Letters from St. Joseph inspired Vietnam veteran

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- As Veterans Day approaches on Tuesday, Nov. 11, it serves as a day to celebrate and honor those who have served our country. 

In St. Joseph, resides Marine Veteran Don Crigger. Crigger enlisted in the Marines in 1963 and served in the Vietnam War. He also notably participated in three major operations: Reanah, Hard Rock and Starlight.

While stationed in Da Nang, Vietnam, Crigger met someone who he said would soon change his life.

Anthony Colgan, also known as "Tony", was a Navy Hospital Corpsman in Vietnam. Crigger met Colgan while waiting for a haircut, when he overheard a conversation Colgan was having about hometowns.

To Crigger and Colgan's surprise, the two had found common ground in their hometown of St. Joseph, but had never met before.

The two became friends and decided to write a letter back home to get questions answered about the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War.

"Tony says...'Well, we need to send a letter back home to the people in St. Joe.' And I said, 'Alright.' And so this is when we started. We started on the letter," said Crigger.

Crigger wrote the letter and sent it to his mom with a return address.

After writing the letter, Crigger and Colgan went their separate ways from Vietnam. Time would pass since the letter was sent.

Crigger was then admitted to get surgery in a hospital in Japan, and Colgan was in Spain with the Navy.

While in the hospital, Crigger was in for a surprise.

“Somebody yelled and came in the door and said, 'Who is Don Crigger?' It was a mailman...He had four mail bags of letters from people in St. Joe," said Crigger.

To Crigger’s surprise, his mom had gone to the local newspaper with the letter. In doing so, the St. Joseph community wrote letters of their own to show their support for the boys.

Crigger said the positive letters from home meant a lot because of his experience in the war. He also shared about the negativity soldiers received when they came back home.

At the time, the letters were all delivered to Crigger, but when he was reunited with Colgan in the States, they were able to read and share the positivity.

After the war, Crigger and Colgan remained friends. It wasn't until 2015 that Colgan passed and was laid to rest at Memorial Park Cemetery in St. Joseph.

“I go by...if somebody has taken the red flag down, then I go get another one and put it in there. So he's always had a red flag there, and I really miss him," said Crigger.

This Veterans Day, Crigger wants only one thing from Americans, and that is to say "thank you" to all the men and women who served and are serving our country.