New scholarship honors Vietnam vet alum

BY ANNE E. PETTINGER
J-School Web Reporter

photo by Sarah Galbraith from 1956 UM "Sentinel"

J.D. Coleman, upper left, with the Sigma Delta Chi Men's Journalism Honorary Society, 1956.

Written and spoken words had been J.D. Coleman’s business for many years, so it was not often, he said, that he was speechless.

But it was difficult for Coleman, who graduated from the J-School in 1956, to find words when he learned about a journalism scholarship that his fellow Vietnam veterans recently established in his and his wife’s name.

“I was stunned,” the 75-year-old said in a telephone interview in September.

Coleman died at home in Kalispell a few weeks later, on Oct. 4, of cancer.

The $200 scholarship, called the J.D. Coleman and Madeline Young Coleman Scholarship, will be awarded annually to a sophomore in the University of Montana School of Journalism on the basis of academic excellence and financial need. In the event that several students are equally deserving of the scholarship, other factors, such as an interest in military science and other interests of Coleman’s, could help determine the recipient.

Twenty veterans of the 1st Air Cavalry public information office who worked with Coleman told him and his wife about the scholarship at a reunion of that unit in Kalispell this summer. In just three weeks, they had raised $5,000 for the ongoing scholarship.

The veterans who traveled to Kalispell for the reunion came from all over the country, including men who live in New York, Virginia and California.

“The guys had all gathered in Kalispell basically to pay tribute to me," Coleman said. “It was very humbling to be told I’d made a difference in their lives.”

Coleman and the 20 men worked from April 1969 to April 1970 in Vietnam in a media unit, shooting photos and putting out publications. They came together from many different backgrounds and learned from each other’s experiences, Coleman said.

“It worked out well, and we did good work,” Coleman said.

Coleman's obituary identified him as a person who fought for what he believed: "J.D. ... spent much time sparring with the members of the news media around the world who seemed determined to undermine the war effort and discredit the brave young men who were fighting an unpopular war."

In addition to his military service, Coleman had written several books, including “Pleiku: The Dawn of Helicopter Warfare in Vietnam,” “Incursion: From America’s Chokehold on the NVA Lifelines to Sacking of Cambodian Sanctuaries,” “Choppers: The Heroic Birth of Helicopter Warfare,” and, most recently, “Wonju, the Gettysburg of the Korean War.” He also worked in communications for the Flathead National Forest in Montana until his retirement in 1997.

Coleman had hoped to attend the School of Journalism’s Dean Stone Night next April, where the first scholarship will be awarded.

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