Bullet removed from Vietnamese soldier's heart 39 years after war

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04/17/backpage/4_16_0714_53_56.txt

By: Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam -- A Vietnamese soldier who was shot by U.S. troops in 1968 and has lived with a bullet lodged in his heart for nearly four decades underwent surgery and the slug was successfully removed, doctors said Monday. - Le Dinh Hung, 60, underwent surgery on Friday and is recovering quickly, said Dr. Nguyen Sinh Hien, who spent three hours operating on Hung at Hanoi Heart Hospital.

"It is the strangest case that I have ever seen," Hien said. "Normally a person with a bullet in his heart would die immediately if they didn't have surgery right away."

Hung said the surgery had eased the chest pain he had suffered since the 1968 Vietnam War battle, in Quang Tri province near the former Demilitarized Zone that separated North and South Vietnam.

"I was very lucky to survive," he said from his hospital bed. "People believe in their fate and I do too."

One year after Hung was shot, doctors tried unsuccessfully to remove the bullet, which just over an inch long.

[Monkeyman]

1. One Lucky Dude Hope It Wasn't One of My Bullets God Speed

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