J.D. Salinger and combat PTSD

What Salinger tells us about caring for veterans
By Nicolaus Mills, Special to CNN
March 1, 2011 9:40 a.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Nicolaus Mills: J.D. Salinger known for "Catcher in the Rye" but had things to say about war
He says Salinger fought in WWII, returned with post-traumatic stress disorder
His story "For Esme -- With Love and Squalor" explored how injured vet helped by young girl
Mills: Salinger reminds us of the nation's obligations to veterans today

Editor's note: Nicolaus Mills is professor of American Studies at Sarah Lawrence College and author of "Winning the Peace: The Marshall Plan and America's Coming of Age as a Superpower."

(CNN) -- A year after his death at 91, J.D. Salinger is known, above all else, as the author of "The Catcher in the Rye." Since its publication in 1951, identifying with Holden Caulfield has become an American rite of passage.

But a new biography, "J.D. Salinger: A Life," by Kenneth Slawenski, reminds us that there is another Salinger, one especially relevant to our own times.

This other Salinger is the World War II veteran. He served in the 4th Division's 12th Infantry Regiment as it fought its way from D-Day through the Battle of the Bulge, suffering horrendous casualties. Of the 3,080 troops who landed with Salinger's regiment at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, only 1,130 were alive three weeks later.

For Salinger, post-traumatic stress disorder, known then as "battle fatigue," was no abstraction. He was hospitalized in 1945 in Nuremberg, Germany, for a nervous breakdown.

In his 1950 short story, "For Esme -- With Love and Squalor," Salinger gives an account of PTSD that speaks directly to us today. It echoes the condition of thousands of the 1.6 million veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for whom the estimated PTSD rate is nearly 20%.
read more here
What Salinger tells us about caring for veterans