Graham Greene's Death Has Some Looking Back at the Time He Spent in the Military

Throughout his long career as an actor, Graham Greene found ways to make every character he played feel fully embodied and entirely real. News broke on Sept. 1 that Graham had died at the age of 73, which naturally left some wanting to learn more about the actor, who was perhaps best known for his work in Dances With Wolves.

Before he was an actor, though, Graham was in the military and actually fought in the Vietnam War. Here's what we know about his time in service.

Although he didn't spend much time discussing his military service, Graham was a veteran of the Vietnam War. As Graham explained in a 2018 video, though, he had several families who served in the armed forces, including his father and two uncles. He joined the Marines to follow in their footsteps, and explained that he quickly learned that being in war was more about survival than glory.

In the video, Graham further explains that he was a squad leader and then recounts the story of a specific assault while his team was clearing a hill. They were attacked by North Vietnamese snipers.

"My guys trusted me to take care of them and keep them alive, but sometimes I couldn't do it," he said, holding back tears. He told the story of one man who was hit and died in less than a minute. "We took the hill, but 45 of our guys were killed," he explained.

Graham explained that, when he got home, he sometimes felt like he might have a death wish. He joined an undercover narcotics unit in a police department. He said that he lived for 30 years with the trauma of the war, but was then sent to a psychiatrist by the VA, where he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress. He explained that he leaves out the disorder because he doesn't believe there's anything wrong with post-traumatic stress.

"It's a sign that you're a human being with a normal response to the traumas of war," he explained.

He then explained that he started a group for veterans in 2001 with the goal of helping them deal with their own traumas. When the group started, it was primarily for Vietnam veterans, but he explained that veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also joined.

While Graham may have been best known for his on-screen roles, it's clear that his military service was a defining part of who he was and how he saw himself existing in the world. What's also clear, though, is that he doesn't feel that he should hide his military service or the ways that it traumatized him.

In opening up about his own traumatic experiences, Graham is undoubtedly helping other people do the same. Graham is not the first Vietnam veteran to suggest that he faced significant trauma coming out of the war, but because he was one of the most well known, it meant a lot that he was willing to talk about it so openly.