European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 11, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Vietnam vet comes to terms with Warson of Marine corps hero lost both legs in explosion by Hugh a. Mulligan a special correspondent the very first Day he donned a floppy Bush hat and took command of his Marine platoon in the bad news Boondocks of Vietnam s Northern Quot Eye Quot corps Lew Puller was asked the question that from his earliest remembrance determined his destiny. Quot what s it like Quot asked Willie Turner a huge Corporal from Texas who was the platoon guide on patrols into Charley country Quot to be the son of the corps most famous Marine Quot a Drill instructor at Quantico va., peering out from under the menacing tilt of his Campaign hat at a new Batch of officer candidates had phrased that same question in Basic Leatherneck Ese a few months before Quot now who among this miserable collection of pukes could possibly be Chesty Puller s son Quot Lewis Quot Chesty Quot Puller Winner of five Navy crosses hero of Guadalcanal during world War ii the Inchon Landing and the breakout from the chosen Reservoir during the korean War the most decorated Marine in the history of the corps. A one time private he Rose to major general in a 37-year-career that began with chasing bandits in Nicaragua and commanding the horse marines in peking and in retirement left him broken and in tears leaning Over a bed in the Philadelphia naval Hospital surveying the wreckage of his Only son. Less than three months in Vietnam climbing a nameless Hill with a jammed Rifle while trying to evade seven North vietnamese regulars 2nd it. Lewis b. Puller jr., Chesty s boy detonated a howitzer Shell Booby trap that propelled him upward with a thunderous Roar amid an acrid smell of cordite. Drifting in and out of consciousness As they loaded him aboard a helicopter on a Stretcher that also contained a combat Boot with the bloody remnants of one foot he had a recurring thought Quot i had spent my last healthy moments in Vietnam running from the enemy. I had failed to prove myself worthy of my father s  the Puller inheritance As he was often reminded around the family dining table that had belonged to Robert e. Lee s aide de Camp included a great Grandfather shot out of the Saddle with Jeb stuarts cavalry a great Uncle who commanded a division at Gettysburg a Cousin named George s. Patton. On that humid october Day in 1968, near the Crest of a Sandy Bluff overlooking a lethal stretch of Beach hedgerows and unfriendly thatched villages along the South China sea known As Quot the Riviera Quot the Vietnam War should have been Over for what was left of the 23-year-old Lew Puller. But for him the War was Only beginning. It was against a More terrifying enemy than Chesty Puller Ever faced the enemy within. Lew Puller s Brief career in the Marine corps had netted him two purple hearts the Silver Star and a lifetime confinement in a wheelchair with his right leg gone below the hip a 6-Inch stump remaining of his left thigh a thumb and Little Finger missing from his right hand and Only a thumb and half a forefinger remaining on his left hand. When dad came Home after a a Day that ended world War ii crowds were cheering bands playing and politicians were baying the accolades of a grateful nation. This year from new York to los Angeles cities across the United states welcomed Back troops from the persian Gulf War with blizzards of confetti Down a Flag draped Canyon of heroes. Chesty s boy watching on to from a wheelchair in his Alexandria va., Home still wonders what happened to his Parade his remarkable autobiography fortunate son is a harrowing account of the lonely Battles he fought against despondency despair and alcoholism to come to terms with the father he Quot loved More than the legend Quot and to find it in his heart to forgive the country and corps that he Felt had betrayed him. He regards the four years spent reliving the War for his memoirs As part of the Healing process which included driving out at Odd hours in his Handicap geared car to place a single red Rose at the Apex of the Vietnam veterans memorial and to stare at his own reflection in the polished Black Granite etched with the names of so Many of his buddies. To an interviewer he admits to Quot agonizing a lot Over the acclaim showered on those returning Home from desert  he is glad casualties were so few but wonders if the mood of the nation would have changed had those aluminium coffins begun piling up at the Dover del., morgue. Lew Puller like Many Vietnam vets came Home to. Rejection scorn and defeat. His friends did no to want to talk 1 had lost my legs and several Good friends for nothing. Lew Puller about the War. Mere mention of it embarrassed the neighbors put the Damper on any party. Quot How did it feel Quot a University professor asked one of his Vietnam buddies Quot to be a paid killer Quot rolling his wheelchair into class at William and Mary Law school Lew encountered students his age who bragged about manipulating the system to avoid the draft. Quot the most common Dodge was a teaching deferment Quot he recalls with lingering resentment. Quot my class seemed to be loaded with teachers who sat out the War and now wanted to be  the son of the corps most Beme daled Marine thought a a a of throwing away his own medals but could t bring himself to do it. Quot they had Cost me too  he brooded about divorcing Loyal and Loving toddy who had borne him their second child out of the wreckage. She would t hear of it. He tried suicide but pronounced himself a failure even at death. For 10 minutes of teetering Triumph he paraded on new artificial limbs before his proud jut Jawed father but even that like the War he fought in Vietnam dissolved in defeat. There was t enough limb fragment left to sustain mobility. He was doomed to life in a wheelchair. He finished Law school served on a presidential clemency Board for draft evaders ran for Congress and lost then went to work As a lawyer at the Pentagon. But he never could put the War and Chesty a legacy behind him. Even when the old Man died after several debilitating strokes he mourned him in soul wrenching ambiguity Quot i wanted him Back i wanted him  after the funeral he brooded Long in the darkness of the family room with frequent trips to the liquor Cabinet Quot waiting for the blessed numbness that would Wash away the  Young Lew never intended to become a Quot lifers in the Marine corps. Quot i wanted to get in and out. I wanted that one big moment of glory to prove i was my fathers Soni he tells an interviewer. Quot but it never did happen did it Quot pullers Vietnam service earned him two purple hearts the Silver Star and a lifetime in a wheelchair. A a a a nv.v3 \ ii. A a a w is v v o Mai Minim. Former Marine Lewis b. Puller or. Says the struggle to build the Vietnam memorial symbolized the reconstruction of his own life. Despondent Over his country a mood swing against the War the murder and rape insinuations that seemed to be levelled at All Vietnam veterans when it. William Calley went on trial for the my Lai massacre seeing Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon when he would never again walk on Earth Young Puller Sank deeper into depression. Days of rage and frustration merged into melancholy of alcoholic night. By the time Saigon fell the conclusion was inescapable Quot i had lost my legs and several Good friends for  he Felt used up and discarded by his country and the corps. His Only Solace was the new bottle of scotch he opened every other Day. The son of Chesty hit Rock Bottom All his sins remembered in an alcoholic Haze the scene he caused at a White House reception engaging the Secretary of defense in what he admits was Quot inappropriate conversation Quot. Tossing that plate of food across the room at a Law school cocktail party. Reducing his two children to tears when he shattered the to screen with a poker in anger at a documentary on Vietnam veterans. The pint of Vodka stowed in his desk at the  ease the pain of War and remembrance. Psychiatrists at the Bethesda naval Hospital diagnosed him As a Quot mid to late stage  when told chinese communist troops had them surrounded at Quot Frozen chosen Quot Chesty Puller rallied his 1st Marine regt with that familiar Armor piercing growl Quot the bastards got us right where we want them. We can shoot in every direction  overwhelmed by the forces of such family legends that destined him to Lead a platoon in combat Puller the double amputee summoned the courage to fight Back from the Depths of despair. He underwent an alcoholic rehabilitation program. One Day at a time he fought a thousand Battles with the bottle in a personal tar tactical area of operations seeded with More Booby traps than the Riviera in Vietnam. In that futile War which had ended a decade ago for most americans but still raged within him sept. 7, 1981, the Day he stopped drinking loomed As Large As oct. 11, 1968 the Day he lost his legs. He had eluded death a second time and now with the unseen bravery that does t make Battlefield situation reports rallied his mutilated body and psyche to Rescue the rest of his life being a lawyer he forced himself to climb that Hill again on a Long yellow Legal pad a Page and a half at a time in longhand at his desk in the bedroom with the radio tuned to a 60s Rock station the music heard Low in the Vietnam boonies Over armed forces radio. Total recall came easy. In his nightmares the 3rd platoon of Golf co 2nd in of the 1st regt of the 1st Marine div his father s old regiment and division had rarely been out of Contact. Illumination rounds detonating in his memory lit up their faces Doc Ellis the Gutsy medic. Platoon sgt. Phil Leslie his Cool right hand Man. Willie Turner who wondered what it was like to be Chesty s son. Hitch and ski and Cowboy. And that name embedded As deeply in his mind As on the dark face of the Monument Mike Dunkel whose Quick trigger Finger one Day saved his life in an ambush at the Edge of a Rice Paddy and who died moaning in his arms one harrowing night. The struggle to build the Vietnam memorial fascinated him. Its Progress paralleled and symbolized the rebuilding of his life. He was there in his Bush hat trimmed with his medals the Day it was dedicated. Whenever he visits sometimes late at night he is reminded of the Buddhist temples in Eye corps where his platoon sometimes found Relief from the 110-degree heat. Quot the vietnamese left candles and Jasmine blossoms bowls of Rice Joss Sticks even menthol cigarettes to Honor their dead the Way mourners at the memorial place Flowers and poems fraternity pins combat boots and dented canteens along the base of the Wall. It Breaks my heart but i keep going  now he talks of returning to Vietnam. The past is no longer enemy country. Quot i d like to revisit the terrain where i was hit see if the Trail i took is still there and if that Hill looks any different. I doubt if they got condominiums sitting on it but it was a gorgeous piece of property i la never forget that White Beach along a Blue Crescent of sea and those fishing villages where snipers always opened up on us i d like to go to that Leper Colony just beyond the tree line where we always took mortar fire. We knew it was a Viet Cong staging area but those poor derelicts probably could t get away from the War any More than we could Quot after More than two decades of strife. Lew Puller has signed a separate peace with Vietnam and won the terrible War within without legs Chesty s son has filled his father s shoes maj. Gen. Lewis a Chesty Quot Puller Winner of five Navy crosses lived to see his son mutilated by North vietnamese Booby trap. Above father and son in 1956. November 11, 1991 the stars and stripes