The Real Ron Kovic

In “Born on the Fourth of July,” we witnessed Ron Kovic’s struggle to overcome his devastating injury in Vietnam. On January 20, 1968, Kovic was hit by a Viet Cong bullet that left him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Kovic fought to stay alive, and was eventually brought to a veteran’s hospital in the Bronx. The hospital was awful, with “rats on the ward, paralyzed men lying in their own excrement, pushing call buttons for aides who never came,” recalls Kovic. The Vietnam veteran and former Marine battled insomnia and anxiety attacks for years. The boy from Massapequa, Long Island, who wanted to fight for his country so badly found himself spiraling downward into deep depression. As Kovic puts it, “I don’t how I got through the day. It was terrible. It was almost impossible.”

But in 2006, almost forty years after that fateful day in Vietnam, Ron Kovic is a new man. He is still in a wheelchair, but he has a new outlook on life and his injury. Kovic is now an anti-war advocate, and in the article, “The Forgotten Wounded of Iraq,” he relates his own story to the experiences of soldiers injured in Iraq. Kovic talks about how, just like in the 1960’s, the government [under the Bush administration] is not spending enough time or money on veteran’s hospitals. Conditions are below health standards, but the government continues to cut back millions of dollars in funds for these facilities. Much of this money is being siphoned to create new weapons and war technology, so American soldiers will be able to kill and injure more people.

Kovic is on a mission to spread the word about injured Iraq War veterans, whom he believes are being censored out of the news by people who don’t want Americans to see what’s really happening to soldiers in Iraq. “The soldiers are returned to Dover Air Force Base in the darkness of night as [the Bush] administration continues to pursue a policy of censorship, tightly controlling the images…and rarely ever allowing the human cost of its policy to be seen,” he explains. Following his injury in Vietnam, Kovic felt used and betrayed by the government. Now, he wants to prevent young men and women from making the same mistake he did by revealing the truth about Iraq.

Kovic once woke up miserable every day because of his injury. But today, the veteran sees his condition as a “blessing in disguise.” Kovic explains that his wound gave him a new perspective on life and war, one that he never would have known had he gotten out of Vietnam unscathed. He believes it is now his duty to tell his story, showing what it really means to “sacrifice for your country.” He is an anti-war activist, and has spoken at such events as the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

A once bitter, angry man is now an inspiration to millions who believe that war is not the answer. As Kovic says: “We must break this cycle of violence and begin to move in a different direction; war is not the answer, violence is not the solution. A more peaceful world is possible.” Hopefully the new administration will listen. He’s been living that same message now for 40 years.