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After 50 years, Vietnam veteran finally finds pride in his service

Max Dalton said a trip on an Honor Flight changed how he feels about his service in the Vietnam War.

INDIANAPOLIS — A Vietnam veteran's journey to find answers to his health care struggles and lost war medals led him to uncover a sense of pride for his service.

Max Dalton is at peace with where he's been and where he's going.

"I'm at a point where I know where I stand and, by God, I'm going to live," he said.

But the conviction you hear in the 76-year-old Vietnam veteran's voice when he says those words wasn't always there.

Last May, he was in a nursing facility with liver and kidney failure after years of health issues, including three heart attacks and two open heart surgeries.

"I came home, literally, came home to die," Dalton said.

But that didn't happen.

"It's it my medical records. It's a miracle," he said.

There is no medical reason why Max Dalton is alive, just like there's no definitive reason why he made it home from Vietnam 50-some years ago and some guys didn't.

He was just one of the lucky ones. 

"It was war," Dalton said. "And war is hell." 

Credit: Family photo
Max Dalton during his service in the Vietnam War.

Harder still was coming home to a country that didn't welcome him home. 

"The way we were treated when we got home made most of us hide our service instead of being able to be proud of it," Dalton said.

That's the reason Dalton said he didn't worry about not being able to find the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Valor he was awarded for his service in Vietnam.

"I can't tell you when they disappeared," he said. "If you'd been to Vietnam, for a lot of years, you were scum of the earth and you didn't even talk about it. Didn't even acknowledge you had them."

Then, when Dalton got sick 15 years ago and tried to claim health benefits from the VA, he realized even his military discharge papers didn't list his commendations.

"It got left off," Dalton said. 

Credit: WTHR
Max Dalton

"He was really unable to receive care at the VA due to his DD-214 (discharge document) being issued incorrectly," said Rep. Andre Carson, D-Indiana.

Carson's office frequently gets calls from veterans like Dalton, looking for help with issues like the one he was facing, and they stepped in to help.

"He was now finally eligible to get his health care and benefits approved from the VA," Carson said. 

"This was somebody that had direct influence in Washington and they used their pull to get it done," Dalton said.

That's not all.

Dalton's children wanted him to have his lost medals, too, for the service he rarely ever talked about with them.

Credit: WTHR
Max Dalton was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star with Valor for his service.

"Most of us tried to hide that from our kids. It's hard to make your kids proud of something you're not real proud of," Dalton said.

But after finally getting his medals back this spring, followed to a trip to Washington with other veterans on an Honor Flight, something changed for Max Dalton.

"The Honor Flight. I cannot tell you how it changed things," he said.

Credit: Family photo
Max Dalton took an Honor Flight trip to Washington D.C., where he visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Now, when he looks at the medals from a war he was once ashamed to admit he'd fought in, Dalton holds his head up, knowing he earned them.

"I'm very content that I did what I thought was the right thing," he said. "It's a lot easier being proud of them than being ashamed of them."

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