Peg Mullen, 92, Who Fanned Her Anger Over Son’s Death Into Antiwar Drive, Dies

[dflprincess]

I just found this today and can't find that it was posted at the time of Mrs. Mullen's death earlier this month (and the Iowa forum was the first place I checked). It would seem wrong to let her passing go unnoticed here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/us/06mullen.html

Peg Mullen, an Iowa farm wife who made herself a living symbol of loss after her son was killed in Vietnam, as she sharply questioned the military’s explanations and became an outspoken antiwar crusader, died Friday in La Porte City, Iowa. She was 92.

After her son Michael was killed by shrapnel from United States artillery on Feb. 18, 1970, Mrs. Mullen did not disguise her rage. She used his death benefit to buy two half-page advertisements in The Des Moines Register, each with more than 700 crosses, one for each Iowan killed in the war.

Mrs. Mullen from the start refused to believe the Pentagon’s account of Michael’s death, that he was killed in an accident. Mr. Bryan’s (C.D.B. Bryan - wrote "Friendly Fire" about Michael's death and Peg's activism) investigation eventually laid out considerable evidence that the official story was, indeed, true. Mrs. Mullen remained skeptical. She wrote her own book in 1995, “Unfriendly Fire: A Mother’s Memoir,” expanding on her doubts. Around 40 of her son’s letters added poignancy to the story.

Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Michael’s commander in Vietnam, met with Mrs. Mullen and her husband and tried to answer her questions as clearly as he could. But he could not satisfy them. “To me, the death of Michael Mullen was not just one tragedy, but two: the needless death of a young man, and the bitterness that was consuming his parents,” the general wrote in his autobiography.

Margaret Goodyear was born in Pocahontas, Iowa, in 1917, and after graduating from high school moved to Des Moines to work in various federal jobs. In 1941, she married Oscar Mullen, known as Gene. They settled on the 120-acre farm near La Porte City that had been in the family for four generations. In addition to farming, Mr. Mullen worked for Rath Packing and John Deere. Mrs. Mullen worked at J. C. Penney and Santa Claus Industries. Mrs. Mullen’s mother had been county Democratic chairwoman in the 1920s, and she herself was an active Democrat, serving as a delegate at the party’s 1964, 1968 and 1972 national conventions. Her forebodings about Vietnam were solidifying into opposition before the death of Michael, who had been a graduate student in biochemistry when he was drafted in 1968.

She declined a free grave marker with a military inscription. She bought a tombstone, and used the verb “killed” rather than “died.”

Mrs. Mullen’s militancy never abated. At 74, she rode a bus for 38 hours to protest the first Persian Gulf war. In 2005, at 88, she said she was furious that she could not join Cindy Sheehan, a mother who lost a son in the Iraq war, in Ms. Sheehan’s protest outside President George W. Bush’s ranch in Texas.

[47of74]

1. That's the kind of iron that makes me proud to be an Iowan

The kind of iron she showed makes me proud to be from Iowa. RIP Mrs. Mullen.

[Sal Minella]

2. Yup. Well said. I want to think I'm made out of such stuff as she was.

[SharonAnn]

3. Don't forget the 1979 movie with Carol Burnett playing Peg Mullen

The 1979 movie, "Friendly Fire", where Carol Burnett played Peg Mullen was an awesome movie.

I've never forgotten it.

See IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079177/

[Sal Minella]

4. Just added to my Netflix queue. Thanks for reminding us.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

5. From the WCF Courier (her local newspaper) ...

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_94b1322e-b285-11de-94ac-001cc4c002e0.html

"WATERLOO - Peg Mullen gained national fame as a crusader for truth about her son's death in Vietnam. She was much more than that to a soldier who served with her son.
To Martin Culpepper, an electrical contractor in Waterloo, Peg and her husband, Gene Mullen of La Porte City, were like a second set of parents. So much so that Culpepper was with Peg Mullen this past weekend, when she passed away at the age of 92.

"Peg and Gene Mullen were responsible for changing things in my life and partially responsible for where I am today," said Culpepper, one of the area's more successful minority contractors.
The Mullens became famous nationally in the 1970s because of C.D.B. Bryan's book "Friendly Fire," the story of their quest to find out about their son Michael's death in February 1970 in Vietnam.
The book was made into an ABC television movie in the late '70s starring Carol Burnett and Ned Beatty as the Mullens.

Culpepper played a key part in that story. He served in Michael Mullen's outfit and was with him when he was killed. He had helped dig the foxhole where Michael was killed in his sleep during an artillery barrage.

Culpepper also wrote the Mullens, telling them the truth about their son's death when, he says, the Army tried to cover up the events. The Mullens and Culpepper kept in touch by letter and met in person after Culpepper left the service in 1971.

Culpepper said the Army offered him promotions "if I kept my mouth shut and behaved myself. They'll deny it. I told them they could stick it where the sun doesn't shine."
"A friend is friend. Just because death comes doesn't mean the friendship ends," Culpepper said. "Mikey was my friend. We were planning on doing a whole bunch of things when we got back home.
"Honesty and respect and appreciation ... Gene and Peg Mullen were two people who believed in that. That's what made them very special to me," Culpepper said.
The Mullens guided Culpepper into his profession as an electrician - even after Culpepper initially balked at the idea. Gene Mullen in particular was "pretty feisty," Culpepper said.
After Gene died in 1986, Culpepper stayed in touch with Peg.

Peg held true to her causes later in life. In 1995 she wrote her own book, "Unfriendly Fire," in which she was highly critical of Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, a hero during the 1991 Persian Gulf War who was one of Michael Mullen's commanders in Vietnam.

"(Peg) was one of the last few warriors that knew how to put up a fight against the system and work with the system to try to get something done," Culpepper said.

Her funeral is Wednesday in La Porte City."

[Vincardog]

6. Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours