Doesn't this article sound like the same issue that 'Nam vets had (have)?

Hartwick Alumnus Decries Lack of Understanding'

May 29, 1945 - Oneonta Star - Oneonta, NY

Lt. Hemens, Now in Germany; Gives Graphic Outline of GI Views on Vital Readjustment Problem Facing Vets

'Most of Us Have Found God,' Says Former Oneontan Lt. L. J. Hemens

"From the emphasis placed on readjustment lately, we are prone to think that newspapers, fiction writers, and all others who wield pens for the general public are having a field day with something which, although they do not have an understanding of it, makes a wonderful theme for stories," writes Lt. L. J. Hemens, Hartwick college graduate, who is now serving in Germany.

"I don't like it and I'm sure there are beaucoup other GI's feel the same way."

"Readjustment," continued Lt. Hemens, "is a word that is causing considerable thought and more than a little discussion here in the ETO. As an individual, I can only express my personal opinion, but I'm positive that I feel as do many others on that subject."

Lt. Hemen, attached to Troop E, 106th Cavalry Squadron, with Gen. Patton's Army, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie W. Hemens, Sidney. His wife, Mary (Denny) Hemens, is a resident of Morris. Lt. Hemens was wounded in France July 3, 1944.

"We can't know what people back home think, nor can we know what they expect when we get home," Lt. Hemens wrote. "All we can do is judge from what we read both in newspapers and letters...

"We're the same guys who left you either a long time ago or not so long ago. We still put our pants on one leg at a time ...we still think of good beer, ice cream sodas, automobiles, jobs, coming home at night after a day's work, church on Sunday, and everything else that means home, and especially home in America.

"We won't come home with two heads...we won't carry hand grenades to bed ... we won't dig foxholes in the back yard. We'll speak English... most of us will be easily recognizable to our families and friends...and after a little while we'll slip back into the habit of eating with forks, and having our food on plates in front of us.

"Many of our ideas and ideals will have changed. Constant association with death and seeing it daily in its most horrible forms can't help but make an impression. Living in barns, foxholes, burned-out homes...anywhere that affords a bit of shelter also leaves its mark...but more often than not you will find that it only made us more appreciative of what we left behind and what will be waiting for us when we get home.

"Basically, we'll be the same...most of us a little quieter and less disturbed by petty things we once thought terribly important...but those of us who were good before the war will still be good, and those of us who were bad apples then will no doubt be a headache to the police.

"However, I believe that more bad ones will have changed to assets to society than vice versa, despite some assertions that the war has bred another crime wave like that of the '20s.

"Practically all of us have found God. I'm afraid we're going to find that we know God much better than you at home. We've lived too long, too close to Him to forget...those of us who have been fortunate enough to live.

"We've learned that God doesn't mean going to church on Sunday...paying one 'tater out of ten'...but that it means talking to someone when you're all alone and so terribly scared that you can't lie still...and then having a peace come over you which you know comes from only one source...and while you're still scared, you're no longer afraid, if I may discriminate between the two. We'll never forget...

"We're not at all worried about readjusting ourselves to you and to civilian life. We know that you'll never understand what war means...even those of you who have lost husbands, fathers, and sons...and we're glad you don't know about it. We all wish we knew nothing about it.

"We know that we may dream about some of the things sometimes, and possibly have some little idiosyncrasies we didn't have before, but all we want is for you to go on living with us and loving us and treating us as though we have been away on a vacation.

"We don't want a lot of solicitude...just the normal amount to soothe our masculine vanities...but by the same token we don't want to be regarded as something between a man and a beast...something which may at any time go berserk.

"Laugh with us when something is funny...give us hell when we need it...live with us the way you did before all this mess started...and you'll find that readjustment is mostly a flight of someone's imagination...a good topic for a short story.

"We're the same guys who left you either a long time ago or not so long ago."