You Can Remove a Person from the War, But Not the War from a Person

The following case description touches on a painful chapter in the Netherlands’ national history: the deployment of Dutch soldiers in the Dutch East Indies. The description deals with an army chaplain‘s home visit to 89 years old Mr Klaas2, a veteran of World War II as well as of the Dutch East Indies. Just like many Dutch East Indies veterans, Mr Klaas has got PTSD related symptoms only later in life. He has had extensive treatment for this, but eventually it became clear that the PTSD was untreatable. He has many residual complaints, including frequent nightmares. In the past, Mr Klaas had contacted his own minister in order to be able to tell his story, but this came to nothing – according to Mr Klaas because the minister was not familiar with military lingo. The chaplain contacted Mr Klaas at the request of the care coordinator of ABP (the pension fund from which Mr Klaas receives a Military Disability Pension). The care coordinator had sent an email in which he described Mr Klaas as a veteran who could not be treated any further, but who had an urgent need to talk about his past; however, he had no one in his environment who would be able to understand his story.