David Christian, Green Beret, Vietnam War hero becomes a lawyer

Green Beret, Vietnam War hero earns law degree
By Lucas K. Murray - Courier-Post of Cherry Hill
Posted : Tuesday May 17, 2011 12:39:55 EDT
CAMDEN, N.J. — It would have been easy for David Christian to give up, to live off an Army captain’s pension and Social Security.

But it wasn’t in his nature.

Considered the youngest, most-decorated officer of the Vietnam War, with a chest full of medals, it nonetheless took Christian decades to graduate from law school.

Four times in 1976, the former Green Beret was dismissed from Rutgers-Camden for not keeping up his grades.

But it is with mixed feelings he will finally earn that diploma Thursday.

“I left here with all my friends graduating and that left me brokenhearted,” the 63-year-old said. “I was training to be an attorney and was just four credits away from achieving that.”

Today, underneath a black suit and vest, a crisp white shirt with monogrammed cuffs and a yellow tie bearing images of military medals, it’s tough to picture Christian as a skinny Army officer in agony on a hospital bed.

The signs of pain are concealed by his impeccable attire. On sunny days, he wears a Panama hat to cover his red hair and glasses to protect his eyes. Both guard his face from the sun, whose rays easily cause bouts with skin cancer — among the after-effects of napalm burns that affected 40 percent of his body.
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Green Beret, Vietnam War hero earns law degree