It took 26 years, friends say, but the Vietnam War finally killed Lewis B. Puller Jr.
The former Marine committed suicide Wednesday at 48, two years after winning the Pulitzer Prize for his autobiography describing how he defeated despair, pain and alcohol after he was cut in half by a land mine in Vietnam.A family friend who spoke on condition of anonymity said Puller shot himself.
Friends said that his marriage was crumbling and that he had relapsed into alcoholism.
"To the list of names of victims of the Vietnam War, add the name of Lewis Puller," Puller's wife, Linda T. "Toddy" Puller, said in a statement. "He suffered terrible wounds that never really healed."
Puller was the son of the most decorated Marine in history, Gen. Lewis "Chesty" Puller. The younger Puller was a second lieutenant and combat platoon leader until he stepped on an enemy land mine in 1968. The blast tore away his legs and parts of both hands.
"It is fair to say the war ultimately led to his demise," said Jan Scruggs, president of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.