Operation Tribute project records 'war stories' of area military veterans (2024)

Editor's Note: This story first appeared in "Generations," a special publication that was included in the March 30, 2024, edition of the Detroit Lakes Tribune.

LAKE PARK — Music, and the arts in general, can provide healing to those recovering from trauma in a variety of ways.

The Lake Park-based non-profit Operation Check Six, which Dan Hudson and his wife Angie first formed in March of 2021, has a stated mission of “helping veterans, first responders and their families, one note at a time.”

In this case, Dan Hudson says, “first responders” can also encompass those on the front lines of law enforcement, fire and rescue operations, emergency medical services, etc.

What their work involves, he said, is helping those veterans and first responders process trauma through artistic means, primarily music.

Though music can be a highly successful form of therapy in and of itself, Hudson is quite emphatic when he says, “We are not therapists.”

Contributed / Dan Hudson

In fact, Hudson said, “If we bring a veteran in they have to have done some form of therapy with a professional. A mental health professional will give them the tools to cope. We’re here to assist with aftercare… with their continued healing.”

This is how it works: A veteran or first responder who has completed their initial treatment is referred to OC6 by a mental health professional, who “makes us an option for their continued healing,” Hudson said.

After sharing their stories, the individuals referred to OC6 then work with the organization’s artist-volunteers to create songs from those stories. Those songs are subsequently made into a professional-quality recording for the individual to take home with them.

With the permission of the veteran or first responder, the Check Six Band will also share those songs when they perform publicly: The group performed at the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag, during WMSTR’s tribute to veterans in 2023.

Contributed / Dan Hudson

They have also played those original songs at the North Dakota National Cemetery, North Dakota Veterans Home and various American Legion fundraisers.

Last August, the Hudsons hosted their first Honor Fest at their 40-acre farm in rural Lake Park.

Besides the Check Six Band, other local veterans got up and played their own music as well — including Hudson’s father, which he said came as a complete surprise. Another Honor Fest is planned for this summer as well.

Since last October, Hudson and his crew have also been working with military veterans to create permanent recordings of their “war stories,” in both audio and video form.

Known as Operation Tribute, this project is near and dear to Hudson’s heart, as well as his wife’s — both their grandfathers were World War II veterans, and he himself is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, also known as the Global War on Terror.

Contributed / Dan Hudson

He remembers, as a young boy growing up in Colfax, North Dakota, how his family would regularly receive audio tapes from his grandparents, who lived in Texas at the time. On those recordings, his grandparents would share stories about their lives and what they were doing.

While listening to one of those recordings, Hudson said, his father mentioned that there should be more of an effort to record the stories of World War II veterans like his own father, while they were still living.

Hudson recalled his father saying that after those veterans were gone, “We could just sit down at the holidays and listen (to the recordings), and it would be just like having them here.”

“That stuck with me,” he said — though it took several decades for him to actually follow up on that conversation, first by establishing OC6, and then by organizing Operation Tribute.

Because even the youngest World War II veterans are in their 90s now, he said, they have chosen to concentrate on getting their stories told first.

Contributed / Dan Hudson

“We’ve done about 30 stories so far,” said Hudson. “It’s all voluntary.”

In fact, he added, the veterans are often quite excited to tell their stories.

One of the last questions that he and other OC6 volunteers ask during their interviews is, “What advice would you give to the younger generation?”

“They always say, ‘Be grateful, and don’t hate,’” Hudson said. “They’re the most humble, grateful people.”

With the permission of the veterans and their families, some of those stories will be compiled into a first-person anthology that is in the process of being written by author Ruth Zacher, who is one of Hudson’s good friends.

Hudson, who also volunteers with the national Veteran’s Writing Project, said that writing was one of the first things that helped him recover from his own trauma.

Sometimes, Hudson and his crew have also worked to fix or refurbish various musical instruments for veterans, free of charge.

Eventually, Hudson says, he’d like to include other forms of art as well. He said he himself enjoys painting and woodworking.

“I’ve also built guitars,” he added, and gifted some of them to those in need.

In his professional life, he currently serves as a federal law enforcement officer. In April 2019, Hudson self-published a book detailing his experiences as a trauma survivor, called “PTS Me.” He said that Zacher was one of the first to read one of his early drafts of that book, and help him get it into shape for publication.

He said that between his years of service in the military and law enforcement, he is about 33 months away from retirement — and when he does, he hopes to make Operation Check Six his full-time occupation.

Hudson’s initial inspiration for starting Operation Check Six was the loss of four close friends — all in law enforcement — to suicide.

While the work of OC6 facilitates healing for trauma survivors, he said, “it’s not a cure.”

There really is no such thing as a cure, he added — for trauma survivors, there is only learning how to move forward in their journey toward recovery. And as a trauma survivor himself, Hudson had to learn that first-hand.

“I knew nothing about it (i.e., PTSD and trauma recovery),” he said. “I had to learn.”

When he did, he said, he could begin seeing signs of it not only in himself, but in others, including members of his own family.

“When I look back, I can now identify those behaviors, actions and thoughts,” he said.

In the past, mental health and trauma recovery have not been topics typically covered in military or law enforcement training, Hudson added — but that is beginning to change.

“There’s been such a stigma — but I think we’re winning that battle,” he said. “The younger generations I encounter (in law enforcement) are much more open to talking about this.”

“I was lucky. My family was very supportive, but not everybody has that,” Hudson said, adding that one of the things he often notices when he meets these veterans is that there is something missing from their eyes — something he calls “the light of peace.”

“That light isn’t there behind their eyes,” he said. “Our goal is to get that light back and keep it lit.”

For more information about Operation Check Six, and Operation Tribute, visit operationchecksix.org or check out their Facebook page at facebook.com/operationchecksix .