A Hometown Vet Introduces Obama

By C.J. JANOVY

Photo by Elana Gordon/KCUR

Vince Gunter got a life-changing phone call Sunday morning.

He had no big plans for the day when he got a call from Barack Obama’s campaign asking if he’d be willing to introduce the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee at the Truman Memorial Building in Independence yesterday.

“I was overwhelmed and thrilled,” he says. “I said yes, and they asked me to write down some remarks and send to the campaign.” Gunter says he just jotted down some bullet points about what the 4th of July means to him, his service in Iraq and why he feels Obama displays the best judgment to lead the country. “They called back and said they liked what they wrote and didn’t change a thing.”

Gunter, an attorney for Shook, Hardy & Bacon, says Obama’s campaign was looking for a veteran, someone who had served in Iraq, to introduce Obama’s speech on patriotism.

Gunter enlisted in the Navy to earn money for college and later went to law school at University of Missouri-Kansas City with the help of an ROTC program, served in the JAG Corps and was eventually called to active duty in Iraq. He doesn’t like to talk about what he did to earn his Bronze Star. “It’s just kind of weird,” he says. “I think it relates to a helicopter crash I was in where two soldiers lost their lives, but somehow, through the grace of God, I did not. I don’t think I displayed any exceptional valor.”

The United States of America says otherwise.