Abstract

On the Care of Heroes

The end of the year hearings announced last Veterans Day by Senator Alan Cranston, from California, have produced vivid testimony about the medical care of disabled veterans of the war in Vietnamese Conflict--the war which, more than any other in our history, will be remembered for its toll of "catastrophically" wounded men. The record of the hearings is laced with descriptive terms from the Senator and witnesses before him; for it is clear that the nature of the wounds inflicted today has reduced the usefulness of the standard vocabulary of trauma. And even though Senator Cranston has conducted the hearings in a deliberately low key, the evidence brought before his Veterans Affairs Subcommittee will support the argument that this war, in particular, has been dirty and immoral--even in the treatment of its heroes.