While there are a few thousand WW2, plus more Korean and Vietnam War Veterans, None Survive From Any War Prior To WW2.

Most just did what their country asked. They felt honor-bound to a country they believed in and loved. Some did everything imaginable to avoid it. A few moved to neutral countries. Each of those followed what they felt in their hearts was right. I refuse to judge any one of them, but of the men and women who served, I’ve never appreciated them more than I do right now. Sometimes it takes a lot to appreciate what others have gone through for us. In Iraq and Afghanistan they served because they knew it was better to fight them there, not here. They saved lives.
In Vietnam the lines were blurred. After a while nobody was on their side at all. One very underrated movie that most people overlook is “Hamburger Hill”, which was released and got lost between the releases of “Full Metal Jacket” and “Platoon”, both good movies, but none as good at showing the waste and horror of that war, based on a real event. A month after taking that hill, Americans were pulled out and NVA troops just occupied it again. It was so senseless that it still clearly illustrates the stupidity of American command in a war they were never going to win. Yet every president from Harry Truman to Richard Nixon escalated it successively. That group includes Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. Never, since the Civil War, had Americans died so senselessly in such large numbers. The Korean War is America’s longest war to date, lasting from 1950 to present day. It is only under a ceasefire.
World War Two was the last time Americans fought without guilt in an overseas theater. The public was almost completely united in their resolve to help.
Not until the late 1970s did we get the psychiatric term PTSD, or posttraumatic stress disorder. Until that time nobody spoke much about the long-term effects of combat; it was called other things and those who suffered from it were shamed into silence.
Studies of suicide rates, psychiatric ward admissions and unemployment never have done the veteran justice. Homeless veterans still live and die on the streets while we pretend not to see. That they’re just bums and addicts and like it where they are.
What have we done?
Dear God, look at what we have done. From pride to shame to total indifference, look at what we have done.
To all veterans I say, “thank you. I know you hurt. I know your dreams. I know that you did your best and got kicked in the teeth for it. Therefore I also say, I am sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

Best depicted screen role of PTSD. Stallone’s best role.

Thank a veteran. Today. Please.