Edward:
This is about Vernon J. Baker statue. Vernon J. Vernon Baker was born [on] December 17, 1919. He was Black, and he was born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming. [He] joined the military in 1941 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in Italy in 1945. That's a thumbnail sketch of his background.

But the reason I'm talking about it [is because] I was asked by Mayor Patrick Collins of Cheyenne if I could get a statue dedicated to Vernon Baker, because he was the only living Black man to be a recipient of the Medal of Honor. But it was some 50 years after the actual action took [place]. The Army had reviewed records [to understand] why no Black person had ever been [a] recipient of [the] Medal of Honor during World War Two. [It] determined [that] seven were qualified or should have been recipients. So in 1993 the Army decided that these seven men were—should have been awarded the—[should have] become recipients of the Medal of Honor.

And on January 13, 1997, Vernon Baker was the recipient of the Medal of Honor from President Bill Clinton at the White House. He was the last and only living Black man from [those] seven [from the] Second World War to be that recipient. That's his background.

So the story goes, we have a bronze project in the city of Cheyenne for famous people—for everything that affected the city of Cheyenne or the state of Wyoming. And so I was asked to do this statue.

I found out that Vernon Baker still had a wife that was much younger [and] still lived in Idaho. So I went up and interviewed her and said, if I did this, would it be okay with her to do it? And in the meantime, I did research on his—his life history, as much as she could tell me of what he was about. I interviewed people [in the] local community and found out that this guy who had gone through segregation for most of his whole life had come out as a guy that was like somebody that walked on water because of his caring [nature as a] person.

So I had the permission. So now I had to raise funds to do the stat[ue]. And it was decided that it would be appropriate that [at] the dedication, that his wife unveil the statue. So we raised enough money, and I got a sculptor from—named LaQuincy Reed from Oklahoma, who does fantastic work sculpturing humans, especially hands [and] faces, so they look lifelike. So amazing.

So I gave him some pictures, and—and we—over a period of two or three months, he developed the sculpture. And so [it] was decided that dedication would occur on April 16, 2025, which happened to be 80 years and 10 days from the day that he got the award in April 1945. 80 years and 10 days later, we were dedicating his statue.

And so his wife had this vision that the statue would be like a white marble statue. We wouldn’t show her any pictures, although I had plenty of pictures about it. And so we stood there, and it was the last part of the ceremony.

We had over 200 people at the dedication. We had a motorcycle escort from the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, from the Buffalo Soldiers Association, and we had the Buffalo Soldiers [as] the honor guard. So we did this dedication.

And [at] the last part of the ceremony, she went up to unveil the statue. And I can tell you, I was standing next to her, and she broke [down] the minute that cover came off. She pulled the cover off. She started to cry. She reached up and started to talk to the statue. And her first comment was, “He's talking to me. That's his eyes. That's the way he looks. That's the way he stood.”

And you have to realize that he died in 2010, and this was 2025. [Fifteen] years—she hadn't seen him alive. And so it was like seeing him all over again. And what I—people told me [was] that we stood there for five minutes while she talked to that statue, called him in—she had a German nickname that she called him. [I] didn’t find out what that word meant till afterwards, but it was a very emotional time.

And so the conclusion of the story was—I had extra money, and I had a check written to her so she [could] have it. And I had miniatures made at 25% size, so it's [a] nine-inch-high miniature of that statue. And I have mailed it to a friend in Idaho, and they will present it to her on Memorial Day. She will have a long-time memory of that statue.

We then had it placed at Civic Commons, which is right across from City Hall, and [in] a prominent [location]. Everybody that goes into the City Commons has to walk by that statue.

So it's a bronze statue. It's 36 inches high. It's on a pedestal. And on the front, it has all the technical details. On the back, it has his famous quotes—“If you want respect, you have to give respect”—his signature, and a description of— a Medal of Honor is engraved on that plaque on the back of the statue. Which [was]—took us very [long], because you can't use that symbol without their written approval of the Medal of Honor—Congressional Medal of Honor Society in Washington. So that—we felt it has now become a permanent part of [the city].

And then there is a time capsule underneath the statue, which includes his autobiography book. It includes memorabilia from his family from Idaho. It has business cards of the people that were involved. And it has a number of things. So—and I'm now putting a book together, which will be The Life of a Hero, while he doesn’t know that he's going to be the recipient of the Medal of Honor. Because he left the service in '68 and didn't get the Medal of Honor until 1997, when he became a recipient from Bill Clinton.

Abdalrahim:
Wow, that's amazing. 

Edward:
Is that it?

Abdalrahim:
Yeah. That's great. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful story.