Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 12, 1994 TAG: 9405120198
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Medium
Laura Massie, a spokeswoman for George Mason University, where Puller was in his second year as a writer-in-residence, confirmed that Puller killed himself.
A family friend who did not want to be identified said Puller shot himself, but Fairfax County police would say only that they were investigating a death at Puller's residence.
``To the list of names of victims of the Vietnam War, add the name of Lewis Puller,'' his widow, Linda T. ``Toddy'' Puller, said in a statement Wednesday night. ``He suffered terrible wounds that never really healed.''
Puller was the son of the most highly decorated Marine in U.S. history, Gen. Lewis ``Chesty'' Puller.
His book, ``Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet'' is about his life as his father's son, his Vietnam experiences and his struggle with depression and alcoholism after the war. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992.
Puller stepped on an enemy land mine in 1968. The explosion tore away his legs and parts of both hands.
Puller served as a combat platoon leader in Vietnam until he was wounded. He was awarded the Silver Star, two Purple Hearts, the Navy Commendation Medal and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.
He returned to Vietnam last August for the first time since the war, and said he was overwhelmed when he met disabled Vietnamese veterans
``Here I am, sitting on an NVA [North Vietnam Army] soldier's bed with him,'' he said ``You know, our stumps are all tangled up. It was incredible.''
Don M. Boileau, chairman of the communications department at George Mason in Fairfax, taught a class with Puller this semester.
Boileau said he received a note Wednesday from Puller.
``It was a very precise note regarding students' grading'' for the class, Boileau said.
``In retrospect, he was wrapping things up. It was very thoughtful. He obviously put a lot into it.''
It was difficult to find students on the campus who had taken any classes taught by Puller.
``I've never taken his class, but we all knew who he was,'' said Jeffrey Jackson, 19. ``He cut a pretty distinctive figure on campus, and this is the kind of thing no one who knew him would expect.''
At the campus library, the single copy of ``Fortunate Son'' had not been signed out and sat available for reading.
Linda Puller, a member of the General Assembly, was notified of her husband's death in Richmond, where she was attending a special session of the legislature.
``In his struggle to recovery, we faced many troubled and painful times together,'' her statement said. ``But today, I hope his friends and the family he loved so much will remember the wonderful moments he brought to our lives.''
Puller was a 1963 graduate of Christchurch School in Saluda. After Vietnam, he attended law school at the College of William and Mary. He worked as a lawyer at the Defense Department before taking a leave of absence to teach at George Mason.
Puller ran unsuccessfully for Congress in eastern Virginia's 1st District in 1978.
In a 1992 graduation speech at Christchurch School, Puller told the students he was proof that life offered second, third and even fourth chances.
``By the time I graduated from college, I had flunked out of one school and was on academic and disciplinary probation at another,'' Puller said. ``I was also well on my way to being an out-of-control alcoholic.
``I'm not proud of any of this, and I readily acknowledge that most of my problems, most of my misfortunes, were of my own making.''
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB