Leroy Bailey

December 22, 2004 9:39 AM

His name is Leroy Bailey, and he was once briefly famous. The legacy of war for one Vietnam veteran. Part of an excellent series in the Chicago Sun-Times, previous article linked here.
posted by Armitage Shanks (5 comments total)

Thanks for directing my attention to this tragic story. I have tears in my eyes and a rage in my belly about the audacity to deny him the surgeries.

And then you have Cosmetic surgery perk for soldiers

The US army has long lured recruits with the slogan “be all you can be”, but now soldiers and their families can receive plastic surgery, including breast enlargements, on taxpayers’ money.

Times are changing. Hopefully
posted by nostrada at 10:11 AM on December 22, 2004

I remember reading Royko's column about Leroy Bailey in one of his collections (At not quite two months old, I was too young to read it when it originally appeared) and it always moved me. I wondered what happened to him after that. I was glad to see the update and see that he does have some semblance of a face.
posted by SisterHavana at 10:42 AM on December 22, 2004

Oh, wow. A well-written, touching article and it's linked with a succinct (yet both informative and intriguing) description... Nicely done, Armitage. Thanks.
posted by stefanie at 10:46 AM on December 22, 2004

This is why there can be no clean and precise "war on the cheap." War may occasionally be necessary, but it is always expensive and messy, and the aftermath goes on for many decades afterwards (just see the earlier thread about the survivor of the 1914 Christmas truce).

This also makes me miss Royko. A great journalist.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 10:54 AM on December 22, 2004

A reminder that my cynicism is a luxury. That guy is just amazing.

And win or lose in Iraq, we'll have plenty of other vets that will need to be faught for once Bushco. forgets about them.
posted by bardic at 6:20 PM on December 22, 2004