Marks of War

War Neurosis and the Legacy of Kokoda

John Raftery

John Raftery spent ten years researching the effects of war on veterans from the infamous Kokoda campaign in 1942, when Australian troops repelled the Japanese in a horrific struggle across the mountains of New Guinea. He found that while many of the men were able to return to a seemingly successful life after the war, they carried the marks of war deep within them. Post-war medical science argued that war offered 'nothing new to medical science', and in the days before post-traumatic stress syndrome was acknowledged these men were left to get on with their lives as best they could. For some of them, the past they thought they had put behind them has come back to trouble them in their later years. John Raftery paints a very human portrait of the lives of these men, and the difficulties that they and their families have had to cope with.

ISBN 0 9579960 2 0
Paperback, 224 pages
Bibliography and index, illustrated (B&W)
RRP $29.95

The Author
Dr John Raftery has been a practising psychologist since 1975.
He has had a long-term interest in the impact of traumatic events. For over ten years he has been researching the effects of war service on veterans and their families in Australia and New Zealand. He is a former lecturer at the University of South Australia, is a founding member of the Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and is currently national president of that society.
This book is based on research he conducted for his PhD thesis at the University of Adelaide.

This is a graceful and meticulously researched book … on the psychological effects of war trauma. The richness of its material is exceptional … [Raftery’s] work spans the lifetimes of the men described in his book – from youth, through military service, on to what is often a psychologically troubled old age. In this book, we discover the lives of flesh and blood men, not clinical abstractions.
Professor Allan Young, Anthropology Department, McGill University


This work is an original, reflective and nuanced analysis of the long-term impact of war.
It sheds considerable light on the diverse ways in which war experiences have shaped the lives of those men who returned from the Second World War. It is an excellent study, of considerable insight, and an exemplary piece of scholarship.
Associate Professor Joy Damousi, Department of History, University of Melbourne


Accounts of the effects of war on the minds of men have been the domain of both considerable scientific study and some of the greatest works of literature. This book represents a bridge, capturing the humanistic elements of the suffering and memories of Australian veterans of the New Guinea campaign in World War Two. It integrates the narratives of men’s lives and horror with the growing and changing knowledge about the nature of post-traumatic stress. For any person wishing to understand the impact and scars of war, this book is an important contribution.
Professor Sandy McFarlane, Department of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide