Garry Baxter U. S. Army 1971-1973 E4

The Biography of Garry Baxter by Kassydi Hubert and Lundyn Knight in 2022

“Freedom is a responsibility, something you earn, not something you inherit.” This was Garry E. Baxter’s response to the question, “What does freedom mean to you?” Garry Baxter is a veteran from the Vietnam Era, and we are honored to tell his story.

Garry was born in Stockton, Kansas, in 1952. His dad worked for an oil field company, and his mom worked as a cook at the school. He grew up with his three siblings: Larry, who was six years older, Karol, who was four years older, and Barry, who was thirteen years younger than him.

Garry did not like school, but he loved sports. Garry said, “The only reason I kept my grades up was to be able to participate in sports.” He played multiple sports at Stockton High School. After Garry graduated from high school in 1970, he later attended college at Pratt Community College and finished at Fort Hays State University. He was an honor student and received a B.A. degree in psychology with a minor in special education and an M.S. degree in school administration. In his free time when he was not at school, he loved fishing, hunting, sports, and anything else that he could do outside.

At just eighteen, Garry was drafted into the Army. Being in the military was never what he wanted to do, but he reported for duty because it was the right thing to do. He attended basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Garry said, “I did not like basic training too much because there was a lot of yelling from the drill sergeant.” Garry did not mind the physical part of basic training though, because he was already in shape from sports.

After basic training, Garry went to advanced training, which was also at Fort Leonard Wood. He first started training as a clerk typist, but then after that, he was sent to Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana to train to become a finance clerk. He did not have any say on jobs because when someone was drafted, he just did the job that was assigned to him.

Garry recalled some of the conditions during his training. The food in basic training was not the best, but when Garry went to advanced training to become a finance clerk, he liked the food a lot more. The hours when he was working were very much like a normal job: the shift was eight in the morning to four in the afternoon. Garry wore a basic fatigue uniform and also had a dress-up uniform for special occasions. He stayed in an old Army hospital at Fort Leonard Wood, and the weather there was usually warm. One funny memory was that on Sunday mornings during winter when it was cold and slick, the men would sit out on the porch and watch people run into each other because they were not used to driving in those conditions. Garry would normally go back to his parents’ house once a month during advanced training.

One of Garry’s memories that stood out was when he and another Army friend once snuck out late at night during basic training (they were not supposed to do that). They returned from their secret outing and had started getting ready for bed when Garry went to his bunk and one of his drill sergeants was asleep in his bed. He thought, “Tomorrow is going to be horrible,” because he figured that the sergeant would make him run forever. When Garry woke up on the hard concrete floor in the morning, he got ready for training. To his surprise, that sergeant never said a word to anyone about the event. He did not make Garry and his friend run; he just let it go.

Another interesting event occurred when a soldier in the military with Garry went out and got intoxicated. He was a large man that towered over Garry. When the man came back to the barracks that night, he tipped over Garry’s bunk and attacked him. He swung at Garry and missed, and then Garry swung at the man and missed. As Garry’s back was turned to the attacker, he came up behind Garry and bit him on the back. Garry broke away and the attacker then threw a full footlocker at him and missed Garry by just a few feet. Then the First Sergeant came in and tried to break up the fight; he ended up getting hit by the attacker also. It took more than one soldier to stop the man.

Garry had received orders to go to Vietnam, but those orders were changed because he had to stay to testify against the attacker at his court-martial. Garry had to stay, but he never actually testified because the attacker pled guilty prior to his scheduled court-martial. After the attacker pled guilty, he was confined to stay in the company area that Garry worked in. The next morning at breakfast he told Garry, “You are a dead man.” Eventually, the man ended up in prison at Fort Leavenworth.

Garry was lucky enough to find two good friends in the Army. Their names were Don Koch and Ron Lawrence. Those two men were friends with Garry throughout his service, and they also kept in contact after they were discharged. They were so close to Garry that they ended up being asked to be some of the groomsmen at his wedding.

Garry had an interesting response to getting discharged from the Army. He said that right after getting discharged, literally as he was walking out of the building, he grabbed most of his Army items (uniform, shoes, etc.) and threw them in the dumpster. He told us that he did that because he knew that he would never go back to the Army ever again. However, Garry later enlisted in the Army National Guard for four years to complete his six-year military obligation.

After his military release, Garry also went straight to college to receive an education. He became a special education teacher and a coach at Smith Center High School for eleven years. He later worked as a school administrator for twenty-five years, serving as a special education director, principal, and school superintendent.

Garry Baxter always knew his soulmate, Lorrie Baxter, but only realized it after he was discharged from the military. Their families knew each other growing up, but Garry was more than three years older than Lorrie and was classmates with her older sister. Lorrie contacted Garry because she wanted him to help her get a date with a friend of his, but Lorrie and Garry ended up falling in love instead. They were married and later blessed with four children together: Tammy, Ryan, Kurt, and Jerron. They also have four grandchildren: Haley, McKenna, Addyson, and Ami.

Garry is a member of multiple organizations and has some very interesting hobbies. He belonged to the Phi Delta Kappa organization in college and is currently a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, where he is the current president of the Fort Hays chapter. After the military, he enjoyed doing genealogy research, buying and selling sports memorabilia, and expanding his John Wayne collection. He also got the opportunity to take an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., and see all of the military memorials. He traveled with a group of fellow veterans from the Vietnam Era. The trip was paid for by private donations and Garry really enjoyed that experience.

Garry has received medals from the Sons of the American Revolution, from the Honor Flight, from the Daughters of the American Revolution for being a soldier during the Vietnam Era, from the State of Kansas for serving during the Vietnam Era, and for earning “expert” at the shooting range while in the service. His medals and awards were well-deserved.

What should our generation know? Garry Baxter had a pretty good answer. He said, “Don’t forget the past and what people gave up for the opportunities you have.” He also said that our generation needs to be active and involved in clubs and civic organizations.