Ex-Marine, Pulitzer Prize Winner Kills Himself

FAIRFAX, Va. - It took 26 years, friends say, but the Vietnam War finally killed Lewis B. Puller Jr.

The former Marine committed suicide yesterday 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 requested anonymity said Puller shot himself. In recent days, they say, Puller fought a losing battle with alcoholism, a disease he had kept at bay for 13 years, and struggled with a more recent addiction to painkillers initially prescribed to dull continuing pain from his wounds. Friends said he and his wife, Linda "Toddy" Puller, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, had separated shortly before his death.

"To the list of names of victims of the Vietnam War, add the name of Lewis Puller," Linda 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 Oct. 11, 1968.

The blast tore away his legs and parts of both hands and riddled his body with shrapnel. He lingered near death for days, and his weight at one point dropped to 55 pounds. He survived, those who knew him say, primarily because of his iron will and his stubborn refusal to die. `My time in the hell of Vietnam'

Puller described the moment of the mine blast in his book, "Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet."

"I thought initially that the loss of my glasses in the explosion accounted for my blurred vision, and I had no idea that the pink mist that engulfed me had been caused by the vaporization of most of my right and left legs," he wrote.

"As shock began to numb my body, I could see through a haze of pain that my right thumb and little finger were missing, as was most of my left hand, and I could smell the charred flesh, which extended from my right wrist upward to the elbow. I knew that I had finished serving my time in the hell of Vietnam."

The book chronicled the chilly reception Puller received in the United States, his long and painful recuperation and slow descent into alcoholism. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

"It is fair to say the war ultimately led to his demise," said Jan Scruggs, president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, who spoke to Puller last week. "He was very unhappy. His marriage was ending."

Sen. Bob Kerrey, a Medal of Honor recipient and former Navy SEAL who lost part of a leg in Vietnam, befriended Puller in 1969 in the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, where both were being treated.

"He was more seriously injured than most," the Nebraska Democrat said. "What set him apart is that he went on to do great things.

"That's the tragedy of this whole thing. Here's a guy who inspires millions with his own courage, his own perseverance, and he's not able to inspire himself."

Kerrey, who spoke with Puller by telephone a week ago, said he had relapsed into alcoholism last fall after 12 years of sobriety and was deeply depressed.

"I guess you could say he was a casualty of the war, but I'd finger alcoholism pretty good. I think that's what dropped him in the end," he said.

Author attempted suicide in 1979

In his book, Puller said he went into a deep depression and alcoholic slide after losing his bid for Congress in Virginia in 1978. He came close to suicide in 1979. But after he closed himself inside a car in his garage, he passed out at the wheel with the key in the ignition before he could turn on the engine.

"When I came to several hours later, Toddy was standing over me, screaming and slapping my face, and all I could think was that my suicide gesture, like my life, had been a failure," he wrote.

For years after Puller returned to reasonably sound physical condition, the emotional ground underneath him remained shaky. He drank heavily until 1981, when he underwent treatment for alcoholism. By Puller's own account, the source of much of his strength over the years was his wife.

Puller 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."

Puller earned the Silver Star, two Purple Hearts, the Navy Commendation Medal and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.

At the time of his death he was teaching at George Mason University while on leave from his job as a Pentagon lawyer. He also had served as director of the Vietnam Memorial Association, a nonprofit group that promotes reconciliation between the United States and Vietnam.

In addition to Puller's wife, survivors include their two children, Lewis III, 25, and Maggie, 23; and his twin sister, Martha Downs. Although arrangements are not complete, Linda Puller said in her statement that "interment will be in Arlington Cemetery with full military honors, as was his wish." Information from Washington Post is included in this report.