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I was almost ashamed.

Albert M. Perna, US Army 1942 - 1945, talks about why he didn't ask for help with his PTSD right away.

Transcript

I felt that I was very fortunate that I was able to come back

with my arms and legs and my head on my shoulders.

It didn't seem to affect when I was going out estimating my

plumbing work, so I never spoke to anybody about that thing.

But I know that I just used to keep it to myself.

Sometimes, when I'd come back in the truck, I used to just,

I used to cry a little bit because, and I used to shake,

I would shudder until I was able to quiet myself down

because, like I said, I was almost ashamed that I was so --

I figured that everybody else took it so well,

and I was the only one that was like this.

I didn't realize that other fellows had the same

kind of problem I did because we never spoke about it

when we got together, our boys.

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