Hidden Courage: Stories From My Father

By Frank Josey

An epic adventure, based on a true story. The life of a Plains Cree Chief who mentored a Canadian "country boy". Then the story moves to this "country boy",my Father's, experiences during the "great depression" and his courage during World War Two a sapper, then soldier, then medic, with the Second Canadian Division.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank Josey
• Release date: Aug 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466091498

Frank Josey

Apart from "The Forgotten Heroes", which was a special project for a late friend, my e-publications' main theme to November 2011 is the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This powerful mental illness wreaks havoc on our society, a society that rarely understands the impact of this condition.PTSDSadly, the overuse of PTSD diagnosis has increased confusion and cynicism. I only address PTSD where SEVERE TRAUMA was experienced (battle weary soldiers or brutally abused children).Let's stop euphemisms re most returned soldiers - THEY SUFFERED SHELL SHOCK OR BATTLE FATIGUE.My PTSD was not caused by the "Puppy Love" experience, but from a brutal terror suffered by most children of returned soldiers who experienced the horror of combat (but were never treated for its effects). Thus, the baby boomer generation families still harbour many forbidden secrets.Am I cured? In my case, the mental illness is managable, but still affects my day to day choices.Many consider me a failure, I am now living proof that there is hope for PTSD sufferers, besides the alternative - suicide. I must emphasize that a top mental health professional must treat this crippling condition.When the truth is revealed (the buried emotions rise to the surface), you will lose more "friends" than rats deserting a sinking ship. Many arrogant people have laughed at my financial and social demise (what goes around comes around).For many of us, the attempt at a cure is worse than the ailment (reliving the trauma)- but if you persist, you'll be granted a second chance. A successful man goes from failure to failure but never gives up (Winston Churchill).Self compassion, now THAT's a project PTSD sufferers can tackle. Until we forgive ourselves, we're just actors. Once we learn to truly respect and properly care for ourselves, then, and only then, can mature love for others develop.Loneliness is an ever present challenge for PTSD sufferers. Loneliness is Western Society's biggest problem, Mother Teresa once said, responding to an arrogant reporter (who expected abortion to be Mother Teresa's response). Accept the loneliness, embrace it - it'll end in greater character within.OtherI enjoy drumming as a hobby, specializing in Big Band Jazz, Heavy Metal and Parade Drumming (Bagpipe Bands).I am a Management Accountant, having graduated from Simon Fraser University Burnaby BC Canada.I am over the hill but it's better than being under it.My motto: THINGS ARE NEVER AS BAD AS THEY SEEM.

Book preview

Hidden Courage

Stories from my Father

(Based on True Experiences)

By Frank Josey

Copyright 2011 Frank Josey

Smashwords Edition

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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The book cover is by Alexis Smith and comprises a photograph (copyright has expired) of a Cree camp on the prairie south of Vermilion, Alberta, September 1871, taken by Charles Horetzky (Library and Archives Canada: C-005181), overlaying a picture of the author’s father.

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Table of Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Chapter 1 – The First Nation Influence (nehiyawak - the Plains Cree)

Chapter 2 – The Early Years, Fred develops

Chapter 3 – Fred’s fight for our Freedom

Chapter 4 – The Aftermath

Conclusion

About the Author

Upcoming E-books from Frank Josey

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DEDICATION

This E-book is dedicated to my mother, Dorothea, who was a compassionate loving person. She sacrificed much in order to support her shell shocked husband whilst protecting and guiding her three sons to have an orderly and happy life.

And to the memory of my Canadian Father, Frederick William Josey, a Manitoban country boy, mentored by a Plains Cree chief; my father later suffered much due to his sacrifices in World War 2 - first as a Sapper with the Royal Canadian Engineers, then a private, later as corporal, with the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders, Winnipeg Regiment.

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INTRODUCTION

Story telling is challenging as oral traditions change over time. The author has applied his best endeavors to align his Father’s accounts with historical accuracy.

The Plains Cree

My Dad lived from time to time on a South Western Manitoban Plains Cree reservation in the 1930’s. He was befriended by an elderly tribal leader, Chief Eagle Eye (name changed to protect his identity), who treated my Dad like a son.

The Canadian First Nations members, the Plains Cree, are a great people, with a proud history. The name Cree is an abbreviated form of Kristinaux, the French version of a Cree name for themselves, Kenistenoag. They belong to the Algonquian language family (a soft language). The Plains Cree were buffalo-hunting nomadic people whose range was almost entirely in Canada, north of the Assiniboine tribes, the Sioux, the Blackfoot and the Plain Chippewa’s (Ojibwas), and east of the Sarcee, Stoney and the Bloods tribes.

The use of the term Indian in this e-book is in the context of the story’s timeline and in no way is meant to be offensive to any First Nations people.

The Cree shared many beliefs with their fellow first nations people - the Forest Cree (who had a different lifestyle however). Cree religious beliefs influenced their daily lives significantly - including the use of visions and dreams. Their beliefs answered the questions regarding the place of humans in the world. All living beings in the world, fauna, flora and humans, have a spirit. This is otherwise accepted commonly as the great circle of life; it lies at the foundation of traditional Cree spirituality. Great honor is given to this journey from birth, infancy, childhood, youth, and maturity to old age. These belief systems were not the superstitions of aboriginal tribesmen, but a sophisticated system, culminating as believers in one God, the Great Spirit.

The Cree linked their conscious and sub-conscious selves in a way very similar to the mystics in the other world religions. As mystics used deep breathing exercises to aid meditation, the Cree primarily used an instrument - the Drum. That is, the Plains and Swampy, or Forest, Cree became linked to the Spirit World mainly by the rhythmic repetitive sound of the drum. Paranormal experiences were quite common to most First Nations people, sadly considered delusional by many westerners. The author, having this gift, can relate to Chief Eagle Eye’s psychic experiences better than most.

In a nutshell, all the ingredients were present in Plains Cree civilization for their tribal members to find true happiness, without the influence of the white man’s culture.

Many of the Cree belief systems were truly compassionate within their tribal groups. The warrior notoriety was gained by the need to defend not only their food source, the Buffalo, but themselves from war parties of other First Nation tribes.

The Plains Cree moral code was not written in a book of laws, or enforced by a police force, but was in the hands of the tribe’s elders. It was the elders’ duty to uphold the moral values of the Cree, through storytelling, peer pressure, and disciplinary enforcement.

Where my Dad’s memory of Chief Eagle Eye’s experiences and stories were not detailed enough, ideas were adapted from an excellent book - Ahenakew, Edward (edited by Ruth M. Beck) Voices of the Plains Cree, Canadian Plains Research Centre, University of Regina (1995).

Fred’s descent into War Trauma

Combat forced my father to witness butchery, and experience fear, to an extent rarely understood by those who have never faced combat situations.

When the enemy, such as the Waffen SS (armed section of the personal bodyguard of Hitler, called the Schutzstaffel or SS), or Japanese army, viewed mercy as gross weakness, their war crimes created unimaginable trauma in most World War 2 Allied combatants, in addition to the stress of normal combat.

The resulting trauma had phenomenal impact on all their lives, most came home with conditions such as Battle Fatigue or Shell Shock, changing their personalities. Many became abusive to their families but considered normal by outsiders. Thus, there are still many family secrets still hidden.

Robert Louis Stevenson explores this duality of good and evil residing in one man in his novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. Although the latter involves multiple personality disorders, which is not common with returned soldiers, their ability to easily shift between good and evil behavior is frightfully similar in trauma, now with a modern term (since the Vietnam War) - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Many studies have shown the connection between children's exposure to traumatic events and psychological problems, but the full extent has never been fully explored. The toll (including the many who commit suicide) of mentally ill children primarily due to Dads that fought in WW2 and Korea has been hidden from the general public. The effect on society is tragic, even now. This effect on children is explored in the author’s next e-book, Happiness is only a Honeymoon - Life with my Father.

The strongest emotions underlying war trauma’s illness, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, are rage, grief, disillusionment, and despair. Unacknowledged deep anger, enormous sadness and deep anguish create displacement, this void being filled with wrong coping mechanisms - obsessions and compulsions. These two similar behaviors make it difficult to identify the feeling that is being buried. False dawns occur when hope of healing is misinterpreted as the reality of being healed. Fear of failure creates high expectations – the limbo standards bar is much too high.

Alcohol is the coping mechanism of choice for most "Battle Fatigue sufferers.

Chapter 3 can explain how my Dad developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (officially diagnosed as Shell Shock).

Chapter 4 explores further challenges facing Fred before his return from war.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Much of this E-book discusses the effects