[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 105 (Thursday, July 15, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5946-S5948]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING MAURICE ``MO'' BAILEY
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, as I mentioned, this has been a very
difficult week for our military and our veterans communities in the
State of Alaska. On Tuesday of this week we came together in Sitka, at
Sitka Air Station, the Coast Guard air station there, to honor the
memory of three members of the U.S. Coast Guard who gave their lives in
a very tragic accident, the crash of an H-60 Jayhawk helicopter. This
was off the coast of Washington on July 7. It was a real tragedy for
the Coast Guard families as a whole. The community of Sitka is one that
truly embraces the men and the women of the Coast Guard. In addition to
being the ones who pluck the fishermen out of the sea when they are in
jeopardy or at risk, these are the men and women who are helping in the
local churches, helping with Boy and Girl Scouts, coaching the kids.
They are truly members of our community. The loss of these three men is
very painful for us all.
I attended that ceremony on Tuesday in the hangar in Sitka. After I
left, I took the flight back to Washington, DC. I took the redeye. When
I arrived on Wednesday morning I was informed of the passing of a very
dear friend of mine, a gentleman who made a profound contribution to
the lives of so many of Alaska's veterans. I am speaking today of an
individual by the name of Maurice Bailey. We called him Mo. Mo was from
Wasilla, AK, and he was a disabled Vietnam era veteran who fought the
VA bureaucracy to obtain his earned benefits.
He fought for himself and he was successful in that, but he went
beyond that. He devoted the rest of his life to ensuring that the
challenges of Alaska's veterans were not forgotten. He focused his
efforts on those veterans who live in more than 200 rural communities
that are not connected by road to the rest of Alaska or certainly to
the continental United States. These are the communities of bush
Alaska.
In 2003, Mo founded Veterans Aviation Outreach. This is an
organization of volunteer pilots who travel to rural Alaska, to the
communities that are hundreds and hundreds of miles from the nearest VA
facility. He and his other volunteers did what the VA simply was not
doing. They sought out those forgotten veterans and helped them in
every way they possibly could.
When you listen to the stories about what Mo did and what the
Veterans Aviation Outreach group did, it was a little bit of
everything. They helped the veterans fill out applications for their
benefits. Oftentimes it meant volunteering to fly a veteran to
Anchorage for a medical appointment or perhaps raising the money for an
airplane
[[Page S5947]]
ticket. In so many of our very rural, very remote communities, there is
no road. You don't get in your car and drive. So for the veteran to go
for care, they may be traveling hundreds of miles. They don't have the
money to do so. So Mo would bring his guys together or he would get in
his plane and he would fly out there and pick them up.
Sometimes the help meant delivering moose meat, clearly a very
desired food staple in rural Alaska. Sometimes it meant building a
wheelchair ramp in a veteran's home. This was an all-volunteer
operation. It functioned on raffles and bake sales. All too often the
money came straight from the pockets of its own volunteers.
We are a State that reveres all of our veterans. In Alaska we are
home to more veterans per capita than any other State in the Union. We
are also known as a very strong State for voluntarism. Support for
veterans is clearly the rule. In many of the communities it is
difficult to provide for that level of support, but we figure out a way
to do it anyway.
It is universally acknowledged that there was something exceptional
about Mo Bailey. His was a life of selfless service, sacrifice, and
humility. He was truly a cut above the rest, and that is a pretty
strong statement when you consider the many veterans who call Alaska
home. But Mo never sought recognition for himself. He was so humble.
But this did not stop his friends from ensuring that he received the
recognition he had so honorably earned. In 2007, Mo was awarded with
the prestigious Alaska Governor's Veterans Advocacy Award. I do not
believe I am overstating when I say today that we mourn the loss of one
of our State's most significant veteran leaders.
Mo Bailey was born in 1939 and grew up in Memphis, TN, during the Jim
Crow era. The story goes he was looking up at the B-17s flying overhead
and he told himself: Someday I am going to be flying those. Mo
recounted, in a 2009 interview published in the Frontiersman newspaper:
Black people there said they didn't think this would ever
happen. But at 7 years old I knew this is the United States
of America and you can do anything you want to do. That was
my heart's desire.
Those were Mo's words.
Mo enlisted in the Army at the age of 17. I say to the pages down
here, he joined the Army at 17. He forged his father's signature on the
consent form. Then he served 20 years. He pulled two tours in Vietnam
and one in Alaska. He was a helicopter crew chief and a gunner.
Then, upon retirement from the Army, he decided to stay in Alaska and
get involved in our community. He became a private pilot and a flight
instructor. He was a trained Veterans Service Officer and he served as
president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 903 in the
Matanuska-Susitna Valley.
It was not too long ago that Mo discovered he had leukemia, but he
said it was not going to slow him down. In an interview in the
Frontiersman newspaper Mo said:
I feel as though I'm probably on somebody else's time. But
that's OK. There is no quit. No way, no how. I'm never going
to prepare myself to die. Never.
Mo really did live his life and live it large.
I got a call in early January. I was traveling and I got a call from
my staff person out in the Mat-Su Valley and he said: Mo has leukemia.
He is not doing well. He is in the hospital and this may be it.
I called the hospital. A man answered. I asked to speak to Mo. The
guy on the other end said, ``Well, this is Mo.''
I said: Mo, you sound pretty healthy.
He said: Yes, they tell me I am not going to make it. They tell me I
am done. I am in the hospital. But I just don't feel like dying. I
don't feel like I am ready.
I said: Mo, you don't sound like you are going anywhere. You sound
like you have got a lot of fight left in you.
Mo said: You know, there are some things I want to do. I have been
working on this veterans gathering. It is a big gathering in the valley
with so many of our Alaskan veterans. I have got a lot of things to do.
I have got some things I want to give you. You know, I am focusing on
that.
I said: Mo, I will see you in May at the gathering.
This was January and he had been told this was pretty much the end.
But in May Mo hosted the gathering in Palmer, his annual day-long event
that provides Alaska vets across the generations an opportunity to
spend time with one another. They listen to music. They donate
something to the Veterans Aviation Outreach, and they have a lot of
fun.
There are some speeches, too. You can't go to any veterans gathering
without a speech or so. But at that May gathering, Mo honored me with a
Veterans Aviation Outreach jacket. It has my name on it and I am an
honorary member of the Veterans Aviation Outreach.
Mo stood with me there and we both talked about the fact that, back
in January, May looked like it was a long way away. But Mo is a
fighter. Mo was not one who was going to go out easy.
At those many speeches I told those at the gathering that as much as
I can do, as much as I want to do for our veterans, I am here in the
Senate to help Alaska's and all veterans. I said: Mo, I will never hold
a candle to you, but I sure promise to try. And I promised to try to do
more, and today I renew that commitment in Mo's loving memory.
Many of us who were gathered there thought that event was going to be
Mo's ``last hurrah,'' and indeed that is the way it turned out. But Mo
continued to fight right up until the very end on Tuesday evening.
I could go on for a while about Mo's work in service to the Alaska
veterans community, but I would suggest it is probably a more powerful
statement, a more powerful story, if it is done in Mo's own words. I
ask unanimous consent that two articles, one from the Vietnam Veterans
of America magazine and the other from the Anchorage Daily News, be
printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Ms. MURKOWSKI. I place these articles in the Record not only because
Mo's legacy needs to be preserved in history, not only to do justice to
the tremendous contribution of Mo Bailey, I am really hoping these
articles will catch the attention of some of the senior officials
within the VA. Reading about the gaps in service Mo Bailey sought to
fill might challenge the VA to think a little bit harder about how it
can improve its service to other rural veterans. At the very least, it
might cause the VA to acknowledge the debt it owes to people like Mo
Bailey and so many others in our veterans service organizations who are
giving of their own time, their own energy, their own money, to fill
these gaps. So maybe, just maybe, Mo's story, which has been an
inspiration to so many of us in Alaska, will also inspire the VA to do
more and to do better.
On behalf of all of my Senate colleagues, I express my deepest
condolences to Mo's wife Ann and all of those who have been touched by
Mo Bailey's generosity and kindness.
Exhibit 1
Reaching the Unreached in Alaska Veterans Aviation Outreach
(By Jim Belshaw)
In the course of his 20-year Army career, Maurice Bailey,
president of VVA Chapter 903 in Mat-Su, Alaska, pulled two
tours in Vietnam and one in Alaska. He thought Alaska was a
``cool place'' and went back there to live. It was different
from anything he'd known, and he liked things that were
different. Since 1980, the mechanic-turned-pilot has flown
small fixed wing aircraft around the state. With a handful of
other veteran-pilots, he's hoping to turn those long years of
experience in the air into something that will help Alaska's
aging veteran population.
As Bailey himself got a little older, he said he decided to
put in for ``some VA disability stuff Agent Orange-related
and PTSD. Just a whole gamut of stuff.'' He said the VA
experience ``wasn't a cakewalk,'' but when it was done the VA
found him to be 90 percent disabled. That got him to thinking
about other veterans. 74,000 of whom live in Alaska, some in
remote villages far from any kind of service, Alaska being a
good place to be alone if that's your desire. There are 234
villages in Alaska. They range in population from 50 to 500.
A big town might have as many as 2000.
``A lot of people are hiding,'' Bailey said. ``They just
wanted to run away. They just don't want to be bothered.''
He'd spent many year flying to such places. While he
noticed the large number of veterans, he didn't give it much
thought until he went through his own VA experience. He
wondered how many of Alaska's
[[Page S5948]]
veterans might be so far removed that they didn't know they
had benefits coming, let alone how to get them.
He became a veterans service officer. It seemed the natural
for him. He met men he hadn't expected to meet.
``I met World War II guys,'' he said. ``One guy in
particular, a tough old guy 84 years old. He was gut shot
twice, medically discharged, and given a 30 percent
disability. He quietly disappeared into the wilds of Alaska.
When I met him, he was still flying airplanes. The oldest guy
I saw was 90 years old.
He says he doesn't mean to criticize the VA when he says it
needs to do outreach. He thinks that if the VA did a credible
job of outreach, it would be overwhelmed by the needs of
veterans. He thought perhaps a smaller number of people
working on a modest scale might be a good place to begin.
Maurice Bailey got together with other veteran pilots--Tom
Baird and Joe Stanistreet (no longer with VAO) and Chuck
Moore--to talk about the possibility of doing outreach
themselves. Bailey had been doing it on his own for a year
and asked his friends if they'd like to join him. A fourth
later joined the group--Jim Kendall, a photographer and
navigator.
From these conversations grew Veterans Aviation Outreach,
Inc., three veteran pilots flying their own airplanes to
reach people who live ``off the road'' in a place not known
to have many roads. Many of those veterans live in what is
described as ``survival mode'', barely existing, often
finding comfort in alcohol, only to have the alcohol lead to
unemployment.
From the beginning, Bailey said, trust was the critical
factor in the success they've had. Because of his long
experience flying around Alaska, he came to know many of the
distant veterans. It made a difference when he broached the
subject of benefits. By way of illustration, he tells of
another veteran who went to a small village where no one came
out to greet him. But when Aviation Outreach went to the same
place, they signed up 29 people in two days for health care
and benefits.
``These guys have seen me around these villages and they
trust me,'' Bailey said. ``I know most of them. I know their
kids.''
Bailey said Moore, with whom he served in Vietnam 38 years
ago, is a key player in the effort and the pilot with the
most experience.
``He was a young pilot (19) and I was an old man (25),''
Bailey said. ``He flew gunships. He left the Army and went
into the Navy to fly jets. He flies 90 percent of the
missions for VAO. At this time he also flies for the State of
Alaska. We have three pilots and four airplanes. Chuck owns
two airplanes and the other two are owned by Tom Baird and
myself.''
Tom Baird underscores the importance of trust with the
veteran's community.
When I travel in the bush, most contacts are developed by
these kinds of relationships,'' he said. ``Once you establish
a relationship with an individual as a friend, you end up
being steadfast friends. Individual homes are open to one
another. Most of the people in this state will stop and give
a hand if you need it. We want to reach the unreached who are
out of sight and out of mind. These individuals are extremely
independent. They like to do things for themselves whether
they can or not.''
Bailey says the four members of Veterans Aviation Outreach
have no grand illusions. They try to do ``small stuff.'' They
sign people for VA benefits; they recruit new VVA members.
Believing there is strength in numbers, they do what they can
to build the veterans community.
They built a wheelchair ramp for a veteran to get in and
out of his house. He's 50, Bailey said, and he'd ``given up
on life.'' So they do small things that will enhance that
life.
They put in a claim for a veteran suffering from diabetes.
It took eight months to settle, but the veteran received
$4,000 in back pay and now gets $200 a month for the rest of
his life.
``He's real happy because now he can buy fuel oil,'' Bailey
said.
Bailey is direct when dealing with veterans, ``I try to
explain to them, ``Look guys, you're old and you're sick
now,'' he said.
Tom Baird said decisions between quantity and quality is
always difficult.
``We've run into difficulty making decisions about reaching
as many people as we can or making sure those we have
contacted are taken care of before we move on,'' he said.
``Because of the difficulties of processing and getting
things done, it's looking like we're going to go for quality
first. These guys already had been promised the world and
gotten nothing, so it makes no sense to go out there if we're
not going to be able to do it right.''
Maurice Bailey counts his blessings and speaks of a duty to
share them.
``Life has been pretty good to me,'' he said. ``I live
pretty good. But we're here for more than to just live pretty
good. We're here to help people when they need it.''
[From the Anchorage Daily News, Nov. 18, 2008]
Pilots Bring Hope, Help to Veterans in Alaska--VAO: Outreach by 7 Vets
Includes Food, Claims Help and Flights to the Doctor
(By Zaz Hollander)
Wasilla--A national veteran's group report released last
month highlighted health-care struggles facing Alaska Army
National Guard members returning from deployments to rural
villages. But news of under-served Bush veterans came as no
surprise to Maurice ``Mo'' Bailey, a Wasilla flight
instructor who served as a helicopter flight engineer with
the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
Several years ago, Bailey and six other veterans--also
pilots--took to the skies in their own planes to help
veterans living in Western Alaska. All had flown the area for
fun, and saw veterans in need of help. In 2003, Bailey
created a nonprofit, Veteran's Aviation Outreach, which
serves ``isolated veterans'' in rural or remote parts of
western Alaska and elsewhere.
The men mostly help people file for Veterans Administration
benefits. But they've also flown out veterans in need of
medical care, made sure deceased veterans got flags for their
graves, and shared literally tons of moose meat scored from
helpful guides.
In 2005, they filed benefit claims on behalf of six Naknek
veterans. The next year, they flew a rural resident to
Anchorage for emergency medical care, a visit that also
resulted in diagnoses--and later treatment--of diabetes and
post-traumatic stress disorder.
Now 69, Bailey last year received the Governor's Veterans
Advocacy Award for his ``outstanding volunteer service.''
He talked about the flying outreach group during a recent
conversation.
Q. Why did you start?
A. Seeing the conditions that many veterans are in. Me and
the rest of the pilots used to fly to western Alaska. We saw
that people would have medical problems and some people in
some cases died, leaving huge debts. Had they known they had
benefits, the VA would have taken care of that. It's mostly
information: these people are clueless. Once you're released
from the military, you are not tracked, updated.
Q. Why western Alaska?
A. We were retired, just kind of goofing around (and flying
the area). They're all combat pilots--the rest of the guys
are. I'm not. We were all in Vietnam together. All of us are
retired from the military, looking at our brothers and
sisters and saying, ``Well, what can we do?'' We didn't set
out to do this, trust me. We were enjoying our retirement,
our grandchildren.
Q. Can you give me some specifics of the kind of outreach
you do?
A. We've been to all villages up and down the Kvichak River
and Lake Iliamna. We found out veterans had been buried
without flags. We decided that was totally unacceptable.
Q. Where was that?
A. It was in Newhalen on Lake Iliamna. We came back and
went around to organizations such as the VFW. We got flags at
the Wasilla Vet Center. We took flags out to make sure that
people who had died recently, they received flags they hadn't
gotten before and we left flags there so they could have them
to take to six surrounding villages. That was last year.
Q. What about more recently?
A. We help veterans, no matter where. Last month, a guy was
on dialysis. He had to come into Wasilla three times a week.
He lived in Sutton. His house was not sanitized, broken
pipes. We took a couple ladies out, cleaned the house, took a
plumber out to fix pipes for water, built a handicapped ramp.
Now he's able to do his dialysis at home.
Q. Where does the money come from?
A. Most of it comes out of our pockets. Sometimes people
give fundraisers, spaghetti dinners, garage sales, cookie
bakes or whatever. We do lots of stuff. I tell you what, I'm
not just bragging, I'm really proud. We've had a heckuva
impact doing things for people, little things that
(otherwise) people, they got to paperwork it to death.
We just gave away 2,100 pounds of moose meat. We do it
every year, have a deal with guides in Healy. They bring
Lower 48'ers on hunts. They want horns. We want meat. We
caravan a couple of trucks, pick up the meat and have it
processed. The neediest people get it first. Valley veterans.
Actually, we sent meat to the Bush--400 pounds last year to
Naknek. Last week we also bought two freezers for needy
veterans and filled both up with meat.
Q. How many veterans do you serve?
A. I just started tracking that. We see and help maybe two
veterans a week. On a large scale, like the meat giveaway,
it's to 50 to 60 people. Out in the Bush, we file claims for
people with disabilities, illnesses. We do a little bit of
everything.
Q. Where's the next trip?
A. Dillingham. Hopefully (early November). We'd like to
have a gathering there. We had 600 people last spring at a
Wasilla Airport gathering, with a barbecue and a band . . .
We had World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan
vets.
What made it so amazing was that these young guys that just
returned from Iraq and Afghanistan were able to communicate
and talk to guys that was in World War II. A lot of those
guys won't be around here next year.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey is recognized.
____________________