Title: War Surgery and Medicine

Author: Stout, T. Duncan M.

Publication details: Historical Publications Branch, 1954, Wellington

Part of: The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945

This text is the subject of: ‘Something of Them Is Here Recorded’: Official History in New Zealand

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Development of Neurosis in the First Furlough Draft, 2 NZEF, in New Zealand

In 1943 the members of the first three echelons of 2 NZEF returned to New Zealand on furlough with the intention that most of them would return to the Middle East for further service. They were far from any theatre of war and were with relatives and friends, but they became the cause of heated public argument against returning men with long overseas service to any theatre of war. For six months they remained in doubt as to their fate, and in the meantime each man was medically boarded at least once. Some hundreds were found medically unfit for further overseas service on account of anxiety neurosis, the chief symptoms being headaches, lack of concentration, insomnia, and irritability, with the usual objective signs.