Reddit rediscovers gay Vietnam vet whose headstone tells his story
went viral in Reddit’s r/pics forum this month, getting more than 89,000 upvotes.The inscription on the headstone reads “A Gay Vietnam Veteran: When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.” A post shared by Sebastian Martorana (@sebastianmartorana) As the Reddit user who uploaded the pic noted, the grave is that of Leonard Matlovich, an Air Force technical sergeant who challenged the U.S.
military’s ban on gay service members before his 1988 death from AIDS complications.Related: 12 American LGBT war heroesAs the Los Angeles Times reported after his death, Matlovich was a technical sergeant who volunteered for three tours of duty in Vietnam and earned the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart during his service.
And he came up with the idea for his headstone after being diagnosed with AIDS nearly two years before his death.Jeff Dupre, a longtime friend, told NPR’s StoryCorps in 2015 that he met Matlovich at a Thanksgiving dinner.
But Matlovich had a lot on his mind that day, as Dupre recalled. “He said, ‘Well, you know, they’re looking for a candidate to challenge the gays in the military laws. … Someone who has a good record to make it legal to be in the service and be open.
