How "they" forget, amidst the flag waving and war trumpeting, the thousands and thousands of men and women who have died or who have returned "broken soldiers". It's such an abstract for those who are never personally touched by the horror that they keep slogging in time after time.

RIP Thomas. Peace.

Watch the accompanying video at the top of the link and I'll post the memorial video posted yesterday, after the story.

Soldier broken by war silenced by death


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.

Young's ordeal began in 2004 when a 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.

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.
.....
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.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/us/anti-w ... Stories%29

Thanks for sharing this, Roseanne!

This young man's ordeal is one of the many reasons why I loathe war ~

Rest in peace, Tomas Young ~

Sooz

It's strange. Yesterday evening, I watched a video of a quadriplegic (war vet too) who rigged a harness as a surprise for his bride so that he could "stand" for their first dance. That made me cry.
Then I watched a video of a 17yr old young man who has 2 weeks to live (bone cancer) and how he has crammed as much living as he could into the time he has left. That made me cry more.

I almost didn't watch this one because I was wrung out emotionally, which imo is the most compelling and important story about war and it's effects. I'm glad I did. A brave man who wasn't afraid to speak out and who worked tirelessly to compel TPTB to actually SEE him and hear his story in order to maybe stop the war machine.