Auction helps WWII vet

Jet, April 11, 2005

AUCTION HELPS WWII VET: A recent fund-raiser, for Vernon Baker, of St. Maries, ID, the only living Black Medal of Honor winner from World War II, raised $16,000 to help with his medical bills. Baker was diagnosed in September with a baseball-sized malignant brain tumor. He was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for emergency surgery. Although Medicare covers Baker's medical bills, it doesn't cover the more than $20,000 for the MedStar flight from Coeur d'Alene to Seattle. MedStar and Baker and his wife, Heidy, are appealing the decision. Meanwhile, friends of the Bakers organized a benefit aution after they heard about the couple's battle over benefits and payments. "There were so many people. I was so overwhelmed," Heidy, said. "I had to go outside to cry a couple of times." In 1993, Army officials contracted Shaw University in Raleigh, NC, to learn if any Black soldiers had been improperly denied the Medal of Honor. The university reviewed past citations and recommended 10 soldiers to receive the medal. From that list, Pentagon officials picked seven. Baker was the only recipient still living and received his award from President Clinton in 1997. Baker said an MRI test he took this week will tell if the part of the tumor surgeons had to leave in his brain will cause trouble in the future.

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