Through the years, Montanans have been more than willing to answer their country’s call.
Some of their stories are included in a new book titled “Beyond Belief: True Stories of Montana Heroes That Defy Comprehension”. It’s the 111th military history book that Douglas Sterner has written.
He’s always had an interest in writing and military history.
“In Kalispell in 1964, I wrote my first book. It was never published. It was a World War II story about three guys who got the Medal of Honor. It just seems writing seems to be my passion," he said.
Sterner, a Vietnam veteran, has spent the past three decades researching and compiling a database of the military’s most highly decorated veterans.
His latest book tells the heroic stories of 185 Montanans who fought for their country in wars from the 1800s to the present.
He says he knew from the minute he started writing that Sara Stires - a Billings Senior High School graduate who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross - would be on the cover.
“The Distinguished Flying Cross is a very high award. It has only been presented to 24 women in history and only one woman in the Navy. Sara Stires earned that in Afghanistan shortly after the war on terrorism began in 2001,” he says.
The pages of the book are full of incredible stories of those who went above and beyond.
Sterner says many of these veterans never talked much about what they did because heroism doesn’t happen on a good day. Often it happened on the worst day of their lives.
“That’s why it is important for historians like myself to tell their stories so that they don’t have to because what they did is important to future generations, not just to their kids and their grandkids, but those men and women who will be called to service in decades to come,” he says.
Sterner and his wife Pamela now make their home in Pueblo, Colo.
