Memorial flag honors silent service, end of long war

Vietnam War veteran Larry A. Valtinson was silently fighting a war that ended decades ago.

Although he returned home physically unwounded, he was not unscarred and he fought battles until he died on March 27, 2012. Even though his family had an idea of what Valtinson went through, he was reluctant to talk about it and it wasn’t until after his death that the full extent of his service was revealed.

Today, the traditional flag-raising ceremony at Conrad Cemetery will honor Valtinson’s service as well as the memory and service of all Flathead County veterans.

Valtinson’s flag will fly over the cemetery for the next year.

“He suffered from [post traumatic stress disorder] until his death, making frequent trips back to Vietnam in nightmares to fight those battles once again, visit long-dead comrades and handle their remains,” said Larry’s brother Lynn. “He said he measured a good night’s sleep not by its length, but by its lack of nightmares.”

After attending grade school and high school in the Flathead Valley, Larry Valtinson graduated from the University of Montana in March 1968 with a degree in wildlife technology and a dream of becoming a game warden.

However, he received his military draft notice before graduation and had to delay his plans indefinitely.

He was assigned to Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division as a radiotelephone operator. He arrived in Vietnam in October 1968 and was promoted to Spc. 4, replacing another radio man who was killed in action.

“In battle, the enemy targets communications, so a radio is effectively a bull’s-eye on an RTO’s back,” said Lynn, himself an Air Force veteran of Vietnam. “He’s a high-priority target for snipers and few soldiers want to be an RTO. It’s a demanding position that comes with a lot of negatives.”

As a member of the 101st, Larry would have seen extensive action thanks to the rapid mobility of the unit. The 101st suffered the highest casualties of any division during the war.

“Bottom line was that as an Airborne RTO, Larry held a very critical but high-risk position in one of the most battle-hardened and high-risk combat units of the Vietnam War,” Lynn said.

His family knew that after a period as an radio operator, Larry was transferred to an administrative job at the 101st headquarters in Bien Hoa, where he was responsible for transferring dead soldiers from body bags into containers for shipment back to the United States, filling out paperwork and setting up family notifications.

What he did beyond that, Larry wouldn’t tell his family.

When he returned home, he was given a 30-percent disability for post traumatic stress disorder and discharged in 1970. That disability classification made it impossible to pursue his dream of becoming a game warden, and the money was insufficient to live on.

According to Lynn, the combination of flashbacks, sleepless nights and the heavy doses of medication prescribed by the Veteran’s Administration doctors rendered him unemployable and he eventually moved in with his parents. Over time, Larry’s disability was raised to 100 percent.

“I needed to know what had so changed my brother,” Lynn said. “Larry had never married and had no children. If I wanted that story, it was up to me to find it.”

That quest lasted 10 months and led Lynn to uncover military service records and connect with former members of Larry’s unit.

“A sergeant in Larry’s platoon described him as follows,” wrote Lynn in a biography of his brother:

“He was a pleasant fellow…easygoing and easy to talk to. We became friends as all infantrymen become friends. Larry was our RTO. He was a key man and an important one. We all experienced unspeakable acts of horror, courage and stress. But there were good times when friends cared for each other. When we laughed and lied, faced our fears and loved each other as men, in ways others wouldn’t understand. That is how I remember Larry.”

Lynn also discovered that in nine months of combat, Larry had fought in three major military campaigns during some of the fiercest fighting in the entire war, including cleanup operations after the Tet Offensive.

Larry was also posted to the A Shau Valley, where he spent five months, including the period of May 10-21, 1969 when the military attempted to take and hold Hill 937 — “Hamburger Hill.”

“It was a huge shock to discover that I was trying to uncover the story of a highly decorated soldier who had fought the Hamburger Hill battle,” Lynn said. “All I knew about Larry’s Vietnam experience was that he’d been involved in heavy fighting which he wouldn’t talk about. Yet, in spite of that, he was still proud of being a Vietnam veteran.”

Despite his disability and financial situation, Lynn said Larry was dedicated to supporting veteran’s charities.

“Larry had always been a generous and caring individual, but when he was discharged, he practiced it with a vengeance,” Lynn said. “In spite of his limited finances, he donated heavily to charities to the point of stripping himself of his own financial security. In spite of all he had been through, he still maintained a positive attitude about life. I never heard him say a bad word about anyone. Ever. He always emphasized the positive, always worried about others and never complained about his own situation.”

“Larry didn’t want to reveal what he’d been through because he didn’t want to relive it by talking about it. In fact, he deliberately misled some people by telling them he’d only been a clerk. He didn’t say that those duties had been essential as a mortician, but it ended questions.”

Although Larry was reluctant to talk about his Vietnam service, Lynn said he felt it was important to finally tell Larry’s story.

“My initial intention was to keep his story private,” Lynn said. “However, I now believe his story needs to be told. Hopefully, it may provide others with some understanding for some battle-haunted veteran they may know. They likely don’t know his full story.”

Members of the United Veterans of Flathead County will raise the flag for Larry Valtinson over the veterans memorial monument at 1 p.m. today, after retiring the flag of last year’s honored veterans.

Last year, the flag honored descendants of the Logan, Thon, Orser, Groose and Houtz families, all early settlers of the Flathead Valley.

For the next year, Valitnson’s flag will be a silent reminder of his service and a fitting tribute to a man now at peace.

“He was my brother,” Lynn concluded. “He had a beautiful soul, I loved him dearly and I miss him terribly. I take comfort that he is now at peace with those military comrades whose deaths have weighed so heavily upon him over the years. That consolation is engraved on his grave marker. He truly is ‘Now at peace.’ His war is now over.”

Reporter Melissa Walther may be reached at 758-4474 or by email at mwalther@dailyinterlake.com.