“Suicide Corner” Beaucourt, Somme Front 1917, by Adrian Hill — Art.IWM ART 601
Soldier’s Heart (John William Dorgan, “Jack”) Audio, 2021
In an interview recorded seventy years after the incident, WW1 veteran John William Dorgan, “Jack” recounts the story of him and his fellow soldiers taking a direct shell hit and the tragic aftermath. This piece is made of the space between his words, the moments when his thoughts are clarified, his words are chosen, his breath is drawn, a pause is held, a memory drawn up. Nothing but the relative silence of his active recollection, of his reliving the experience, of his choosing what and how to bring the story back into the present.
Post-traumatic stress disorder was historically known as soldier's heart in veterans of the American Civil War. The term has also been used to refer to Da Costa's syndrome, a psychiatric syndrome which presents a set of symptoms similar to those of heart disease, including extreme fatigue upon exertion, shortness of breath, palpitations, sweating, and chest pains.