BOZEMAN –
Sunday was an emotional day for a Vietnam war veteran who was officially recognized nearly five decades after serving.
U.S. Senator Steve Daines presented Tom Creasey with six medals, 46 years after serving in the Vietnam War. Creasey served in the U.S. Navy on active duty from 1966 until 1969.
He received the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with Four Bronze Stars and the Vietnam Campaign Medal, among others.
Daines said too often veterans returned from Vietnam without the recognition they deserved but that this was better late than never.
“It gets lost in the shuffle and that’s one of the problems with bureaucracy and that’s why it’s so important that we have veterans here fighting for other veterans and making sure they get the honors they deserve,” said Daines.
“Thanks to Jim Korth and Hank Adams, they are the ones that started this. And I hope other veterans get their medals because I know a lot of them who didn’t get them,” Creasey said.