Conversations with the Past- America’s Living Unknown Soldiers: Amnesia and Veteran Imposters after the Great War

Speaker: Dr. Evan Sullivan, PhD, Assistant Professor of History, SUNY Adirondack

7pm at the Chapman, free

Around 200,000 American soldiers were disabled as a result of the Great War, of which roughly 70,000 were classified as neuro-psychiatric. An even smaller number of veterans came home with amnesia. Newspaper reports from across the United States commented on mysterious stories of select amnesic soldiers who had turned up at US Army hospitals, or who had disappeared from those same places. This presentation examines postwar discussions about grief, disability, and America’s “living unknown soldiers” by analyzing Americans’ reception of two well-documented amnesic veteran imposters: Jerry Tarbot and Arthur Lopez-Frazier.

This program is free but requires a reservation. To register, please call (518)793-2826.