U.S. Air Force veteran Louis Dean Clason
The medals pop against the bright blue and black backgrounds of the two simple wooden frames hanging on the wall.
Two Silver Stars. Five Bronze Stars, all with “V,” given for valor. Four Purple Hearts and two Vietnamese Wound Medals. And row upon row of multiple Army commendation medals, including 14 American and six Vietnamese awards. All earned over the course of a 20-year Army career — nearly five of which were spent in Vietnam.
A black and white photo of Platoon Sergeant (E7) Louis Dean Clason receiving his second Silver Star for valor by Vice President Spiro Agnew, and a Vietnamese Gold Star from Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky of South Vietnam, hang nearby. A typewritten letter to his mother dated Sept. 5, 1970, and written by the senior adviser of the Airborne Division Advisory Detachment (Advisory Team 162) states, “It is truly exceptional for any man to receive a second Silver Star for valor. … Of all the fine brave men serving in Vietnam, your son was chosen not only for his courageous deeds but also for his dedicated and professional service in assisting this beleaguered country.”
Louis Dean Clason receiving his second Silver Star for valor by Vice President Spiro Agnew
Clason, who also served in the U.S. Air Force (1954-57) and was stationed in Morocco and Korea as a radio teletype operator, decided to enlist in the Army in 1958, where he served as a member of the 50th Expeditionary Signal Battalion and the 82nd Airborne Division.
One of the last American soldiers out of the Vietnam War in 1972, Clason is one of the most decorated Army veterans in the state of Montana. The proud, sincere smile he wears as he stands next to the American flag in another photo belies the intensity of a man who prefers to reminisce about the more humorous moments of his time there.
“I don’t tell war stories,” Clason said.
“He only tells all the funny stories,” said his son Dean, 51. “He doesn’t like to get into the blood and guts. Rarely have I ever heard any bad stories, of which I know there are many. The medals speak for themselves.”
What Dean has gleaned through the years is that his dad was shot at multiple times, sustained wounds, lost men, got “their butts kicked for a couple of days” when their unit landed on top of an NVA hospital complex in Cambodia. After another fight on Rocket Ridge, the younger Clason said, his dad swam a very deep and swift river with nine of his Vietnamese troops to avoid capture by the NVA. They ended up wandering in the jungle for days with no boots, shirts, compass or hats, and a gun with only three rounds left in it and no food. Clason still has shrapnel in his shoulder, sustained from another skirmish in the jungle.
A display of the numerous medals Louis Dean Clason received throughout his years of military service
With severe hearing problems today, the elder Clason wrote his responses to an interviewer’s questions. He said he was scared “all the time,” while in Vietnam; being brave is simply a result of realizing that “somebody has to do something” and doing it.
One memory that he does talk about: His unit participated in President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration parade. Another is that he was part of a two-man radio team at the Johnson Ranch in Texas, when he was invited to come in out of the rain to sit in Lady Bird Johnson’s kitchen during the funeral of President Lyndon Johnson.
“We had chow and coffee with Lady Bird,” Cason wrote. He was later given a PTSD diagnosis, and spent years in therapy trying to learn how to keep the demons at bay. For years after retiring from the military, he worked for a friend taking care of show horses, where he met Bill Clinton when the then-president visited Billings. He also worked at a travel agency.
For anyone considering the military, Clason wrote, “Really think it over. Talk to family members who served.”
Or peruse the medals of honor that adorn the walls of someone who, like Cason, has been there — testament to the true fortitude required to serve one’s country.
Stories of Honor is a series, in partnership with AARP, featuring profiles of 10 veterans across Montana between Memorial Day and Veteran's Day. For more information, please visit states.aarp.org/montana/storiesofhonor.
