Aging and Trauma: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Korean War Veterans

Trauma and Characteristic Stresses of the War

There were many factors that made the Korean War experience different from previous wars, particularly World War II. For example, in contrast to the strong public support during and after World War II, public support for the Korean War in the US was low, particularly during its final year.²³ In public opinion polls from October 1952 through April 1953, only 23% to 39% reported feeling that the war was worth fighting.²³ A retrospective 1985 survey also found that 70% of World War II veterans, but only 33% of Korean War veterans reported feeling appreciated by the US public on their return from the war.²⁴

Those fighting in the initial months of the war faced a particularly grim situation. According to LTC Philip Smith, who served as Division Psychiatrist on the Masan Front (Pusan Perimeter) during August and September of 1950, “Fighting was almost continuous and all available troops were on the fighting front… For the most part these soldiers were soft from occupation duty, many had not received adequate combat basic training, no refresher combat training in Korea had as yet been instituted,” he reported.⁷ “The extremes of climate coupled with the generally rugged mountainous terrain in Korea were physical factors of importance…These men were psychologically unprepared for the horrors and isolation of war.” LTC Smith noted that the change in status from civilian or occupation life to the marked deprivation of the war in Korea had been “too abrupt to allow as yet for a reasonable adjustment to the new setting” and that as a result “the highest rate of wounded and neuropsychiatric casualties in the Korean campaign resulted.”⁷

Even after this initial period, the nature of the shifting war, the challenging terrain, the high military casualty rate, and the high rate of civilian casualties and displacement continued throughout the war. The climate was also harsh; Korean War veterans were more likely than were those in World War II or Vietnam to experience injuries related to exposure to extreme cold during the winters (frostbite was among the most common service disabilities).¹⁴ During the Chosin Reservoir Campaign in late 1950, temperatures were as low as -50° F with a wind chill as low as -100° F.²⁵ In addition to cold injuries, other physical health concerns for Korean War veterans were noise injuries from gunfire and explosions and occupational hazards, such as exposure to asbestos, radiation, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).²⁶

PTSD in Korean War Veterans

It is clear that Korean War combat veterans were exposed to traumatic events. It is unknown how many developed PTSD. While notions of psychological distress and disability related to combat trauma exposure have existed for centuries, Korean War and World War II veterans are a remaining link to pre-DSM PTSD mental health in the military. Military/forward psychiatry—psychiatric services near the battle zone rather than requiring evacuation of patients—was present in Korea from the early months of the war, but the focus of forward psychiatry was to reduce psychiatric causalities from combat fatigue and maximize rapid return-to-duty.^4-6 With no real conception of PTSD, there were limited treatments available, and evidenced-based trauma-focused treatments for PTSD would not be introduced for at least another 4 decades.^27-29