U. S. Naval Hospital, Shoemaker, California (Photo source: NARA, College Park, MD)
“Originally designated “U. S. Naval Hospital, Pleasanton, California”, this 2000 bed hospital sprung up in a vast area of flat land a few miles east of the Oakland Hills of the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally intended to care for people attached to the nearby Construction Battalion Personnel Depot and a Navy Personnel Center, the hospital had 1,000 beds when it was commissioned 1 October 1943. Less than a year later, it had 2,000 official beds, but was capable of caring for nearly 3,600. Post-war demobilization struck quickly, and the hospital was decommissioned 30 June 1946.”
Post WWII Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment for Combat Veterans…. Quote from this website article by Defense Media Network…
“Commonly used therapies in VA hospitals (i.e., US Naval Hospital Shoemaker) during early post WWII years were shock treatments – insulin and electric. Insulin shock was induced when patients received large doses of insulin over a period of weeks, causing daily comas that supposedly would shock the patient’s system out of mental illness. Electric shock operated on a similar principle of disordering the mind and jolting the veteran out of his emotional distress by electrodes sending electric currents to the brain.”
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My father, Vernon, along with tens of thousands of combat weary veterans came home in 1945, the end of WWII, 70 years ago. Coming home was not always a celebration for many who were injured physically and emotionally. Back then they considered “combat stress or battle fatique” to be as serious as being in a state of complete exhaustion and mental stress that required “recuperation.” Like Dad, most who were considered in bad shape were sent to one of many “phantom” WWII hospitals for weeks of treatment before being allowed to go home or to be visited by loved ones. My mother, Marcella, spoke of this time as a very anxious and worrisome period of excitement for Dad’s return home, but fear about his physical and mental condition. I recall her saying, “we didn’t get to celebrate like others when the war was over.” This was a time long before medical and mental health science could clearly diagnose Post Traumatic Stress (PTS/PTSD) symptoms that lingered long after the war, often for a lifetime. When a WWII veteran was actually diagnosed with a severe psychiatric condition, it was considered a non-service related mental health disorder…pre-existing. Most combat veterans of that time refused to talk about their feelings and concluded it was a problem that would eventually go away. We know differently now, especially following the Vietnam War.
My father finally decided to get help during the 1980’s when PTSD was officially diagnosed as a combat related mental disorder. And the good news…he started to get better over time with medications and psychiatric treatment. It was a more positive time for us as a family and Dad appeared to be on his way to some reasonable peace of mind before he passed away in 1998. Unfortunately, by the time we were adults, most of the severe damage and dysfunction to our family was done. It was not until later in my own life that I was able to reconcile what happened to us as a post WWII military family by researching and writing my book, Reconciliation: A Son’s Story.
Knowing the truth about how war affects the children and families of warriors has given me peace of mind as well. It is now my labor of love to write about recovering from traumatic life events and to help others learn how to begin the lifelong process of healing. We discovered as a post WWII family, it is never too late to start the journey of healing… All the bottled up emotional pain is pure agony until we started to talk about the symptoms and to seek appropriate alternative treatment strategies… Healing remains a work in progress for most who suffer from a traumatic life event…
Now, 70 years after the end of WWII, we honor the “Greatest Generation” by helping and supporting veterans of all wars who suffer from combat trauma… As Americans and human beings we are finally getting past the stigma and denial connected with mental health…but we have a long way to go…
Steve Sparks, Author, Reconciliation: A Son’s Story and My Journey of Healing in Life After Trauma, Part 1… Click highlighted text for my author page…
