Ravalli Republic
November 10, 2013 5:15 pm •
Photo: Courtesy of Montana Outfitters and Guides Association
HELENA – A Montana program aiming to honor wounded veterans recently brought two men from different wars together for a hunting excursion in Big Sky Country.
U.S. Marine Sgt. Gabriel Martinez lost both of his legs in Afghanistan to an improvised explosive device on Thanksgiving Day in 2010.
Cpl. Donald “Buck” Honold lost his lower right leg in 1966 while serving as a Marine sniper in Vietnam, and says his service went largely unrecognized when he came home.
Martinez, just 25, and Honold, now 71, went hunting in Montana’s Paradise Valley near Livingston last week as part of a program created by the 2013 Montana Legislature, Big Hearts under the Big Sky, that lets people donate a hunting license for combat veterans with a 70 percent or greater disability rating.