This winter break I read the book Fortunate Son, an autobiography by Lewis B. Puller Jr. The book is a gripping tale of a young man’s Vietnam War experience as a marine. His service resulted in amputation of both legs above the knees and several lost fingers. Lewis B. Puller Jr. is the son of “Chesty” Puller, one of the most famous Marines in United States history. The book details the life of Lewis Jr. Beginning with rudimentary childhood memories and adolescence. This leads into his college years and the military. Finally concluding with his recovery and post injury life as an amputee. Throughout the post war experience Lewis Jr. struggle to acclimate to America’s attitude towards the war in general, and specifically towards the returning
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and I could have less in common. He was raised the son of a brigadier general on a military base in the northeast. His family enjoyed all the time period benefits of Chesty Puller’s high rank, such as butlers, yardmen, a driver, and other associated family servants courtesy of the military. His father was consistently away on business and spent little time with Lewis Jr. However before Lewis Jr. reached 10 his life took sharp curve upon his father’s medical military retirement and ended up not so different from my adolescence. His family moved south, to a home in a rural Virginia community and his father suddenly became an ever present and strict but loving feature in his life. Through finding these similarities in our lives I found it much easier to put myself in Lewis B. Puller Jr.’s shoes and understand the forces in his life. The book then skips over most of Lewis Jr.’s high school years, save for a few stories about chasing girls and the pursuit of young love that most young men can relate …show more content…
Throughout his early recovery Lewis Jr.’s writing made me feel his anger for those who side-stepped the war, and his growing self-despair for his situation. The next time I was able to easily connect with Lewis Jr. was shortly after his wounds healed closed and he began to be wheeled to therapy in the hospital clinic. He described his physical therapist as one of the largest influenced in his recovery not only physically but also in terms of helping to begin his mental recovery. She took a hard stand on not allowing his self-despair attitude in her clinic while still being sensitive to his war experience and encouraging him to communicate with the other amputees in the clinic about their similar experiences. I feel that reading through Lewis Jr.’s well written saga of the patient experience as an amputee will be of great use to me in future treatment. He mentioned thing he was glad his physical therapist didn’t do, such as coddling and pity, as well as things he was glad she did. The recovery process was one of my favorite parts of the book to read. The process including his fitting for assistive devices and a hand controlled car. He also detailed his feelings of failure at times but ultimately his triumph and astounding degree of independence he achieved in comparison to the sad state he returned to the US in.The book
and I could have less in common. He was raised the son of a brigadier general on a military base in the northeast. His family enjoyed all the time period benefits of Chesty Puller’s high rank, such as butlers, yardmen, a driver, and other associated family servants courtesy of the military. His father was consistently away on business and spent little time with Lewis Jr. However before Lewis Jr. reached 10 his life took sharp curve upon his father’s medical military retirement and ended up not so different from my adolescence. His family moved south, to a home in a rural Virginia community and his father suddenly became an ever present and strict but loving feature in his life. Through finding these similarities in our lives I found it much easier to put myself in Lewis B. Puller Jr.’s shoes and understand the forces in his life. The book then skips over most of Lewis Jr.’s high school years, save for a few stories about chasing girls and the pursuit of young love that most young men can relate …show more content…
Throughout his early recovery Lewis Jr.’s writing made me feel his anger for those who side-stepped the war, and his growing self-despair for his situation. The next time I was able to easily connect with Lewis Jr. was shortly after his wounds healed closed and he began to be wheeled to therapy in the hospital clinic. He described his physical therapist as one of the largest influenced in his recovery not only physically but also in terms of helping to begin his mental recovery. She took a hard stand on not allowing his self-despair attitude in her clinic while still being sensitive to his war experience and encouraging him to communicate with the other amputees in the clinic about their similar experiences. I feel that reading through Lewis Jr.’s well written saga of the patient experience as an amputee will be of great use to me in future treatment. He mentioned thing he was glad his physical therapist didn’t do, such as coddling and pity, as well as things he was glad she did. The recovery process was one of my favorite parts of the book to read. The process including his fitting for assistive devices and a hand controlled car. He also detailed his feelings of failure at times but ultimately his triumph and astounding degree of independence he achieved in comparison to the sad state he returned to the US in.The book