The 2,000 war veterans lobotomized by their own doctors

In 1945, thousands of soldiers returned to the United States from combat on the Pacific and European fronts of World War II with severe mental trauma. Unable to treat their terrible injuries and illnesses, US Veterans Affairs hospitals lobotomized some 2,000 of them. The Wall Street Journal is telling the story of these soldiers and the misjudged medical process they went through as part of a special project called The Lobotomy Files, the first of which focuses on Roman Tritz. Tritz, a 90-year-old veteran who flew a B-17 Flying Fortress across Nazi Germany, began to hear voices on his return from Europe. Doctors responded by sawing holes in the sides of his skull and severing brain connections. Other entries in The Lobotomy Files include a video documentary featuring Tritz, and the unsettling case study of one mentally ill veteran’s life in a prisoner of war camp and eventual lobotomy. Two additional reports are due soon.