Mike Montgomery earned what he is owed the hard way in 13 months of combat in Vietnam, where for days at a time the former Marine huddled in monsoon-swept rice paddies raked by enemy gunfire and exposed to the toxic herbicide Agent Orange sprayed from U.S. aircraft.

Since his 1968 discharge, Montgomery has fought the Department of Veterans Affairs over multiple health problems linked to his military service. The VA initially rated him as partially disabled.

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