Guy Grenny was born in April 1927 in Spokane, Washington. It was a blessing to live in Spokane in his circumstances. His father was a Lieutenant in the Fire Department, so they had it pretty well, although it was during the Great Depression. A lot of kids were not that well off. His mother was a homemaker. He had a younger sister. He lived on West Boone. Neither German nor Japanese aggression was discussed at home. The big thing was the Depression. At times, men would come around wanting something to eat. There were camps and bums that were traveling around, near the Spokane River. Some of the kids were almost destitute. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks where he was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.] His father had a brain tumor at the time. They were living in a near-mansion called Park Place. He was sitting on the couch when the announcement came from President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States]. He did not understand it much. He asked his aunt if Pearl Harbor was in Oregon. His father died shortly after and Grenny was enrolled in Hill Military Academy in Portland, Oregon. He became involved in ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] and then became pretty conscious of what was happening in the war.

Guy Grenny was a cadet in ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps]. He was preparing for going to war. Over time he got more interested in going into the Navy than being in the infantry. Some of his friends that finished high school went into the infantry. He left school in his senior year to join the Navy. He was not 17 yet and did not lie about his age. He got a job at a hotel and was making lots of money delivering booze. His mother decided to sign for him to go into the Navy instead. He went to boot camp in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. He liked it fine and did well. He remembers marching through a building to get shots in each arm. Some of the men passed out. He was used to military orders and it went well. He went to the Naval Air Station in San Diego. The Japanese had fired on places like Oregon. Japanese subs could fire things into the states. Grenny was a mess cook and taking care of the people who were protecting the west coast of the United States. They had liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] at times and would go exploring. It was a good time. [Annotator's Note: A clock chimes.]

[Annotator's Note: Guy Grenny was stationed at the Naval Air Station in San Diego, California.] Grenny served food and scrubbed pots. He would get time off. He took a couple of WAVES [Annotator's Note: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service; United States Naval Women's Reserve] out for a ride on the bay. They went by a destroyer and guys were up on the deck yelling at him for teasing them. The war in the Pacific was in the news every day. He did not know when he would be out there. Grenny was sent to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] and loaded on a troop ship headed for the Philippines. They hit a terrible storm. Everybody was seasick. He tried to eat but could not keep it down. He was on the top bunk that was five high. They got off the ship in ten days in the Philippines. By this time, the war had officially ended. He was not altogether comfortable in the Quonset hut with 30 or 40 other guys. He worked in the ship store as the store keeper. He was promoted and went to the general stores. He was transferred and put in charge of buildings that were being decommissioned. As a 19 year old, he was in charge of five big warehouses and their supplies, millions of dollars of stuff. He sometimes would be on patrol at night. One night someone shot over his head and into the building. He never saw a Japanese but there were wild Filipinos from the south, raiders. The people on Samar [Annotator's Note: Samar Island, Philippines] were very friendly to the Americans. Some invited him to their village to a party. He went with them into the jungles. They had music and dancing. He stayed in the home of the people who had invited him. They only had one bed and they gave it to him. He loved the Filipino people.

Guy Grenny returned home to the United States from the Philippines via the Aleutian Islands to San Francisco [Annotato's Note: San Francisco, California]. He was discharged in Bellingham [Annotator's Note: Bellingham, Washington] at COG, Convenience of Government. The G.I. Bill had happened, and he used it. He got a bachelor's degree in Psychology. He got a master's in social work and a Doctorate in Family Counseling and Criminology. He had always wanted to do something for people with his life. When he finished his master's degree he went to work for the California Department of Mental Health. He worked in a hospital with youth and then went into recruiting family-care homes for them. He was taking courses for his doctoral work during this time. He was aware that some people had real problems with post-military. He was Chief of Continuing Care for a county and he would see what was happening at a veteran's facility. He retired from mental health services and moved to Fort Bragg, California in private practice. He was recruited to work for the veteran's center, and he became interested in PTSD [Annotator's Note: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder].

During World War 2, the term PTSD [Annotator's Note: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder] did not exist, it was called Battle Fatigue or Shell Shock. Guy Grenny knew there were men who had been in battle who would have those episodes come back to them. The veterans he worked with did not try to hide the fact that they had problems. By this time, he dealt with veterans of the Vietnam War. People were upset about being in the war and were not very accepting of the veterans who had problems. He feels it is different today and people accept the fact that Vietnam veterans went through a lot. He has interviewed about 300 of them. His work in private practice occurred after the war was over. His office was in his home. The men were very grateful. He would help them file for their benefits. Once in a while he would get paid but it was rare. [Annotator’s Note: Grenny chuckles.] Soon, men were coming from all over to see him by referral. All Vietnam veterans. Bad memories are stored in the right side of the brain. Whether it was from World War 2 or other wars, it is the same kind of problem. The particular memories might be different, but how they cause problems is pretty much the same. He thinks they [Annotator's Note: the veterans] are more aware of needing help now, but they still have nasty memories and problems and it is a lousy mess. One of the worst wars was the Civil War [Annotator's Note: American Civil War]. There were quite a few men from the North after the war that just wandered around and died off. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks how treatment has changed from World War 2 to the Iraq War]. There was not much treatment for World War 2. We have come to understand what PTSD is.

Guy Grenny feels good about his life helping veterans. Veterans have told him he helped them. It was good being in the mental health field. Being able to help soldiers with PTSD [Annotator's Note: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder] has been a highlight of his life. Knowing that he has helped them make adjustments and get benefits they deserve. Society has suffered a great loss for the inability of the soldiers to make the kind of adjustments that would have helped. Marriages and children have been affected. PTSD is a nasty thing. Fortunately, there has been a G.I. Bill and a lot of attention to veterans. He would communicate with the different centers. California has done well for them.

Guy Grenny had a man as a patient who had grown up in California. The man was in the Signal Corps [Annotator's Note: Army Signal Corps] and went from Brazil to North Africa. He was in the Mediterranean and saw some men practicing shooting. He took part and was transferred to anti-tank units. He went to Sicily and then took part in the Normandy invasion [Annotator's Note: Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944], the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. He took out a machine-gunner in the tower off of a church who was raking the men with fire. A German Tiger [Annotator's Note: German Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf. E, German heavy tank] came towards him and he fired into the tank. The tank turned and was blown out from the side. When the man got home he went to work in the woods and got injured. He became a barber and listened to the stories of other veterans but did not talk much. Grenny recruited him to come in and helped him get the benefits he had earned. There are a lot of veterans who do not talk. The ones who do not are probably the ones who have been through the worst. Grenny lived through what this man had been through as he relived it. He respected him for what he had been through. Grenny served in World War 2 because our country was threatened, and he was American. The war affected his family. He had aunts and uncles who were in the war. He had a relative who had been gassed in the trenches in France in World War 1. His service has been a part of him since. He can no longer remember the names of people he served with. He is 92 and part of it is gone. The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is good if the people of the United States respect the people who protect them. He thinks people should learn this in school regardless of which war it was.