Can you be more specific about what you mean by a "date value"?

Two things may help:

In versions of Word after Word 2000, the simplest way to get what you see in
Excel is /usually/ to change the method  Word uses to connect to Excel -
check Word Tools|Options|General|"confirm conversion at open", re-connect to
the date source, and select the DDE option when prompted.

Word lets you put date format "switches" in mergefields, e.g. instead of

{ MERGEFIELD mydate }

you can use

{ MERGEFIELD mydate \@"MMMM DD, YYYY" }

etc. If your date is coming across as anything Word recognises as a date
these switches may help.
--
Peter Jamieson - Word MVP

word letter to show the words not the value?