First Name: Peter
Last Name: Kleingena
Middle Initial:
Date of Birth: N/A
Sex: Male
Martial Status: Married
Number of Children: 0
Home Town: Miami, Florida
Education Completed: Not Sure
Other Occupations:
Branch of Service: Marines
Highest Rank: N/A
Serial Number: N/A
Platoon: N/A
Age at Start of Service: 21
Years of Service: 4
Combat Veteran: Yes
Time in Combat: Not Sure
Place of Combat: N/A
Awards:
Date of Suicide: N/A
Suicide Method: gunshot
Veteran’s Story: I met Pete while sky diving many years ago in the early ’70s. He was on edge most of the time that I knew him. Always restless and unable to talk about ‘Nam. His relationships with his girlfriend/ wife was a stabilizing force for him. He was tough for people to talk to…Although he seemed abrupt and even curt, those of us who were his pals knew different.I think that he joined the Marines expecting all the things that a young man who saw the recruiting posters would want. After his hitch was up, a friend of ours, who had known him prior to his service said the Pete had changed a lot.Those days in the early 70s were tough for Pete as he was very proud to have been a Marine. I think that he had expected to have a brotherhood or extended kinship with the Corps that would have been a lifetime relationship. I think that he was more than hurt buy the lack of respect that he saw after Nam. The American press and seemingly the nation looked at the Nam vet as a loser and a druggie…None of which Pete was. In his heart and soul I feel that he felt betrayed by the country and the Corps that he loved too much.One day a friend called me and told me that Pete had shot and killed himself the night before. He had a great job with a utility company, a fine house and a pretty wife , who also had a realy good job.There had been a argument between Pete and his wife …Perhaps that was what set him off. I think that there had been too much hurt in his soul and it finally over took him.He was a good man and we still miss him.
Submitted By: EdWard Lewin
Relationship to Veteran: Friend
