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thedrifter
06-26-08, 08:16 AM
War Veteran Gets Honored
Jun 25 2008 11:28PM
KXMBTV Bismarck
Many North Dakotans have served our country in wartime.

And often, these veterans return home and are honored for their committment to service.

But for one Bismarck veteran, it's taken 40 years to finally get a "thanks."


<Kenneth Dwelle (DWELL-EE) has received many awards for serving over 23 years in the Navy

But one recent honor stands out among the rest

It's called the presidential unit ciatation award as rare as the Navy Cross and given to a unit for extraordinary heroism under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions

For Ken and his unit, squadron VO-67, this meant being a flying target in the Vietnam War.

Ken, "We was flying over tree top level with this big aircraft...and we're flying along very slow and it's a big target for people on the ground. In fact, I was a rear gunner and you could see people on the ground. You could just about see their eyeballs which is about how close we were to the ground when we were dropping these sensors."


Ken is refering to a sensor that was dropped from his plane in order to detect oncoming enemies on the ground.

Ken, "We've gotten many emails from Marines that stated that thousands of marines were saved by these sensors."


Ken's action saved thousands of marine's lives but he wasn't allowed to speak about the mission for over 20 years because his mission was still classified by the government.

Ken, "It was a mac and miror special is what they called it. A top secret mission."


On top of keeping his service secret, the general public was not acepting of Vietnam Vets for many years. A tough pill to swallow for Ken.

Ken, "When we came back, it really hurt because people actually did spit on you because they did not appreciate what we did for our country."


The public eventually came around over the years, but Ken's duty to his country still had a big price to pay.

Ken, "I had contacted cancer from one of the bases we was stationed at...They had this Agent Orange that had cleared out the whole area and I contacted the cancer but when i was applying for the VA, they never heard of this squadron...There was nothing on your record that you prove that you was over there. That you was in the squadron until 1998."


Ken eventually got access to cancer treated and was healed

And after 40 years, his unit is finally getting the recognition they deserve with the presidential unit ciatation

Ken says the feeling is good.

Ken, "It's a great honor and I am proud and I'm proud for all of my shipmates we worked for many years to get this award and we finally got it. It just made my day.".

And I asked Ken if he had the opportunity to serve, would he do it again. He said absolutely...

Ellie