The True Cost of World War II to My Family

This obituary published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 19, 2005 does not mention PTSD in connection with my father, but reading between the lines demonstrates the struggles he had adapting to life after the war.

Arthur B. "Dutch" Schultz, 82, an 82d Airborne Division paratrooper portrayed in the 1962 epic about D-Day, The Longest Day, and whose battle experiences were documented in several major World War II history books, died of pulmonary disease Sunday at home in Helendale, Calif.
The former Frankford and Bucks County resident was raised in Detroit, where he graduated in 1940 from St. Philip Neri High School. After two years in New Mexico with the Civilian Conservation Corps, Mr. Schultz itched for action: He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and volunteered to be a paratrooper.
He earned the Bronze Star in 1944 for heroics in the Normandy campaign and two Purple Hearts for combat in France and the Battle of the Bulge.
After being discharged in 1945, Mr. Schultz married Madeline Russo. The couple raised two daughters in Frankford; the marriage ended in divorce in 1957.
Historian Cornelius Ryan interviewed Mr. Schultz for the book The Longest Day, which was published in 1959. Subsequently, Mr. Schultz's battle experiences were in two more of Ryan's books, A Bridge Too Far and The Last Battle; three books by historian Stephen E. Ambrose: Citizen Soldiers, The Victors and D-Day; and works by other authors.
Mr. Schultz did research for Ambrose and director Steven Spielberg for the 1998 movie Saving Private Ryan.
He reenlisted in the Army in 1947 and was a Counterintelligence Corps agent in Austria until being discharged in 1950. He returned to Frankford and worked as a detective in a Center City department store for two years. He rejoined the Army in 1952 and worked in counterintelligence at the Frankford Arsenal until being discharged for a third time in 1957.
Mr. Schultz began battling alcoholism shortly after World War II and was treated during the late 1950s at the former St. Luke's Children's Medical Center in North Philadelphia.
He and a partner founded a Center City private-detective agency in 1960. Mr. Schultz left the business in 1962 to work for a year as an investigator for a special prosecutor in a grand-jury probe of City Hall.
Again plagued by drinking problems, Mr. Schultz met and married Ardelle Poletti in 1963, who was a fellow patient in an alcohol rehabilitation center in Wawa, Pa. He joined Alcoholics Anonymous in 1964 and was sober for the rest of his life, said his daughter, Carol Vento.
During the rocky marriage to his second wife, Mr. Schultz moved to San Diego, where he had family. He earned a bachelor's degree from California Western University in 1967. He returned to the Philadelphia area in 1967 and earned a master's degree in psychology from Temple University in 1970.
Mr. Schultz was director of the former Bucks County-based rehabilitation program Today Inc. from 1970 to 1973. His wife committed suicide in 1974.
Mr. Schultz moved back to California in 1973 and married Gail Eastburn two years later.
In addition to his wife, daughter and first wife, Mr. Schultz is survived by a granddaughter; two sisters; and a brother. Another daughter, Rosemary, died in 1973.

“The past is never dead. It's not even past”. – William Faulkner

Today, I received a publication from my French friend, Jean-Michel, commemorating the 65th anniversary of D-Day. Although the iconic Frank Capa images of Allied troops landing on the beaches will always symbolize the chaos and terror of that day to me, this magazine contained photographs I had never seen. One of the pictures shows young soldiers huddled over a downed buddy, pressing on his back, his leg, his hand, with what are surely looks of disbelief and horror on their faces. When I looked at the photo, my eye moved to the beach on which these men seemed to be trying to hold their fallen friend together. The beach was covered with stones.

When I visited the Omaha Beach several years ago, I recall my disbelief at the endless stretch of deserted sandy beach and the disconnect at what I knew had occurred there, where I stood. I was humbled by the question of how did they possibly get up the beach since there was absolutely nothing to protect them. As if he were reading my thoughts, my friend Jean Michel had quietly said to me; “at that time, the beaches were covered with pebbles, so when they landed they were able, sometimes, to dig in and find some cover.” Somehow, the thought of rocks on the beach allowed me to feel that something helped them across the beach, even if wasn’t really true.

So, 65 years ago today my father was aboard a ship that would depart from England and head towards the beaches of Normandy. He landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day +1 to the residual of what the fighting of the previous day, D-Day, had left behind. When Saving Private Ryan was released I had asked him to go to see the movie with me and he resisted. When I pushed a little more to get him to accompany me, he looked away and said “I’ve already seen it once, I don’t need too see it again”.

From the beginning of time men have gone to war, leaving country and family behind. And yet, of so many wars, this one still seems so immediate and so much a part of my psyche, even though it was fought before I was born. We are born, grow up, live our lives, and even now, grow old, within the shadow of this war that ended before our own lives began.

I commemorate and honor the troops who landed at Normandy, Omaha, Utah, Juno, Gold, Sword and all of the men and women who fought and served in this war, so distant and so present. I can only wish that they could know that their achievements and sacrifices are as celebrated and important today as they were 65 years ago. Thank you, Dad.

Barack Obama, His Grandfather and World War II

On the eve of the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, this Washington Post article summarizes the President's World War II heritage, primarily outlining the wartime experiences of his maternal grandfather who was Obama's father figure during his childhood and adolesence. Two of his great-uncles also served in World War II.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/01/AR2009060100163_5.html