Community rallies to war hero’s cause

The reinforcements have arrived. An assault of medical bills is one battle plenty of Americans are flocking to help Medal of Honor recipient Vernon Baker fight.

From Gov. Dirk Kempthorne to other Medal of Honor winners and legislators from other states, people and money poured into St. Maries last weekend, filling the town’s one bed and breakfast and one motel, to shower the World War II veteran and his wife, Heidy Baker, with support.

“There were so many people. I was so overwhelmed,” Heidy Baker said this week as her husband underwent an MRI at Kootenai Medical Center to determine his future. “I had to go outside to cry a couple of times.”

The people attended a benefit organized by the Bakers’ friends after they heard about the couple’s mountain of medical bills. Baker, 85, underwent surgery in Seattle last fall for a brain tumor the size of a baseball. Bureaucratic problems with his veteran’s benefits and Medicare saddled the Bakers with more than $20,000 in outstanding bills.

Gayle Alvarez, from the Idaho Military History Museum in Boise, arrived at the benefit bearing a joint resolution on its way to the White House. Alvarez read aloud the proposed resolution from Iowa state Sen. Dennis Black, asking President Bush to show appreciation for Baker’s valor on the battlefield by paying his outstanding medical bills.

Baker grew up in Iowa and that state claims him as a native son. Alvarez’s research of Medal of Honor recipients with connections to Idaho led her to Black, who does similar research in Iowa’s interest. Baker was a common denominator and they shared information. When Black learned about Baker’s medical bills, he wrote the joint resolution that is working its way through Iowa’s Legislature before it heads to the White House.

“It generated a standing ovation. It was very emotional,” Alvarez said about her presentation at the benefit.

It was one of a stream of emotional moments that began when Baker arrived at the event. The World War II hero was one of six black American soldiers chosen in 1997 for the Medal of Honor. In 1945, Lt. Baker served in the U.S. Army’s last all-black infantry division. He led his platoon in a heroic battle for a German-occupied castle in northern Italy, eventually retreating but triggering events that led to the castle’s ultimate capture.

Baker settled in St. Maries in 1987 and knew he’d found home.

“People are so friendly here,” he said. “They invited me to go fishing.”

St. Maries townspeople adopted their war hero without reservation, which Baker made easy by never expecting special treatment. He earned their respect with his independence and refusal to give in to age. He won their friendship with his easy smile and grandfatherly charm.

So, when Baker’s neighbors heard that recent medical bills were threatening to bury the Bakers, they wasted no time organizing a benefit. Marilyn Fletcher, a friend, reserved the Eagles Lodge and her brother’s live band. She sent out word she needed items to auction to raise money for Baker’s medical bills.

“I got calls from all over the country,” Fletcher said. “The Medal of Honor Winners’ Society put it on their Web site. It literally went all over the nation.”

The U.S. Marine Corps offered a color guard. Fletcher accepted. A woman offered a video she’d made of Medal of Honor winners from all wars, including Baker.

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the room,” Fletcher said.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne baked a chocolate cake for the auction and delivered it to St. Maries via a state trooper Pony Express. People donated handmade quilts and garden statues, paintings and airline tickets, bottles of liquor and flags that flew over the U.S. Capitol and the state Capitol. Auction items ranged from $5 sunglasses to a $650 handgun. Kempthorne’s cake went for $125 and the buyer gave it to the Bakers.

“It was so good,” Heidy Baker said. “We took a picture of Vernon cutting it to send to the governor.”

Nearly 500 people packed the lodge, including Sen. Larry Craig. They came to confirm that even brain tumor surgery couldn’t shake their tough neighbor. They were almost disappointed.

Baker was hospitalized with a high fever two days before the benefit. He was exhausted but insisted on attending, Heidy Baker said. He wore a sign she made him that said, “I made it,” stayed until midnight and was made an honorary U. S. Marine by the color guard.

“That never happened to me before, so many people focused on me,” a healthy-looking Vernon Baker said after his MRI. The test will tell him if the part of the tumor surgeons had to leave in his brain will trouble him. “The whole town came.”

The auction raised $16,000. Medicare is covering Baker’s medical bills, but refuses to cover his $20,000-plus MedStar flight from Coeur d’Alene to Seattle. MedStar and the Bakers are appealing the decision.