Story highlights A sniper's bullets in Baghdad critically wounded Tomas Young in 2004

Young was left paralyzed and became a vocal opponent of war

On the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, he intended to go off his feeding tube

He said he stayed alive for his wife but died Monday, the day before Veterans Day

(CNN) Shortly after the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, paralyzed veteran Tomas Young spoke with me about why he intended to end his life.

He didn't know what people would say about him after he was gone. All he wanted, really, was to be remembered as a nice guy.

He spoke with me by phone as a pump at his side helped him inject painkillers. His speech was so distorted that I had difficulty understanding him. He sent me photos showing how long and thick his hair and beard had grown. He said he seldom left his bed and that he popped a dizzying assortment of more than 30 different pills every day.

Young's ordeal began in 2004 when two rounds from a sniper's AK-47 severed his spinal cord.

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