Vets’ service to be honored

Dan Kuttner and Gavin Mason survived tours of duty in Vietnam only to have the war return to haunt them decades later.

The two men died three years ago, Mason from a brain tumor and Kuttner from complications of diabetes and renal failure. Both deaths were linked to Agent Orange exposure.

The two former soldiers are the only Washington state residents out of 86 veterans who will be honored Monday at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., during the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s annual “In Memory” ceremony.

Only names of those who died of injuries sustained in combat zones during the war can be inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall. The In Memory program honors veterans who died prematurely because of the Vietnam War.

“They served, too. These are people whose deaths are a direct response to their service in Vietnam,” said Lisa Gough, spokeswoman for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. “Their families want to find a way to honor their service to their country as well.”

To date, 1,515 veterans have been recognized through the In Memory program. Families apply to have their Vietnam vets honored and must send proof of service and death.

Neither Kuttner’s nor Mason’s families will be able to attend the ceremony, but they value the recognition the vets will be receiving.

“It’s really good for the survivors,” said Kuttner’s widow, Claudia.

“It means a lot,” said Tammi Mason, who added that her father probably wouldn’t want the fuss of a ceremony. “He was a humble man.”

The two families are now connected by more than Vietnam. Mason’s daughter Tammi and Kuttner’s son Chris were beginning a courtship just as Mason was diagnosed with cancer. They plan to marry.

Kuttner served in the Army in Vietnam from 1967-1968 doing transport work for the 101st Airborne.

When he came home, Kuttner seemed to put the war behind him. He married the widow of a friend who had died in Vietnam, adopting her daughter, Stacie. Then the two had Chris, who shares his dad’s passion for Notre Dame football.

“He didn’t talk to us about it at all,” Claudia said of her husband’s time in Vietnam. She later realized he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“The people who served in Vietnam suffered both during and after,” said Chris Kuttner.

Dan Kuttner’s health problems began in the mid-1990s, when he was diagnosed with diabetes, said Claudia. He went blind in 1998. Doctors said it was because of Agent Orange.

“Those guys over there slept on the ground and drank the water. They were actually sprayed with it,” she said.

Kuttner died at the age of 58.

Mason served as an Army helicopter gunner from 1967-1969.

When he came home, Mason bought a cabin on 10 acres and lived out his passion for hunting and fishing, said his brother, Paul, who described him as a health nut who loved animals.

But more than three decades later he began suffering from headaches, dizziness and confusion. Doctors initially said it was sinus problems but later determined he had a cancerous brain tumor, probably caused by Agent Orange exposure. Mason died at the age of 54.

“Our dads won’t see us married, but they got to meet each other,” said Tammi Mason.

“It was just kind of interesting that the two of them became connected,” said Kuttner.

After doctor’s appointments at the Veterans Administration hospital, Gavin Mason would often stop and read to Kuttner who was there being treated for a broken hip.

While neither Chris Kuttner nor Tammi Mason hold ill will toward the government that sent their fathers to war, they both say their dads’ early deaths were unnecessary.

“It infuriates you because the government did this to its own people,” said Mason. “The ceremony is nice, but it doesn’t bring my dad back.”