Although his partents were dead set against his enlisting, Dick Monson chose to join the US Marine Corps at 17 and trained as an artillery specialist. Monson became very close to the young men he served with. Near the end of his tour, although he had been wounded, he begged the doctors to send him back to his unit so he could stay with his fellow marines.
This oral history was recorded in Lisbon, ND on August 16, 2017. The interview was conducted by Kim Stenehjem of Prairie Public Broadcasting as part of the Prairie Memories The Vietnam Years project.
Production funding provided by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund, The North Dakota Humanities Council, WETA, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the members of Prairie Public.
About the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund
In 2008, Minnesota voters passed a landmark piece of legislation — the Minnesota Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment — which provided funding to public television stations serving audiences in Minnesota. Its mission is to help preserve and document the treasures of culture, history, and heritage that make Minnesota special, and to increase access to the natural and cultural resources we all share.
Funded in part by the North Dakota Humanities Council, a nonprofit, independent state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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