To the Editor:
I learned in your obituary of Col. Pete Hilgartner, last week, that for service in Vietnam he earned the Silver Star - the third-highest military combat decoration, awarded for gallantry to a small fraction of a percent of Soldiers, Sailors and Marines. I came to know Col. Hilgartner when I became involved in the Great Falls Freedom Memorial, which he guided and drove as elder statesman for years after his initiative led to its creation. It marks the colonel’s modesty that through all our meetings and intercourse, his valorous record never emerged.
Bruce Ellis Fein
Great Falls