1918-1920, labour corps, Cologne, Germany

[zak]

Many thanks for the links Scrim, they make fascinating reading and I enjoyed the discussion of the pictures.

You have now got me thinking that if he was part of the British Army of Occupation then this may not be the part of his service record that triggered the mental health problems. I am now wondering if his troubles started when he was in the West Riding Regiment.

Before the war he was a hospital porter, so maybe he was something to do with the field hospitals, or even worse a stretcher bearer, and it was what he encountered that started the mental illness. But if this was the case then why didn't they send him home once the war finished?

There are so many unanswered questions and it is so difficult to find out information about ordinary soldiers.

[scrimnet]

Many thanks for the links Scrim, they make fascinating reading and I enjoyed the discussion of the pictures.

You have now got me thinking that if he was part of the British Army of Occupation then this may not be the part of his service record that triggered the mental health problems. I am now wondering if his troubles started when he was in the West Riding Regiment.

Before the war he was a hospital porter, so maybe he was something to do with the field hospitals, or even worse a stretcher bearer, and it was what he encountered that started the mental illness. But if this was the case then why didn't they send him home once the war finished?

There are so many unanswered questions and it is so difficult to find out information about ordinary soldiers.

In my experience in this, it may have been something quite small that set him off...

A letter, a telling off for dirty boots...Or just seeing the state of desperation that the Hun were in at the end of the war...Literally starving...

It is indeed the accumulation of experiences that cause a "blue funk"

Actually group therapy was started by the British Army during WW2...Lessons had  been learned by then...

The Service Patient after the war was quite well looked after - considering - and he always had the company of others who had been through the same...A sort of early group therapy and even TRiM!