Ron Kovic, born on the fourth of July, raised in a patriotic family and spoon-fed heroic tales left home to fight the war in Vietnam. Kovic returned from the war with a shattered body, but it took a couple of years for the damage to spread to his mind and spirit. By the time he hit bottom he was a demoralized, spiteful man who sought escape in booze, drugs and Mexican whorehouses. Then he began to look outside of himself for a larger pattern to his life, the pattern that inspired his passionate pursuit of peace. Kovic never seemed to have control over his life, during his formidable years he was influenced by his family and friends, he was ordered by the U.S Military but, as a disabled veteran of the Vietnam War, made a conscious choice to become an ambassador of peace.
             On July 15, 1976, Ron Kovic pulled his wheelchair into the gleaming lights of New York City's Madison Square Garden. The eyes of the entire country were focused on this intent young man, just turned 30 but wise beyond his years. Kovic was to address the Democratic National Convention, which had convened in New York to nominate Jimmy Carter for the presidency of the United States.
             Kovic had a unique voice to share with the audience that evening. A veteran of the Vietnam War, Kovic had considered it his duty to serve his country. For his patriotism he was rewarded with a bullet in his spine leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. "I'm a Vietnam veteran. I gave America my all, and the leaders of this government threw me and others away to rot in their VA hospitals. What's happening in Vietnam is a crime against humanity..." Kovic had returned home not to a hero's welcome, but rather to neglect and indifference in America's veterans' hospitals as he began the long process of healing.
             Kovic was raised on the films of the films of John Wayne and Audie Murphy, movies like The Sands of Iwo Ji
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