Students say ‘thank you’ to veterans [The Daily Star-Journal, Warrensburg, Mo.]

Nov. 14--WARRENSBURG -- "Thank you for your service, thank you for your service," students, teachers and community members repeated.

At a school assembly, they thanked troops in general and Vietnam veterans in particular during a Veterans Day ceremony at Warrensburg High School.

Videography students recorded the message of thanks, capturing everyone packed into the gymnasium, to send to Tony Larson in Afghanistan. The high school on April 16 lost a 2008 alumni member and a former video student, Joseph Brian Cemper, 21, in a grenade attack on Forward Operating Base Gamberi, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan.

Friday's event honored all veterans, with a focus on Vietnam-era veteran Jerry Wade Bay, 65. A student, Kim Sommerkamp, encapsulated Bay's story, saying his birth took place near Houston, Mo., and his love of baseball led to a tryout with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the Vietnam war intervened and the Army drafted him.

Staff Sgt. Bay served a two-year stint, 1966 to 1968. While serving with 1st Squadron, 4th Calvary Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, he received medals and commendations, including two Silver Stars, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.

Sommerkamp said in one case a Vietcong attack took out Bay's tank, which caught fire, which he helped put out, but the tank got hit again and they abandoned the vehicle. He then went to another tank and with help manually loaded and fired to prevent the enemy advance.

Despite Bay's service, some people back in the States treated returning troops as enemies. But Bay, unlike some who returned angry from Vietnam and unable to cope, remained focused on service to his country and his community.

Bay's service took various forms -- including as a deputy, a municipal judge and as a Missouri commander, Disabled American Veterans, based on a St. Louis Riverfront Times article. DAV aids veterans who have suffered disabilities due to military service.

The May 2002 Times article described Bay as a civilian hero who went into a scandalous situation involving DAV: "He spent ... two years driving back and forth between Windsor and St. Louis, pulling apart a tangled mess of misspent money, a drained pension fund, vanished life insurance policies, inexplicable property transactions and doubled or missing records. ... Members and former employees (in St. Louis) say he's the one DAV leader they still trust. They pronounce his full name and draw comfort from it:

"'We can ask Jerry Bay."

"'Jerry Bay will tell us the truth.'"

At least one man involved in the scandal went to prison, having pleaded guilty to 21 felonies, The St. Louis Post reported.

As a result of his service to the military and subsequent work with DAV, a color guard from Whiteman Air Force Base at the high school ceremony presented Bay with an American flag and the crowd rose with an ovation.

"I really can't put it into words. It means so much, not just to me, but to all Vietnam veterans," Bay said after the ceremony.

Bay recalled how war protestors treated him when he returned 43 years ago from Vietnam, when someone spat on him and people called him names.

"Oh, absolutely. We were called baby killers," he said.

The high school ceremony meant a lot to him, Bay said.

"I wasn't expecting this," he said.

A man next to him, Henry Koontz, said, "You deserve it."

"Not any more than the rest of them," Bay answered.

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