From: jewell@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Larry Jewell)
Newsgroups: soc.veterans
Subject: Puller wins Pulitzer
Date: 9 Apr 92 19:51:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: mentor.44652


Repost from vwar-l:
Date:         Thu, 9 Apr 1992 00:06:00 EST
Reply-To: Viet Nam War Discussion List <VWAR-L@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu>
From: Lydia Fish <FISHLM%SNYBUFVA.BITNET@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu>
Subject:      Pulitzer for Puller

        Lewis B. Puller Jr. started out writing a book about himself, about
his long torturous journey in coming to terms with the physical and
psychic wounds of Vietnam.
        But in the end, he said, his ``Fortunate Son: The Healing of a
Vietnam Vet'' turned out to be ``a little bit about Everyman.''
        On Tuesday, Puller, son of Lewis ``Chesty'' Puller, the most
decorated Marine in the history of the corps, claimed the Pulitzer Prize
for biography for the book.
        ``I'm at a loss for words,'' said the younger Puller, 46, who lives
in the Mount Vernon section of Virginia's Fairfax County. ``I just
pulled into the driveway and my wife was standing there and sometimes
she comes out and brings good news ... and she said, 'You've won the
Pulitzer Prize.'''
        Puller said he believes he won because the book struck a chord with
the American people.
        Puller's life as he knew it was blown away four months after arriving
in Southeast Asia, when an enemy explosion destroyed nearly half of his
body. A holder of the Silver Star, he lost his left leg above the knee,
his right at the torso, and left hand and two fingers of the other hand.
        But Puller's struggles in recovering from his physical devastation
was just a prelude to his long journey toward reconciliation with his
family, his father's legacy and with a war that so divided his
countrymen.
        He often drank himself into a blind oblivion, teetering on the brink
of suicide.
        In his book he wrote: ``If I could summon the courage to forgive my
government, to forgive those whose views and actions concerning the war
differed from mine, and to forgive myself, I could perhaps move into the
present, attain a degree of serenity and find the reason for which I'd
been spared, first in Vietnam and then a second time from an alcoholic
death.''
        Since the book's publication, Puller has received a thousand letters
from people moved by his story.
        ``They usually have the words 'compelled to write' and they often say
'Dear Lew, I feel like I can call you that,''' Puller said. ``It's not
just Vietnam veterans but those who have had tragedy in their lives that
they had to overcome.''
        Since completing the book, Puller said he has been ``toying'' with
the idea of writing a biography of Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, a fellow
Vietnam veteran and former contender for the 1992 Democratic
presidential nomination.
        ``I've been wondering in my own mind whether I can do it justice,''
said Puller, who said Kerrey has given him the OK for the project.
        Puller's wife, state Delegate Linda ``Toddy'' Puller, said the family
had no clue the book was up for an award.
        Asked how he planned to celebrate the suprise win, Puller laughed and
said, ``I think I'm going to fix myself a big glass of iced tea, take
off my tie and watch a re-run of 'The Fugitive.'''

-- 
#Larry W. Jewell (ex-USN)  JEWELL@PURCCMACE   jewell@mace.cc.purdue.edu     # 
#"Sunday's horoscope is noteworthy because of its strange, sudden and wholly#
#unpredictable and inexplicable occurrences, affecting all phases of life." #
#--"Your Horoscope," L.A. Evening Herald Express, Saturday, Dec. 6, 1941.   #