDERSTANDING! A plea for understanding and syra. pathy in relation to the returned serviceman was made by Dr. ty, Reeve, medical officer at the Rotorua Services Convalescent Hospital, when he addressed a meeting under the auspices of the Junior Chamber of Commerce in the Town Hall last evening. Dr. Reeve spoke on the inevitable effects of war on returned servicemen, and addressed his remarks particularly to women There was a large attendance pr& sided over by the Mayor, Mr. Allum At the outset of his address, Br' Reeve said that he was not going to talk about war neurosis. Neurosis was not inevitable in every man who had been to the war, but one could say nearly every man who had had a period of service overseas was affected by that service to a greater or lesser degree, and certain changes were produced in him.

When a man joined the fighting forces he was a civilian, said the speaker, and it became the business of the Army to make him a soldier The longer he was trained the more he became a soldier. Then, when he returned home and took off hU uniform and donned civilian clothes he did not become a civilian immediately. The reverse process to that of making him a soldier had to be undergone, anc , , in many cases, it took a long time to make him into a civilian again. Need For Fortitude When the serviceman returned home he had undergone an inevitable change, said the speaker and it was necessary that this should be recoenised by his family. The task of enabling returned men to adjust themselves to civilian life fell on the women who must accept with head and heart the fact of change in the men as the result of tiieir war experiences. If they would not do so, and blamed the men and became impatient with them, there would be broken hearts, broken homes, ill. feeling, separation and bitterness The women must show all the tact patience, forbearance and fortitude they could muster. Dr. Jceeve also appealed to businessmen for patience with returned men who were guilty of shortcomings in connection with their work He suggested that they should talk to such men with understanding make friends of them and put it to them that it was a matter of fair , play that they should do the best for their employer. "If you put the grounds of fair play to a New Zealander, he won't let you down" declared the speaker amid applause A vote of thanks to Dr. Reeve for his informative address was proposed by Dr. Alice Bush and carried by acclamation.