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In 1978 Puller ran for Congress in Virginia. His defeat depressed him. The following year, his first attempt at suicide failed because he was too drunk to turn on the ignition of his car and asphyxiate himself. "He was a person who was beleaguered and battered by life," says Jan Scruggs, president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. "It is a great American tragedy." In a statement as eloquent as any, Puller's wife -- now a member of the Virginia house of delegates -- said, "To the list of names of victims of the Vietnam War, add the name of Lewis Puller. He suffered terrible wounds that never really healed."
There are no accurate statistics on suicide among the 2.7 million Vietnam veterans, particularly among the 300,000 who came home wounded. But veterans' groups believe the rate to be far higher than national averages. Puller's death sent waves of anguish coursing through veterans who have known similar despair and have also sought refuge in alcohol or drugs. But not everyone who shared Puller's experience of life after near death followed the same path. Senator Bob Kerrey, who lived in a ward with Puller during rehabilitation in Philadelphia, lost part of a leg in Vietnam but maintained his spirit. A grieving Kerrey said of his dead friend, "I don't think he died a casualty of something that he did in Vietnam, but I do think he died a casualty of the loneliness that he felt from being set apart."
There is no room on the wall of the Vietnam Memorial for the name of Lewis Puller. To be included, one must have died directly from one's wounds in the war. That will not deter Puller's comrades however. "There has never been a suicide placed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial," says Scruggs. "But we are going to find a special way to take care of Lew on Memorial Day."