Mortgage loan makes reservation history

Without much fanfare, David Danielson and David Hein made history last Wednesday.

Danielson, a Fond du Lac Band member and Vietnam veteran, sat on one side of a table, while the Korean vet and Veterans Administration loan officer, Hein, sat on the other. Between them they forged what will be a notable agreement: to finance a home mortgage for Danielson on tribal trust land.

Hein explained that most conventional lenders won't make such a loan, because if the borrower defaults, they can't close on tribal trust land. It took a government-to-government agreement to make this and future VA loans available to veterans on the reservation. As part of the agreement, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, which owns the land, agreed it would purchase the home in case of default.

"We're just a couple guys from Minnesota named Dave," said Hein, "a Marine and a soldier. We're just trying to make sure Dave from Cloquet and Dave from St. Michael can have the same benefit in the end."

Danielson had to fight more than one battle to get his VA mortgage loan.

A Vietnam veteran who fought in both Vietnam and Cambodia and was involved in the Mayaguez incident on Cambodia's Koh Tang Island, Danielson's experience there was "brutal."

Then he came home and his second battle started.

His records of military service in Vietnam and Cambodia weren't on his DD Form 214 for discharge from active duty. He thinks that's because the government didn't want people to know what happened in Cambodia.

After years of trying to get his records figured out, he enlisted the help of Congressman Rick Nolan's office.

"I couldn't even join the VFW," Danielson said. "I knew what I did, but it wasn't on the DD 214 form. I'd written like 15 letters to DOD - the Department of Defense - and they said they couldn't find my stuff. Finally, Congressman Nolan pursued it with his team; they were able to find my information and changed the records."

The third battle was getting help for the effects of war, PTSD "from the skirmishes I was in" that he used to try to drown with alcohol years before. "I haven't drunk in 13 years," he said. He applied for military disability, and was deemed 100-percent disabled, which helped him get assistance with his health and housing needs.

Although the signings on Wednesday, Aug. 7, were preliminary because there needs to be a final home inspection after things are finished, Danielson was thrilled.

"I'm so happy, I'm tingling," he said. "It's a wonderful thing."

Danielson's daughters, Tarrissa Henderson and Miyah Danielson, were also there for the signing, along with Lynn Reynolds, a leasing specialist with the Fond du Lac land department and others who helped make it happen.

"It's been a long time coming," said Miyah. "I'm happy for him."

Danielson said his loan is the first for Fond du Lac, although the VA has done some other loans on tribal land. He said he helped get the procedure in place 30 years ago when he worked doing legal research for Fond du Lac. But no one ever pursued it.

Now Danielson will have a brand-new home, his first ever. When his seven grandchildren visit him, they will have a place to sleep. He will be able to build a pole barn there to work on his 1982 Oldsmobile Delta 88 and other older cars. He will have the freedom to decide what to do with his property.

"You know where Thanksgiving will be now," said Reynolds to Danielson's daughters with a smile.

It's a nice feeling, Danielson said.

"I'm proud of where I'm at today," he said. "I hope this signing will open the door for other Fond du Lac veterans and help them see that it's doable, to pursue a loan on tribal land."