Growing up I remember homeless people holding signs stating they were Vietnam War vets, and we have popular characters like Lieutenant Dan (let's count SRO's as borderline-homelessness). Did WWII vets face the same problems? Is the homeless Vietnam Vet just exaggerated?
Yes.
The soldiers faced PTSD that resulted in similar conditions upon their return.
A good representation of this is the movie "The Best Years of Our Lives." It won the best picture in 1947.
quoted text "WWII differed from previous wars in its use of bigger field weapons and bombs, which placed soldiers at greater risk (PBS, 2003). Additionally, soldiers were placed into smaller combat groups, which reduced the social interaction which may have been a protective factor for psychological afflictions (Marlowe, 2000). Indeed, the war took a tremendous psychological toll on soldiers, despite the extensive use of psychiatric screening for selection (Marlowe, 2000). Medical personnel were puzzled that although over one million soldiers were screened out for psychological reasons, there continued to be staggering numbers of psychiatric casualties in war. In fact, even soldiers who had fought bravely on previous tours were being affected (Scott, 1990).
quoted text Overall, 25% of casualties were caused by war trauma, and this rate was even higher– 50%– for soldiers engaged in long, intense fighting (PBS, 2003). In fact, so many soldiers were affected that psychiatrists were confronted with the reality that psychological weakness had little to do with subsequent distress in combat. Thus, terminology changed from “combat neurosis” to “combat exhaustion,” or “battle fatigue” (Bentley, 2005). Reflecting the consensus that all soldiers were vulnerable to battle fatigue due to their environments, the U.S. Army adopted the official slogan, “Every man has his breaking point” (Magee, 2006)."
References:
Bentley, S. (2005). Short history of PTSD: From Thermopylae to Hue soldiers have always had a disturbing reaction to war. Vietnam Veterans of America: The Veteran. Retrieved from http://www.vva.org/archive/TheVeteran/2005_03/feature_HistoryPTSD.htm
Magee, D. (2006, May 15). PTSD: Only the name has changed. WCF Courier. Retrieved from http://wcfcourier.com/news/metro/ptsd-only-the-name-has-changed/article_394eabda-6a67-5b42-ab5b-2643c4158f11.html
Marlowe, D. H. (2000). Psychological and psychosocial consequences of combat and deployment with special emphasis on the Gulf War. Retrieved from http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/marlowe_paper/
PBS (2003). The perilous fight: America’s WWII in color. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/psychology/
Scott, W. J. (1990). PTSD in DSM-III: A case in the politics of diagnosis and disease. Social Problems, 37(3), 294-310. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/800744?seq=3
Is the homeless Vietnam Vet just exaggerated?
Stolen Valor by BG Burkett claims that it is so, his book points out the frauds acting as vietnam vets but might not be that accurate when it comes to some issues like PTSD.