Help for traumatised soldiers
Southlander Private Victor Spencer was executed for desertion in WWI. He most likely had post-traumatic stress. reports.
Victor Spencer lied, but that’s not what got him killed. Private Victor Mason Spencer said he was 20 when he enlisted for the army. By the time he was on the way to the war in August 1915, he was only 18.
The Ma¯ori engineer in the nonMa¯ori battalion born in Bluff, Southland, whose parents died young and was raised by his aunty, survived Gallipoli. He survived a stint in Egypt. He survived long enough to make it to the Western Front.
But by July 1916, after a month of no respite in the trenches with his battalion, part of the Otago Regiment, he was shell shocked.
He was most likely suffering from post traumatic stress.
Spencer wrote: ‘‘While in the trenches at Armentiers I was blown up and was in hospital for about a month suffering from shell-shock. Up to this time I had no crimes against me.’’ He deserted. But army authorities found him and sentenced him to nine months of hard labour.
Afterwards, he was back in the firing line, and he wasn’t OK.
‘‘Since then my health has not been good and my nerve has been completely destroyed.’’ Spencer deserted again. He was found two months later with a French woman and her two children. At his court martial, an officer who had known Spencer at Gallipoli wrote in his defence, ‘‘The accused was a good soldier while he was with me. I had no fault to find with him.’’
Spencer was executed at dawn on February 24, 1918. Records showed he had been with the Expeditionary Force for almost three years and was 23. In reality, he was 21.
More than 80 years later, in September 2000, Spencer was pardoned. He and four other men received posthumous pardons when the New Zealand Parliament passed the Pardon for Soldiers of the Great War Act.
This year’s Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association (RSA) Red Poppy Appeal theme was ‘‘not all wounds bleed’’.
It highlighted the fact that mental health injuries are the most common, but least understood, of all wounds suffered by New Zealand servicemen and women.
The appeal raised funds to support the growing needs of New Zealand’s 41,000 veterans and their families.
RSA national president BJ Clark said the association was committed to providing a wide range of help to former members of the military.
‘‘There’s a growing demand for our support services, including an increasing number with serviceinduced mental health injuries. These are best described as any persistent psychological difficulty resulting from duties,’’ Clark said,
‘‘These injuries may occur because of exposure to trauma or stress arising from combat, operational duties in a conflict zone, or other traumatic or serious events such as civil defence emergency or disaster relief.’’
NZ Defence Force (NZDF) medical director Dr Paul Nealis said stress injuries occur along a spectrum, ending with the most severe wound - post traumatic stress injury (PTSI).
‘‘Symptoms of PTSI include reliving the event, including nightmares, flashbacks, or intrusive thoughts. In addition, sufferers can experience avoiding thoughts, feelings, or situations that serve as reminders of the event, feeling numb or cut off from others, being easily startled and being vigilant for signs of danger,’’ he said.
The proceeds of the poppy appeal also help veterans coping with the myriad conditions brought on by service, for help with transitioning to civilian life or financial aid in times of hardship.
Of the 120,000 New Zealand soldiers who fought in WWI, 41,000 were wounded and 18,000 died.
Spencer was one of 28 who were sentenced to death during the war.
Ancestry.com.au has made the service records of all 120,000 soldiers - plus almost 4 million images of their records - free to access online until April 25 - Anzac Day.
Ancestry’s Jason Reeve said the records provided not only information on the soldiers, but family details.
‘‘When [a] person was enlisted, he also listed details about himself - where he was living, what he was doing at the time but, more importantly, who his next of kin are - his parents.
‘‘And so when you take these records and put them on Ancestry it’s not just a record for John Smith, it’s actually a record for his parents as well ...
‘‘From a family history perspective, which we’re all about, you’re looking into your ancestor and you find they were court martialled and executed, that’s going to give you an immediate feeling and an immediate disposition to who that person might have been.
‘‘In these cases especially, and I’m sure many others, that’s not really fair. That’s one of the things about history and understanding who people were and not just from one record or two records, but from a variety of records to give context and understand of what they were going through at that time.
‘‘So it gives context to an ancestor’s life and therefore you can better understand who they were and what they went through.’’