[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 61 (Tuesday, May 17, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      TRIBUTE TO LEWIS PULLER, JR.

  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, I did not know Lewis Puller, Jr., very well. 
But you didn't have to know him well to be inspired by his courage and 
his bravery.
  I think the reason that his death hit all of us so hard last week was 
because he--as much as anyone else--showed veterans that there is life 
after the Vietnam war.
  He showed America that healing is possible.
  For 25 years, after losing both legs and having his hands mangled by 
a landmine in Vietnam, after fighting against physical disabilities and 
alcoholism and drug dependency that resulted, he showed us that heroes 
are not heroes just for what they accomplish, but for what they inspire 
in others.
  And his inspiration will live on long after the tributes and eulogies 
that have poured out the past week fade into the history books.
  Mr. Speaker, before I came down here this morning, I was searching 
for the right words to express the courage with which Lewis Puller 
lived his life.
  But then I realized it is impossible to come up with the right words, 
because any words will not match the eloquence with which he used to 
tell his own story in one of the best books published to date on the 
Vietnam war.
  He did not write the book ``Fortunate Son'' in hopes of winning a 
Pulitzer Prize--although he did.
  He wrote it in the hopes that by telling his story, he might be able 
to help other veterans come to grips with their own problems, to help 
families bind the wounds and move on, and rebuild their own lives.
  In that book he wrote, ``If I could now summon the courage to forgive 
my government, to forgive those whose views and actions concerning the 
war differed from mine and to forgive myself,'' he said, ``I could 
perhaps * * * find the reason for which I had been spared, first in 
Vietnam, and then, a second time, from alcoholic death.''
  By finding it in himself to heal and move on, he helped heal a 
nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I will never forget the last time I saw Lewis Puller.
  It was at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial last Memorial Day.
  We used to run into each other there a few times each year, usually 
on Veterans Day, or at a POW/MIA rally, and he always had a kind word 
to say.
  Last year, when President Clinton was suffering through his first few 
months as Commander in Chief, Lewis volunteered to help.
  He pressed the President to go to the wall with him and pay tribute 
to the men and women who gave their lives for this country.
  I remember standing there that day, watching as boos and shouts came 
from many of the veterans assembled who were there that day.
  And as the protest continued, Lewis Puller, who was sitting a few 
feet behind the President, among gathered dignitaries and others, 
looked out at the crowd, and without hesitation, pushed his wheelchair 
to the very front of the platform next to the President, and facing the 
crowd, absorbed every bit of the abuse until it subsided.
  That same courage and commitment to healing led him, in the past 
year, to a much greater healing--between America and Vietnam.
  As a director of the Vietnamese Memorial, he worked hard for 
reconciliation between our two countries, and helped conceive of a 
project to build a series of schools in the poorest province in Vietnam 
as a living memorial to the 2 million men, women, and children who died 
in that country.
  He was on the verge of seeing the ground being broken when he left us 
last week.
  For 25 years, he carried an overwhelming burden with strength, grace, 
and dignity. And it is that image that will sustain him long after this 
time is over.
  Mr. Speaker, in a television interview in 1992, Lewis Puller was 
asked what he would say to God when he arrived in heaven.
  He responded: ``Lt. Lewis B. Puller, Jr., reporting for duty, Sir! 
I've already served my time in hell.''
  Heaven is a better place today, Mr. Speaker, and we are all the 
lesser for his having left us.

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