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PEMBROKE, Ont. — Korean War veteran Jim Purcell, who last year shared with the Citizen his story of dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, has died.
The lifelong Pembroke resident was 82.
In a gripping, tragic story, Purcell spoke of living with PTSD since his late teens, when he saw his best friend, Bob Casey, decapitated in a bunker by a Chinese shell.
Purcell and Casey had gone to school together in working-class Halifax, joined the army and gone to Korea together.
The former Royal Canadian Regiment corporal said he was haunted by the image of his dying friend — a nightmare that invaded his sleep almost every night for 48 years.
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A self-described “bad cat,” Purcell lived a post-war life of depression, heavy drinking and barroom fights.
“We’d go to a dance and I’d find the biggest guy in the room and pick a fight with him,” he told the Citizen. “I was a bully. I was the big shot.”
In 2009, Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli, the 28-year-old father of the Purcell’s great granddaughter, Olivia, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.
Vernelli’s death sent Purcell into a deeper, debilitating depression and after four more years of suffering he sought treatment from a local doctor who diagnosed his PTSD.
Purcell was referred to the Royal Ottawa Hospital’s Operational Stress Injury Clinic and, well into his 80s, began treatment for his PTSD. He died a happier man than he had been for most of his life.
“If there’s anyone out there thinking the way I was, I want to tell them to get help,” he told the Citizen. “Don’t be scared. I could have been treated before now and enjoyed my life instead of being an arsehole for so many years.”
ccobb@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/chrisicobb
查看原文...
The lifelong Pembroke resident was 82.
In a gripping, tragic story, Purcell spoke of living with PTSD since his late teens, when he saw his best friend, Bob Casey, decapitated in a bunker by a Chinese shell.
Purcell and Casey had gone to school together in working-class Halifax, joined the army and gone to Korea together.
The former Royal Canadian Regiment corporal said he was haunted by the image of his dying friend — a nightmare that invaded his sleep almost every night for 48 years.
Related
A self-described “bad cat,” Purcell lived a post-war life of depression, heavy drinking and barroom fights.
“We’d go to a dance and I’d find the biggest guy in the room and pick a fight with him,” he told the Citizen. “I was a bully. I was the big shot.”
In 2009, Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli, the 28-year-old father of the Purcell’s great granddaughter, Olivia, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.
Vernelli’s death sent Purcell into a deeper, debilitating depression and after four more years of suffering he sought treatment from a local doctor who diagnosed his PTSD.
Purcell was referred to the Royal Ottawa Hospital’s Operational Stress Injury Clinic and, well into his 80s, began treatment for his PTSD. He died a happier man than he had been for most of his life.
“If there’s anyone out there thinking the way I was, I want to tell them to get help,” he told the Citizen. “Don’t be scared. I could have been treated before now and enjoyed my life instead of being an arsehole for so many years.”
ccobb@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/chrisicobb
查看原文...
