#VeteranOfTheDay Army Veteran Ira Lindsey Bad Bear

Ira Lindsey Bad Bear, also known by his Crow name Seven Eggs, was born on Sep. 8, 1947, in Crow Agency, Montana. Lindsey was a member of the Whistling Water Clan. He graduated from Hardin High School in 1968 and was drafted into the U.S. Army the following year.

Upon deploying to Vietnam, he served as a Construction Equipment Repairer with the 35th Combat Engineers. A skilled hunter, Lindsey utilized his gifts and talents to provide fresh meat for his buddies in the field. “It was a great accomplishment for me,” he later said about his time in Vietnam.

Like many returning Vietnam Veterans, Lindsey struggled with PTSD, alcoholism and homelessness. To deal with his ongoing anxiety, he often camped out in the prairie.

“I felt safer out there. I was kind of expecting trouble from every corner,” he later recalled. He married in 1978 and had six children, becoming a pillar in the local community. He even worked with the Crow’s VA staff part-time, encouraging Veterans to register for VA services. He said of this work: “You have kids coming back from Iraq and coming back from Afghanistan. I don’t want them to go through what I did.”

Lindsey died on April 29, 2018, and is interred at Apsaalooke Veterans Cemetery in Montana. We honor his service.

This #VeteranOfTheDay is from the Veterans Legacy Program. To learn more about the VLP, our partnerships and how we share the stories of Veterans in our national cemeteries, please visit the VLP webpage.