 Veterans Affairs Board and staff members from Left to Right: Dan Graham, Steven Cain, Daniel Pence, Marilyn Beaudry, Larry Norburg, Troy Kalbach Veterans Affairs Office Helps Local Man Receive Medals By N3 News Team During our coverage of last week’s Board of Commissioners meeting Daniel Pence was honored for his service and presented with a number of medals he earned during his tour of duty in Viet Nam. We wanted to bring our readers a bit more about how this came about so N3 contacted Steven Cain the Veterans Affairs Service Officer for Newaygo County and posed a few questions about the presentation... ...Can you tell us a bit about Daniel Pence’s service? During the War Daniel Pence was part of the 101st Airbourne, 3rd Battalion of the 506th Infantry Regiment as a Heavy Anti-Armor Weapon Infantryman and Indirect Fire Infantryman. He was in charge of the using a US M2 60 mm Mortar. The506th was recognized for its role during the Tet Offensive in early 1968 and the Battle of Hamburger Hill in May 1969 together with 2-506th, during the battle of FSB Ripcord. Daniel Pence’s last duty assignment and major command was in the The 1st Battalion 125th Infantry Regiment, Echo Company of the Michigan Army National Guard in Big Rapids, MI. The Motto of this Battalion was “Yield to None” During his time in the guard, he aided in security and recovery operations, as well as assistance and humanitarian aid missions. What were the Medals that Daniel Pence earned? National Defense Service Medal w/ 2nd Bronze Service Star Vietnam Service Medal w/ 2nd Bronze Service Star Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal Army Commendation Medal Bronze Star Medal Army Good Conduct Medal Air Medal Combat Infantry Badge Army Achievement Medal w/ One Bronze Oakleaf Cluster Non Commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon Michigan Service Medal 4th Gold Star Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal w/ 4th Bronze Oakleaf Cluster Armed Forces Reserve Medal w/ Bronze “X”, “M” devices Army Service Medal Why is he just now receiving the medals and how did the NC Veterans Affairs office help in this? Daniel is one of the many Veterans that resides in Newaygo County. The Newaygo County Department of Veterans Affairs contacted the National Personnel Records Center on behalf of Mr. Pence to see if he could obtain these medals as he had not received them prior to his discharge. On the 28th Daniel received a complete set of his medals in a shadowbox case. According to the last Geographic Distribution of VA expenditures report. (The VA reports on this every year atwww.VA.gov ) There are 3,982 veterans receiving services in Newaygo County. This is about 12% of Newaygo County's total population. The bulk of that number is made up of Vietnam Wartime Era Veterans like Mr. Pence. This number does not include Veterans who reside in county but have not sought services for benefits yet. The White Cloud Eagles took up a collection of donations throughout the community to pay for a sign for Brian Derks Memorial Highway. There was a great response from the community wanting to honor Army Specialist Brian K Derks who was killed in action in the Iraq War in 2005. They hit and surpassed the amount needed to fund the sign. In May of 2016 the White Cloud Eagles Post #4170 donated the extra funds to the Newaygo County Department of Veterans Affairs. Newaygo County Department of Veterans Affairs would like these funds to be used to reach out to those veterans who have not been able to receive the help they need. By honoring Daniel on the 28th we used a portion of this donation to let another veteran know that his service is not forgotten by this country and this community. We asked the press to be at this event to get the word out about our Soldiers and Sailors Emergency Relief Fund and the assistance we can provide Veterans with their VA compensation, pension, and healthcare needs. For more information Mr. Cain can be reached at 231-689-7218 ext. 7620 or by email at stevec@co.newaygo.mi.us. The Veterans Affairs Office is located in the county admonistgration building at 1087 Newell in White Cloud. Comments are closed.
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