And then they would be given a shower, new clothes and a pep talk and the attempt was made to send them back. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia How most WWII soldiers fought fatigue Blue 88 was a blue-colored pill that was a mix of calming drugs, mainly barbiturates such as sodium amytal , used to treat American soldiers in the Second World War who suffered from battle fatigue. And this would give them a very deep, deep sleep, sort of almost a trance -like sleep for 24, sometimes or 48 hours. During this time, the enlisted men and myself would sometimes go by. Captain Kimmelman continues: People who were not necessarily severely wounded but who were no longer in charge of themselves, they would put them in a detachment or an installation to put them through a kind of a very quick and dirty process in which they were given sodium amytal or one of these other—it’s a sort of a truth serum-thing, but it was in the form of tablets.Blue 88 was a blue-colored pill that was a mix of calming drugs, mainly barbiturates such as sodium amytal, used to treat American soldiers in the Second World War who . Use MD’s Pill Identifier to find and identify any over-the-counter or prescription drug, pill, or medication by color, shape, or imprint and easily compare pictures of multiple drugs. Pill Identifier results for “88 Blue and Round”. Search by imprint, shape, color or drug name.