Antiwar activist and Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic has turned his personal tragedy into a blessing by helping other people. As a young ma, Kovic thought that fighting a a war was a heroic, glamorous job. The main character in Oliver Stone's film "Born on the Fourth of July,"
Kovic was paralyzed from the waist-down after he was shot in the shoulder. Physically wounded and mentally unstable, Kovic thought he would return home to a hero's welcome. Instead, he was spat on by Americans, and placed in a miserable Veteran's Hospital.
Born on July 4, 1946 in Ladysmith, Wisconsin Kovic's father was a clerk at the local supermarket, and his mother watched the six children. Ron, the eldest child, was not interested in academics, but was
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