Vietnam vets urged to seek help for emotional scars

Vietnam vets urged to seek help for emotional scars
By Michael King • The News-Record • June 4, 2010


Phil Moore was awarded three Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart for service during the Vietnam War.

But the 63-year-old Menasha man knows he will get no honors for his behavior as a husband and father after the war ended.

Like many Vietnam veterans, Moore didn’t share much about his Army service in the years following the military fighting. It wasn’t until several years ago that he sought help for a variety of mental health issues — torments that originated in the war-torn jungles and villages of Southeast Asia.

Shrapnel from an enemy grenade that exploded near Moore’s head on Dec. 28, 1969, tore some 60 wounds in his shoulder, arms, hands, neck, face and one eye. While his helmet likely saved his life, protective gear and weapons could not shield him from the less-obvious emotional scars that emerged during the next four decades and touched nearly every facet of his life.

“There have been a lot of negative impacts on me personally — my job, my wife, my children, people around me — because of (post-traumatic stress disorder),” Moore said.
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Vietnam vets urged to seek help for emotional scars