The Trauma of Captivity seeks to shed new light on a forgotten aspect of what it meant to be a prisoner of war: their homecoming. With primary source archive content and interviews with family members of prisoners of war from the Second World War, as well as the diary entries of a prisoner of war from the First World War, this book asks the question: what happened to prisoners of war when they returned home?

Sons and daughters of returned prisoners of war share their harrowing stories of having a POW for a parent. The Trauma of Captivity also features a lengthy interview with modern-day prisoner of war John Peters, the RAF fast jet pilot who was captured when his Tornado plane crashed in the desert during the Gulf War.

The Trauma of Captivity focuses on what help and support was made available to returning prisoners of war and how they fought to rediscover their roles in society.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter One Man strays onto battlefield
• Chapter Two The First World War: ‘While of unsound mind…’
• Chapter Three Psychological Intervention
• Chapter Four Prisoners of War in Germany – Second World War
• Chapter Five Japan and the Far East
• Chapter Six Coming home from Japan: Compensation and carrying on
• Chapter Seven Glorification versus Reality
• Notes
• Bibliography