It's been claimed over and over again that the rate of military suicide to civilian suicide has only recently changed with the military suicide overtaking civilian, and only by a small amount. Yet, the graph in the article below graph seems to paint a different picture - not only with regard to that particular statistic, but with regard to the invincible WWII generation.
While it's true that the elderly have a higher suicide rate than the middle age, and that certainly can account for some of the loss, the graph again shows that WWII vets have a much higher suicide rate than that of non-vets of the same age group.
We are losing the WWII generation at a rate of more than 1,000 a day, with the last projected to be gone by 2020. That's not shocking, given their age (my grandfather who served in the Navy during WWII just turned 90 this past Sept.). But to lose them to suicide, especially because help wasn't available then and isn't accepted now by that generation is heart-wrenching.
Suicide Rates Soar among WWII Vets, Records Show
While it's true that the elderly have a higher suicide rate than the middle age, and that certainly can account for some of the loss, the graph again shows that WWII vets have a much higher suicide rate than that of non-vets of the same age group.
We are losing the WWII generation at a rate of more than 1,000 a day, with the last projected to be gone by 2020. That's not shocking, given their age (my grandfather who served in the Navy during WWII just turned 90 this past Sept.). But to lose them to suicide, especially because help wasn't available then and isn't accepted now by that generation is heart-wrenching.
Suicide Rates Soar among WWII Vets, Records Show