Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Veterans return from WW1

World War One ended with a grand lost many soldiers and the war was long and hard to watch and face. But how did the soldiers end up? What happens to the soldiers who came back with no job and came home to nothing only knowing their experience of the fight especially with soldiers who were injured and suffered through a lot. How did they make a living and especially with the uprising and down shrinking of the economy with riches and wealth of roaring 20s and going through the downslide of poverty and dispair of the Great Depression
Veterans Return:
Once the war ended it took very long for the soldiers to even return back home they were exhausted and traumatized because all the deaths they experienced the trip back to America would almost take up to a year making a return in the year of 1919. Enduring the harsh trip back seemed to take forever but on that ship ride, soldiers were persuaded and further educated learning more about studies in government and in trade. But there was one problem as said in an article "Returning Soldiers, "Many soldiers found it difficult to return to civilian life. More than 330,000 men had seen overseas service; about half of those eligible to fight had enlisted: 'For some men, the hardest adjustments were those of the mind. In the cities there was an upsurge of violence and drunkenness in 1919 [...] Men [...] were trying to forget, to blot out the gruesome sights and the waste of a horrible past.'" With the coming back of soldiers many were seen as people, saviors who open the doors to "making the world safe for democracy" they were treated with great respect as we still do treat them today. When it came to disabled veterans they were seen with our pity and charitable kindness because people saw them as ones who were able to bring in good times. With the returning also came many privlages, I mean after all the veterans risked their lives they left the families to go fight for the country and fight for what was best for the nation's why should the nation be thankful for them as well. With the loss of about 60,000 of the country’s young men and three times that number had suffered a significant injury. There was a great argument that arose that questions what to do to help the soldiers coming back in order to help them adjust to society once again. And so on June of the year 1916, the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (now the Returned and Services League or RSL)  emerged and was created to help one's fellow veteran. The RSL was made "defended the rights of those who served and advocated on behalf of soldiers who had problems returning into society." Soldiers were also awarded the "Soldier Settlement Scheme, in which veterans were given small grants of agricultural land. Almost 12,000 soldiers took advantage of the scheme. It was a success for some farmers but many were frustrated by the size and quality of the land they had been allocated and the inadequacy of the loans available to improve their farms." This meant that even though the soldiers came home to new things that will help them adjust to normal life there was still a sense of loss though the attempts were knowledge soldiers still seemed to criticize the way things were done and how they expect more. Maybe it was just the way they though thinking you had to fight for your beliefs that caused this criticism but either way their minds were locked in war and it was a struggle to get them back to the new reality. 
Roaring 20s 
With the increase of riches and many advances in technologies. Veterans seemed to have a taste of this as well with the relating in film productions among veterans there seemed to increase in movies and film stories featuring their experiences in war and showing the overwhelming pain and suffering the soldiers endured during the war. There were also many stories showing their life stories and experience people went threw. Also, their methods in rehabilitation had improved with the medication and things like therapy, physical and occupational emerged being used for people who served in war and also others. There were new techniques in rehabilitation being used but these were known more to be limited and only for few. There was also something the came as an extra to being a war veteran, passed soldiers were given a bonus in "working
$1.25 for each day served overseas, $1.00 for each day served in the States. The catch was that payment would not be made until 1945." This hoped as a good investment because they were gonna get paid for something they know how to do and done before. But the downside of this was that there was the beginning of isolation between veterans and the common folk there was a sense of disappointment resulting from the discovery that something was not as good as one believed it to be. People started to alienate Veterans because they started to realize that even though they fought for their country they still killed many people and fought against many other humans who probably were just like themselves in fear for their life.
Great depression: 
Veterans during the Great Depression were most known for their Bonus Army because they're bonuses they were paid by Congress like said before, well they wanted that money instantly because of the poverty and unemployment that were among most of the veterans they were fighting for their right that they were given to have this money they were supposedly promised. This was a harsh time for them, being neglected more than ever and now even by the govenrment. People still saw veterans as people who fought for the peace and well respected but also people who took lives of many others. 
Even though many veterans suffered through a lot of the war there fight for peace still continued even with returning back home to America there were many things that were still in the making and they were caught in the crossfire of the creation. Veterans for WW1 today are all lastly passed away sadly living up strongly up to 110 year at most. But left a legacy that people would sooner build up and construct to be greater and leave Veterans whofought for the country not forgottened. 

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