Following the unconditional surrender of Germany on VE Day and the unconditional surrender of Japan three months later on VJ Day, spontaneous celebrations swept across the US with tinker tape parades, dancing and singing. In Times Square, an estimated two million people gathered to celebrate. But not every veteran participated or received the warm welcome they expected upon returning home. By the time Henry Heller was finally sent home from Germany, there were no hugs or parades. Suffering from a number of maladies, Heller struggled for years to get the help he needed from the VA. Bud Olson and Tom Carr both found the transition to civilian life difficult. The skills they had learned as fighting men in WW 2 didn’t open any doors in the domestic civilian job market. Having lost so many of their buddies in the war, many veterans were in no mood to celebrate. Arnold “Dutch Nagel, Richard Mandich, Lewis J. Gould, Michael Luciano, and Edward Heinle seemed haunted by the friends they left behind. WW II forever changed veterans. Some wore their scars on the outside and accepted them as challenges to overcome, such as Paul Leimkueler, who didn’t let losing a leg stop him from becoming a downhill US Ski Hall of Famer. It was the scars on the inside, the post traumatic stress, that were harder to overcome. Veterans like Robert Erhardt, Richard Morgan, Robert Bowen and Donald Chase dealt with the nightmares the rest of their lives. If they lived long enough, WW 2 veterans saw wars come again, though thankfully not on the scale of WW II. Some reenlisted to serve, while others saw their children serve such as Duane Stevens. Though proud of their service, many WW II veterans came out of WW 2 hating all war and regarded it as an abomination to be avoided whenever possible. Dennis Olson, Lloyd Huggins, Arthur Jackson, David Saltman, Charles Wysocki and Donald Chase wanted to make sure no one glorified war and saw it for what it was: HELL. Those stories and more in Episode 20 When Johnny Came Marching Home: Transitions and Remembrance.

Henry Heller

Bud Olson

Tom Carr

Arnold "Dutch" Nagel

Lewis J. Gould

Robert Erhardt

Richard V. Morgan

Robert Bowen

Stan Davis

Donald Chase

Paul Leimkuehler

Dennis Olson

Lloyd Huggins

Arthur Jackson

David Saltman

Charles Wysocki