Photo By Staff Sgt. Kenneth Trotter Jr. | Donald E. Ballard, a Medal of Honor recipient and retired Army colonel, speaks to...... read more read more
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Family. It’s something which transcends decades, generations, and, most of all, time. It all boils down to something we wish to leave behind: a tradition ... a legacy. Legacy is all that will remain of us when we fade away. It is something which can inspire us to live up to a potential we may not otherwise have known we possessed and swell us with a sense of pride in our accomplishments and ourselves.
Adam T. Ballard, a Kansas City, Missouri, native and recent Oak Grove High School graduate, knows all about tradition and being part of a legacy as he is the son of Medal of Honor recipient and retired Kansas National Guard colonel, Donald E. Ballard.
“I am filled with pride and honor for all the people who have gone before me and to know I am following my father and grandfather’s footsteps,” said Ballard. “I’ve grown up my whole life being humbled by my own father. The military’s always been an important part of my life and an important part of my family’s life. The elder Ballard echoed the same pride when speaking of the momentous step his son is about to take.
“We all hope we can raise our children right, to do the right thing for the right reason,” said Col. Ballard. “And I think I’ve done quite well with Adam.”
The elder Ballard was a Navy petty officer second class during the Vietnam War when he earned the Medal of Honor in Quang Tri province, May 16, 1968, while serving as a hospital corpsman with Company M, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. The North Vietnamese Army attacked his company as they returned from a casualty evacuation helicopter pad. With complete disregard for his own safety and well-being, he threw himself upon a grenade that landed near several Marines. Surprisingly, the grenade did not explode, and Ballard threw it away before it finally detonated. The senior Ballard merely shrugs off the incident when he speaks of his belief in putting others before oneself.
He strived to instill this same attitude and principles in all his children, he said.
“It was early on that I learned it was better to give than to receive,” he said. “The most happiness I ever received was watching other people get excited, watching other people benefit. I worked with the fire department as a paramedic and those people didn’t know your name. They didn’t care. All they wanted was help, like being corpsman. So, it was early on that I was raised with that attitude of service before self.”
This mindset would mean nothing if he didn’t act upon that belief with his own children.
“As any leader would, you have to demonstrate, you have to lead by example,” he said. “So, I would take him to functions to where I was working. I would take him to the VA hospital, different places to where people who were less fortunate. So, we were always around people who needed help. I taught him how to run to the problem instead of running away from it.”
This philosophy of service before self, translated into the younger Ballard deciding to join the Marine Corps.
“His whole life has been the military but after he got out of the military he became a fireman, a police officer, an ambulance driver and he helped build 87 homes in downtown Kansas City,” said the younger Ballard. “He’s lived quite a life and he’s always thought service before self and always helping other people. I don’t think if I joined the military, I would’ve done some other service-related job, whether it be working in a hospital or a firehouse or helping my community in some way or another.”
Public service is a common thread throughout the Ballard family. The younger Ballard’s grandfather served in the United States Marine Corps, attaining the rank of master gunnery sergeant. Two elder sisters, one a U.S. Army soldier, and the other a nurse, along with his mother who served in the U.S. Air Force, also chose service over self.
For the younger Ballard, this only propelled him to want to continue his family’s history of service but also instill a desire to forge his own path. Colonel Ballard reinforced the concept of his son taking accountability for his own actions and destiny but also being satisfied with the decisions he makes.
“I didn’t ever tell him to join the Marine Corps. I would never do that,” said the elder Ballard. “I just said you pick and choose because it’s your decision. It’s your choice but whatever choice you make, you’re going to live with. My whole attitude is to support him and let him make his own choices so that he has nobody to blame but himself, first of all, but secondly so he builds a sense of confidence that he did the right thing.”
The younger Ballard departed Nov. 2 for recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, to continue the familial legacy of military service. He is slated to complete recruit training Jan. 29, 2016. After recruit training, he is expected to attend the School of Infantry at Camp Lejeune, N.C., to become a basic rifleman.
Once the younger Ballard completes his training and becomes a Marine, he will take the first steps toward his own legacy. Only time will tell what that legacy may hold, but the Ballard family tradition of military service will have been sustained for one more generation.
| Date Taken: | 11.02.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 11.10.2015 19:17 |
| Story ID: | 181647 |
| Location: | KANSAS CITY, MO, US |
| Hometown: | KANSAS CITY, MO, US |
| Web Views: | 873 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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