He never took a bullet in Vietnam. He was never stabbed by a bayonet. That was fiction by the magazines. Read his biography. It's an interesting read. He said when he competed when he was in Florida drug free in the beginning of his bodybuilding career. He said he only learned of steroids when he moved to Florida. Whether true or not he said he never took the crazy doses that a lot of the guys in Golds did.
Even back in the day it was always reported that he never seemed out of shape like the guys who cycled off after the contests. Guy were even saying he looked in shape year round. Judging by his physique over the years I believe it. In his biography book the difference is that he genuinely likes to train.
That is interesting, I interviewed him around 1995 when I had him on tour here. He opened up about Vietnam and told the story of him lying in a trench with most of him platoon dead on top of and around him. The enemy was walking over the dead soldiers sticking bayonets into them making sure they got them all. He got stuck in the thigh. He has a big scar there and that is what he said caused it.
Maybe he was lying or exaggerating the story for the crowd, at the time seemed completely believable.
He was a very interesting dude, well read, well traveled, collected European antiques and at the time was with a much younger Scandinavian woman.
