Post War Depression

One of my worst times of all, was when I came out of the army. I didn't have a wife interested in me or a girlfriend at home. Come home to mum and dad. I got quite depressed. I missed my mates. God I missed them. What am I to do, you know, I'm 27? That was the worst thing, not the war. After the war for a while anyway. I have a couple of poems in my book, you'll read them, that I wrote.

Interviewer: Can you expand that . . . on that for me? Help me understand that. Through all those years and all those horrible things with your mates...

Yeah...

Interviewer: And then almost in an instant, you're separated from them.

That's right.

Interviewer: Help me understand that. What you go through.

It's as bad as quite a lot of things, I guess. I mean don't forget, you've been years with guys, looking at death up around every corner and suddenly you're . . . it's all over. You can't believe it. You thought you'd be jumping for joy. Well, I'm sure that it would be, not completely different, but certainly somewhat different, for a man who's got a couple of kids at home and a dear sweet wife. But I . . . it was a long time before I got settled down at all. I got over it eventually, that's for sure.