Efforts underway to honor Vietnam War Fargo Medal of Honor recipient – InForum

FARGO – This story about a Vietnam veteran who graduated from North Dakota State University reads more like a made-for-TV movie.

It is about Loren “Doug” Hagen, Medal of Honor recipient, and his top-secret mission in Vietnam to find a high school friend who went missing during the war.

Currently, the Fargo Memorial Honor Guard is taking the initiative to name a building at Fargo National Cemetery after Hagen, who died in Vietnam at the age of 25.

Loren Hagen, known as Doug, grew up in Fargo-Moorhead and studied engineering at NDSU. His life changed dramatically in 1968 when he felt called to join the U.S. Army.

The reason? His best friend Alan Boyer, who served in Vietnam, went missing in Vietnam. Doug’s brother Mike Hagen explains: “And his best friend in high school went missing and Doug joined the military to find Alan. Alan’s remains were found 50 years after the Vietnam War and he is buried in Arlington, 100 feet from Doug,” said Mike Hagen, Doug’s brother.

Doug Hagen, a Green Beret, never found his friend, whose remains were later found there. Hagen became a hero of the Vietnam War – a 1st Lt. in an elite special forces team who distinguished himself as a selfless soldier and died in August 1971 during a fierce attack involving rockets, mortars and grenades.

On August 8, 1974, the day of President Richard Nixon’s resignation, Vice President Gerald Ford posthumously awarded Hagen’s family the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Contribution

“That was Doug’s life. He knew he probably wouldn’t come back from Vietnam, but that’s how he lived his life, full of drive and determination and always being there to support the cause,” said Mike Hagen.

Efforts are underway to remember the Fargo-Moorhead boy, NDSU graduate and soldier who sacrificed everything. A building bearing his name is being built at the National Cemetery in rural Cass County.

“We’re all brothers and we’re all brothers in the military. God bless him and his memory and if we can name a building after him. What the heck, I think it’s a great idea,” said David Brunsvold, a family friend and longtime supporter of veterans activities in the community.

Doug Hagen was the last member of the U.S. Army to receive the Medal of Honor from the Vietnam War. The Medal of Honor Society described it as “an act of courageous valor and extraordinary heroism that cost him his life.”

In a book about the secret missions of the Vietnam War – “SOG: The Secret Wars of America’s Commandos in Vietnam” by Major John Plaster – a retired general wrote: “Doug Hagen is the reason why so many American soldiers survived that terrible battle in August 1971.”