LITTLETON, Colo. (KDVR) — Richard Hogue gained the kind of perspective in Vietnam you can only learn when you lose something important. In his case, he lost half his left leg.
He’d already survived an explosion that left him with a piece of shrapnel in his head and an attack that left many in his platoon dead. At the end of January 1970, on a nightly ambush near the Ho Bo Woods in the Bình Dương Province northwest of Saigon, he heard and felt an explosion unlike any he’d witnessed in Vietnam.
“And we were setting up for that ambush and one of the guys hit another booby trap. And I was laying on the ground and I looked up and just looked down like I’d literally seen blood squirting from my leg. And I thought I was going to bleed to death. And I looked up and says, Lord, don’t let me go this way,” Hogue told FOX31.
His parents back home in Iowa got the telegram a short time later.
“And the people that read that telegram knew me, knew my family. So one of the guys went and got our minister from our church and delivered it to my mom. And then the telegram said that I’d been wounded and I’d lost my leg and was still hospitalized. So it was actually a big shock, obviously,” Hogue said.
He was soon on his way back to the U.S. to learn how to walk all over again.
“It was tough. It was tough. I fell down a few times and I started with the crutches, then went to a cane and then finally could walk on my own (with a prosthetic),” Houge said.
However, none of that was enough to keep him from continuing to serve his country later in life, first as a government contractor and as a member of the Disabled American Veterans.
Houge also volunteers with other veteran organizations, including the All Veterans Honor Guard, which provides final military honors for heroes who are buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery.
“It’s a way of serving my fellow veterans,” he said.
Hogue has been awarded two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a slew of other commendations. Now, he can add another honor to the list: he’s just been named the FOX31 Serving Those Who Serve Hero of the Month for September 2025, courtesy of Plumbline Services, American Furniture Warehouse and the Leo Hill Charitable Trust.
Vietnam forever changed Hogue, but he said some of those changes were actually for the better.
“Was (the war) worth it? I say it was worth it to me because I came through my experience as a better man. It made me a better person,” he said.
To nominate a veteran or active-duty service member for FOX31’s Hero of the Month honors, visit FOX31’s nomination page.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
