RICHMOND (WRIC)Virginia lawmakers going into session this week are facing renewed pressure to compensate survivors of the Commonwealth's efforts to create a super race, survivors who were once deemed unfit to reproduce and sterilized against their will. <\/p>\n
Marines have a saying: once a Marine, always a marine. Lewis Reynolds served our nation in uniform for 30 years, fighting in both Korea and Vietnam. <\/p>\n
\"I love my country,\" Reynolds said. \"I fought for it and I'd still fight for it again. I thank the good Lord that [I] served my country, and I thank him for letting me live as long as I have.\" <\/p>\n
But now, the 86-year-old Marine is at the center of a new fightto right a wrong that has forced him to spend his remaining years all alone. <\/p>\n
\"I see people walking around here with their kids, and sometimes I cry, because I ain't got none,\" Reynolds said. \"People don't understand my feelings.\" <\/p>\n
To begin to understand what happened to Reynolds and thousands of others, it is necessary start in 1924, when the infamous Virginia Eugenical Sterilization Act was passed. It was based on the now-discredited science of eugenics, which had the stated goal of ridding society of those considered defectivethose whose offspring might burden society; those with \"unfit human traits.\" <\/p>\n
Virginia Law declared, Insanity, idiocy, imbecility, epilepsy and crime could be influenced by heredity, and allowed the compulsory sterilization of those confined to state institutions. <\/p>\n
As a child, Reynolds was mistakenly diagnosed as an epileptic. His medical records describe him as \"quiet, friendly and fairly intelligent,\" but they go on to say, \"sterilization is indicated, as it will take a big burden off him in the future.\" <\/p>\n
Reynolds said, \"Took my rights away of having a family, and have children and grandchildren where they can watch over me when I got older.\" <\/p>\n
State records show that Virginia sterilized 7,259 people like Lewis Reynolds between 1924 and 1979. <\/p>\n
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8News Investigates: Unfit to Breed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" RICHMOND (WRIC)Virginia lawmakers going into session this week are facing renewed pressure to compensate survivors of the Commonwealth's efforts to create a super race, survivors who were once deemed unfit to reproduce and sterilized against their will. Marines have a saying: once a Marine, always a marine. Lewis Reynolds served our nation in uniform for 30 years, fighting in both Korea and Vietnam. Continue reading