The World at War

Noble Frankland:
The effect of war on people who take part in it is, of course, extremely various. Lots of people are maimed, completely either mentally or physically. But I suppose the majority of those who survive, survive apparently intact. But there must be marked effects, and in some ways the effects are very good on people, because they feel that they’ve been able to fulfil themselves. A lot of people go through life without ever feeling a sense of fulfilment, but those who take part in hectic war operations usually get a sense of fulfilment, to some extent, especially if they believe in what they’re trying to do, which I think in war people tend to do very readily. On the other hand, I think that there are very bad effects, obvious bad effects. Perhaps one of the less obvious ones is that people undertake these operations I think have a tendency to feel afterwards that society owes them something very special. And when the war is over, they tend to go home or back to where they came from and expect people to look up to them and to look after them, which is not what people are going to do at all, nor is it even what people ought to do.