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发帖数: 11530 | 1 Soldier broken by war silenced by death
By Moni Basu, CNN
updated 6:02 AM EST, Thu November 13, 2014
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
A sniper's bullets in Baghdad critically wounded Tomas Young in 2004
Young was left paralyzed and became a vocal opponent of war
On the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, he intended to go off his
feeding tube
He said he stayed alive for his wife but died Monday, the day before
Veterans Day
(CNN) -- Shortly after the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, paralyzed
veteran Tomas Young spoke with me about why he intended to end his life.
He didn't know what people would say about him after he was gone. All he
wanted, really, was to be remembered as a nice guy.
He spoke with me by phone as a pump at his side helped him inject
painkillers. His speech was so distorted that I had difficulty understanding
him. He sent me photos showing how long and thick his hair and beard had
grown. He said he seldom left his bed and that he popped a dizzying
assortment of more than 30 different pills every day.
Read why Young wanted to end his life
Young's ordeal began in 2004 when two rounds from a sniper's AK-47 severed
his spinal cord.
Tired of suffering, Young penned a scathing letter in 2013 to former
President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney. He laid out
the painful circumstances of his life and blamed the former administration
for the many casualties of that war. He said he would refuse his feeding
tube and allow himself to die.
Tomas Young blamed George Bush and Dick Cheney for the Iraq War in a letter
that went viral last year.
Tomas Young blamed George Bush and Dick Cheney for the Iraq War in a letter
that went viral last year.
He was the subject of the 2007 documentary, "Body of War," and had become a
vocal anti-war activist. He again made headlines when his death wish became
public.
But he didn't die then.
He said he wanted to spend more time with his wife, Claudia Cuellar. Former
television host Phil Donahue, co-director and executive producer of "Body of
War," said Wednesday that Tomas and Claudia made a remarkable love story.
"Theirs was a true love like I have never witnessed before," Donahue said. "
Tomas made it clear she was the reason he was alive."
The Uncounted: War's true toll
On Monday, Young died at home in Seattle. The cause of death was not
immediately clear, according to media reports.
Donahue said he had been waiting almost 10 years to hear what he heard on
the phone Monday.
Tomas was imprisoned in bed. He couldn't even cough.
Phil Donahue, former television host
"This was a catastrophic injury," Donahue said. "Tomas was imprisoned in bed
. He couldn't even cough."
Young had moved with his wife to Portland, Oregon, where, as he stated in
his Twitter profile, he was a "happily married man who's happy to live in a
medical maryjane state." He was referring to legalized medical marijuana.
I learned of his passing on Veterans Day. Appropriate, I thought, for as
controversial as Young had been, I believed he remained true to his
convictions.
When we spoke last year, he asked me about my experiences covering the war
in Iraq. We talked about the soldiers I met who lost their lives or returned
home with serious injuries, both physical and psychological.
A soldier's war on two fronts
Cuellar told me then she was frightened at the prospect of losing her
husband, but that she always returned to thinking about how difficult it was
for him every single day.
"There will be time to mourn when he dies," Cuellar told me. "Until that day
, I will love and cherish and celebrate him and try to make each day as
loving and happy and comfortable as possible for him."
And she did.
In a video posted on YouTube Tuesday, Young's sister-in-law, Amanda Young,
captured his 34 years of life -- from a baby who put a gleam in his mother's
eye to a companion for his brother Nathan; from a young man who felt
compelled to serve his nation after the terror attacks of 9/11 to a wounded
veteran who became a poster child for those who opposed the U.S. role in
Iraq.
Young returned home from war a broken man. He is now free from his pain.
In an online memorial, people thanked him for his service.
Young was a self-avowed atheist, but somehow I could feel him smiling down
at his friends, glad that they were remembering him as a nice guy. |
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