Country singer Charlie Daniels, 67, was e-mailing back and forth recently with Dan Stenvold, the president of the North Dakota Vietnam Veterans America.

And that's where it happened.

Daniels, an avid supporter of military veterans and a NDVVA member, wrote something to the effect of how nice it would be to sing to a roomful of Vietnam veterans when he comes to North Dakota.

And so Stenvold and others are working on that - trying to fill Prairie Knights Casino with Vietnam veterans for Daniels' 7:30 p.m. June 5 concert.

Stenvold is a Daniels fan because of the singer's support of military veterans through song and in other ways. The Charlie Daniels Band's song, "Still in Saigon," about a vet who can't leave Vietnam behind, is always played a couple times at the veterans' annual picnics, Stenvold said.

"Charlie has always stood by us even when the government and the American people weren't," said Stenvold, a Vietnam vet who got off his ship in America to a line of people cussing at him and throwing things. "He has always supported us."

Stenvold's first e-mail was to Daniels' manager to ask her, out of curiosity, if Daniels was a veteran.

Daniels himself e-mailed back to explain that he had been too young for World War II and Korea and too old for Vietnam but that he "loved every veteran that has served our country," Stenvold related.

Daniels - who has, among other achievements, platinum albums and the 1979 Country Music Association musician of the year honor in his resume - became a member of the VVA's Bismarck-Mandan chapter, Chapter 150, simply because members wanted to have a high-profile person in their group and admired Daniels for his views. So they paid his annual dues and added him to the roster. But when Daniels was in Bismarck several years ago for a Bismarck Civic Center concert, that changed.

Nine chapter members drove to a radio station where Daniels was scheduled to be interviewed, hoping to say hi. Instead, it was a full-fledged conversation and when radio personnel told him it was time for his interview, he said he'd do the interview "after I'm done talking to my friends," related Mike Hilsendeger, Chapter 150's vice president.

Daniels told the veterans that he made more money than they do and wanted to take care of the dues himself and bought a lifetime $125 membership,

"We found out we were more important to him than we thought," Hilsendeger said.

For Daniels' June 5 concert, about 200 veterans have already bought tickets.

And Dave Snider, Prairie Knights' marketing director, said they're getting a couple calls a day from veterans wanting to buy tickets.

Hilsendeger also has arranged for a 57-passenger bus to depart from the Bismarck Kmart parking lot at 6 p.m. June 5. The bus ride costs $10, but to offset that cost, veterans will get at the casino a blue book of vouchers valued at $22, Snider said.

Hilsendeger said so far about 15 people have signed up for the bus ride. The deadline to sign up is May 25. Call Hilsendeger at 222-8222 to sign up.

He said some veterans are traveling by motorcycle if the weather is nice. Veterans are coming from all over the state.

Snider said the casino's Pavilion concert hall, capacity of about 2,400, still has a lot of good seats. Tickets are $25 and can be bought at Prairie Knights or at Dan's Supermarkets, or by calling 800-585-3737.

(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at vgrantier@ndonline.com.)