Pins recognize Vietnam vets for their service

By TAYLOR INMAN

For the Hungry Horse News

When Don Bogut and Bert Rice give out the Vietnam Veteran Lapel Pin, they take a moment to thank the recipient for their service, looking directly into their eyes as they shake hands. Veterans themselves, they know how important it is to relay gratitude for servicemen and women.

Bogut and Rice have made it their mission to give out the Vietnam Veteran Lapel Pin as a way of honoring the many people who served during that era. More than a dozen veterans received a pin at the Columbia Falls Montana Veterans Home on Monday.

“I’ve had a great deal of pleasure handing these out and being able to thank our veterans for what they’vedone. As you well know, Vietnam veterans were not honored like they should have been,” Bogut said.

Due to the unpopularity of the Vietnam War, many veterans were not met with the typical warm welcomethat soldiers from previous wars were guaranteed. Bogut said he had friends get spat at and called names during that time. The commemorative pin is just one small way to show appreciation.

Rice said the pins are available through a community commemorative partner program, which is administered by the Department of Defense.

He found out about the program more than a decade ago and has been handing out pins ever since.

“I’ve presented probably 800 pins or more,” Rice said.

Rice was a colonel in Army, serving two tours in Vietnam between the years of 1965-1966 and 1968-1969. He commanded the helicopter company in the 25th Infantry Division, stationed in Cu Chi, near the Iron Triangle.

Bogut served in the Navy during this era, but didn’t deploy to Vietnam. He said his ship, the USS Kidd, was stationed near that part of the Pacific Ocean.

Both he and Rice are part of a veterans group where they spend the winter in Arizona. But they always return home to Montana in the summer.

“We got our heads together and decided to come to the Veterans Home, where most of these people, almost all of them, are Vietnam veterans,” Bogut said. “Being able to present them with this lapel pin has been a real pleasure.”

Veterans Home Recreation Supervisor Bonnie Stutsman said these kinds of ceremonies help remind residents that their community appreciates their sacrifices. Afterward, she said she can tell a difference.

“You can usually see the pride that comes with it, most of them have that. There’s a lot of humble folks as well. But, you know, there are smiles on their faces and it just kind of brightens their affect,” Stutsman said.

Rice keeps a few of the pins with him wherever he goes, so he often ends up giving out many of them to people at stores, hotels and restaurants. It can get emotional, particularly at facilities

like the Veterans Home, where people are receiving the pin late in life, he said.

“I worked with hospice back in Maryland for a number of years, and we would make a point of going out and conducting a final salute in their final days. And those that recognized what was happening got very emotional,” he said. “But I presented one of these pins at a store and a guy teared up. It’s that important to them, so it’s sort of my mission right now to recognize the Vietnam era veterans.”

Bogut has followed suit in handing out the pins in public, often taking the pin out of his own hat and giving it away. He said the Defense Department plans to stop giving out the pins in 2026, so they are becoming a little harder to get.

But it doesn’t stop them from giving out as many as they can.

“Someday I may be the one that goes without a pin, but I’ll be grateful for that,” Bogut said.