Clearwater County Veteran Service Office

03/11/2026

All Vietnam Veterans and supporters welcome to attend the March 29th Vietnam Veterans Day dinner at the Bagley legion. See photos for details!

03/06/2026

Please be advised Clearwater County!

01/08/2026

Hello Everyone,

The Veterans Service Office will have diminished hours starting January 1st and Ending February 20th, 2026. The Office will be open every Monday 8AM – 4:30PM. Additional hours of operation will be posted if open more often. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Rest assured if you need help please bring your issue to the office. You can reach our office by phone 218-694-6618 or by cell at 218-401-2951. Our staff will get you taken care of!

Happy New Year Clearwater County.

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12/08/2025

Im pleased to make the public announcement that the Clearwater County Veterans Transportation services have been expanded. We now have the ability to transport handy cap Veterans. This was a service that our county lacked and were unable to service handy cap Veterans in the past. This service is free of charge to Clearwater County resident Veterans and is supported heavily by the community. We received this vehicle as a donation from the family of Michael Bennet of Hines, MN. To make this happen generous donations were made by the Bagley American Legion, Clearbrook Legion, the Clearbrook Community Club, the DAV of Bemidji and others.

If you need a ride please call 218-694-6618.

11/05/2025

With Veterans Day coming op on the 11th, I wanted to take the time and brief the public on festivities for the holiday. Below are flyers from both Bagley Elementary and Bagley High School.

Clearbrook Gonvick school is also hosting a program open to the piblic at the school on Veterans Day at 10AM. All are invited to attend. Clearbrook will be serving lunch to the Veterans.

10/02/2025

Just so everyone can be informed during the government shutdown.

06/30/2025

Hello Clearwater County,

As previously posted on May 27th, I mentioned Clearwater County partnered with the Bagley American Legion to purchase more of the Bronze Star Markers (pictured below). We did this because the State of Minnesota discontinued this benefit to Veterans. The Bagley American Legion and Clearwater County hope to fill the gap that the state left for the time being.

These stars have now been delivered and we can start handing them out to Veterans who may need one. If you are in need or know someone who is, please reach out to me! Thank you.

218-694-6618

06/25/2025

Hello Clearwater County, please see the shared media release from the County on the weekend storm damage.
Due to the declaration of emergency and my duties as the County Emergency Manager, the Veteran Service Office hours will be reduced to allow for my duties as Emergency Manager and facilitate recovery.

If you need to get ahold of me for VA purposes please call our normal phone, just understand you may not get an immediate response due to the recovery efforts.

Thank you.

05/27/2025

Bronze Star Marker Discontinuation

With Memorial Day behind us, I have some news concerning Memorial Days in the future. The Bronze Star Marker (seen below), a thing very commonly seen on Veteran’s gravestones across the state will no longer be freely given out like they were by the State of Minnesota. In the past, County Veteran Service officers would collect the names of all the Veterans that passed away in a year. Subsequently, those names would be turned into the state and the state would give the Veteran Service officer stars to hand out to families locally.
It is no secret at this time that the State of Minnesota is in financial trouble. For the state to purchase all the stars for the previous year for all the Veterans that passed away, they would have to spend well over 1 million dollars. It is because of this that the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs is reallocating the funding to more mission critical needs like continued funding of the Veteran cemeteries and the Veterans Homes across the state. While these stars provided a feel-good benefit, they truly did not help the Veteran community on a day to basis. So as sad as it is, I am glad that the state with limited resources is focusing on truly life changing programs like the Veterans nursing homes and Veteran cemeteries.
The good news is that Clearwater County, in partnership with the Bagley Legion will be purchasing some additional Bronze Star markers. This will be done in hopes of lessening the effect of the discontinuation. Clearwater County will give these out once per Veteran until our supply is exhausted, however long that may take.
If you have any questions concerning this, please reach out to my office! 218-694-6618.

03/17/2025

The Bemidji Veterans Home has plenty of open positions with great pay and sign on a bonus. They are having a career fair tomorrow, check out this flyer for more information. The sooner they get to full capacity on staff, the sooner they can let more Veterans into the home.

02/07/2025

Hello Clearwater County!
I would like to take the time and talk about a great service our county provides to its Veterans. I also want to take the time and thank all of our volunteer’s past and present who made it happen.
We have a Veterans Transportation Program. Our county provides transportation services to our Veterans. This is meant for taking Veterans to and from their medical appointments. Any Veteran in need of a ride to a medical appointment can give myself a call and we will schedule it for you. Our intent is that you stay healthy and live life to the fullest of your ability.
We are one of the few counties in our area to do something like this. Here’s the amazing part of all of this, it’s entirely self-funded by donations from our community. Donations from the Bagley American Legion, Shevlin Township, Faith Lutheran Church and the annual Veterans music program have kept us going. Id like to thank all who have given but if I did, this article would go on and on.
We currently have one volunteer driver who does all of our transportation in the county. His name is Doug Lindgren, maybe you’ve heard of him! In the past we have had Les Hinrich, Wayne Cassibo and Neltson McPherson all volunteer their time. If you get a chance thank these great individuals for their time and commitment to Veterans and community.
This Veterans Transportation program is funded by our community and therefore it is only fair that our community benefit from it. We will help any Veteran of Clearwater County get to their appointments. If you should ever need our services, please call 218-694-6618. As always, try and give us ample notice of an appointment so we can get a driver scheduled. Thanks for your time and making this county a great place to work and live.

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10/28/2024

Hello Clearwater County,

I wanted to let you know of options that our Veterans have in our county for mental health support / treatment for PTSD, Military Sexual Trama or any other related trauma. In our county we are affiliated with Stellher Human Services, which provides one on one and group sessions to Veterans. This is a new program and will not cost the Veteran anything. if interested please call the information in the photo below.

Additionally, at the Clearwater County Courthouse we have a Vet Center. This Vet Center meets twice a month in the courthouse ( 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at 10AM). This meeting is in the commissioners room. This is a group therapy session for eligible Veterans at no cost. If you are interested in this or know someone who would benefit from this, please reach out to myself. My contact is 218-694-6618. https://www.va.gov/fargo-vet-center/locations/