Veterans honored at Missouri State Fair Military Appreciation Day

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon presented retired Col. Donald E. Ballard, of Kansas City, the Governor's Achievement Award for his service to country with distinction while in uniform during the Vietnam era. (Photo by Rachel Knight/Missouri National Guard)

By Rachel Knight
Ngmo.pao@us.army.mil

SEDALIA, Mo. - Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Missouri National Guard's Maj. General Stephen L. Danner, adjutant general, honored Veterans during a ceremony at the Missouri State Fair on Sunday.

"We pay special honor to those Veterans that served during the Vietnam War," Nixon said. "When their country called, these young Missourians stepped forward to serve just as other generations of Missourians have done before and since in all other wars our country has fought.

"Whether they volunteered or they were drafted, they left their families, their homes, their jobs and their schools to serve in a place that many Americans quite frankly had never heard of 50 years ago," Nixon said. "And throughout the period that encompassed the Vietnam era, our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines time and again demonstrated the same sense of sacrifice demonstrated by those who wear the uniform today. For more than 1,400 Missourians, Vietnam was where they made the supreme sacrifice."

Two Missouri Vietnam Veterans were specially recognized and given the Governor's Achievement Award for their service to country with distinction while in uniform and have led lives outside the military by giving back to their community as well.

Gregory W. Davis, of Cole Camp, joined the United States Marine Corps in 1968 specializing in infantry. He volunteered for duty in the Republic of Vietnam. There, he served with a special unit that worked with the Southern Vietnamese Army and searched for land mines set by the Northern Vietnamese.

During a voluntary patrol June 28, 1970, Davis was hit by a command-detonated mine. He lost both of his legs and his right eye. It took two months to regain sight in his left eye, which was badly burned. He spent nearly a year in the naval hospital recovering, and several years after that adjusting to life with his disabilities. He retired in 1971 and had received the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Medal, National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with one star, Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Civil Actions Citation Medal, the Bronze Star and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Davis quoted a passage from the Bible and said, "What I found with Vietnam Vets is that they fought a good fight. They never quit. They continued on battle after battle. They fought - they fought hard and they overcome it. They never quit, they kept on going."

He said that they finished the race and it may not have been the finish they wanted, but they kept the faith.

"We did not lose the war," Davis said. "We never gave up because we fought the fight and we finished the race. Somewhere along the line, the plug was pulled and it was not one Vietnam Vet that pulled that plug."

Retired Col. Donald E. "Doc" Ballard, of Kansas City, joined the United States Navy in 1965 and was initially stationed at a hospital in Tennessee. The following year he was selected to serve with the Marines and was deployed to the Republic of Vietnam, where he served in the Quant Tri Province. During his time in Vietnam, his job was to save the lives of the Marines in combat and to get the young men home to their loved ones to the best of his ability.

On May 14, 1970, Ballard received the Medal of Honor from President Richard Nixon in a White House ceremony for his inspiring courage and daring initiative in providing medical aid to his men while under grenade fire May 16, 1968. He was wounded eight times that day and showed considerable leadership - even throwing himself on top of a live grenade in and effort to protect his men.

Ballard's service spanned 35 years before he retired in 2000, including time with the North Kansas City Police Department and Fire Department as well as the Kansas Army National Guard. In addition to the Medal of Honor, Ballard received the Purple Heart with two gold stars, the Combat Action Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and Vietnam Service Medal with two bronze stars, the Fleet Marine Forces Combat Operations Insignia, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

"As a nation, our thanks came belated to those who served so honorably during the Vietnam War," Gov. Nixon said. "Although they weren't looking for thanks, it certainly was and quite frankly still is quite deserved."

Last year, Nixon signed into law a bill that created the Missouri Vietnam Campaign Ribbon that is awarded to current Citizen-Soldiers and Airman of the Missouri National Guard who served on active duty in our nation's military during the Vietnam era between 1961 and 1975. There are 93 active duty National Guard Vietnam Veterans still serving today.

"The demands of military service can be challenging not only to the individual Service member but also to their family and friends," Danner said. "But we know it's a sacrifice that our fellow Americans honor us and support us like this event we are holding today at the Missouri State Fair. To the Veterans and your Families here today, and especially to the Vietnam Veterans and their Families here today, and to our commander in chief Governor Nixon for the recognition that nearly 100 Vietnam-era Veterans that still serve in the Missouri National Guard on active duty for you today. We thank you for your service, we thank you for your patriotism and we thank you for your sacrifice."

Brig. Gen. Scott A. Vander Hamm, commander of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, said when he was little he couldn't believe that Vietnam Veterans were drafted and had to go over and serve a year. What he couldn't believe more was that they volunteered to go over a second tour.

"And like those men and women that have served in Vietnam, we have young men and women today that have raised their right hand to take the oath of office to defend our country, our constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic knowing they are going to go downrange to Afghanistan and their doing it for freedom, their doing it for liberty, their doing it for us. Remember freedom isn't free. We stand on the shoulders of giants," Vander Hamm said.

Maj. General David Quantock, commanding general of the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence at Fort Leonard Wood, said that he holds a Vietnam Veteran in high regard and that is his father. He remembers that he was in Washington D.C. after 9/11 in military uniform and somebody came up to him, hugged him and thanked him for his service. He immediately called his father.

"He said, 'Well that's great son. Thank God the great people of America now understand what serving our country means,'" Quantock reminisced.

"We don't get to pick the conflict, but by God when our nation calls, we go out and we deliver victory," Quantock said. "That's what it's about."