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View a eulogy for Lenny Stanley Bay, USMA '69, who passed away on February 2, 2023.

Lenny Stanley Bay

West Point, 1969

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Stephen J. Frushour on March 2, 2023:

Lenny Bay
What do you say? I have never written a eulogy before, so it is time to start....

Lenny was a fellow Company Mate in Company E-4 at West Point. I was a year ahead of Lenny, in the Class of 1968, and two years younger in age. That is an entirely different story.

I was in the Field Artillery and went to Fort Carson and Vietnam before going to Germany. I was the Operations officer for the 1st Bn 22nd Field Artillery, 1st Armored Division. In the Fall of 1970 or Spring of 1971, I was tasked to test all of the 4.2 Mortar Platoons in the 3rd Infantry Division. (My old brain is getting foggy on this point, but I don't think that I was testing the Mortar Platoons from my own Division.) The higher Headquarters wanted a truly impartial evaluator.

I was in an extreme panic. I had not even been around with a 4.2 Mortar since Camp Buckner in 1965. I couldn't even remember the basics. I only had about a week before I was to start testing. I got all the Army manuals that I could find and did the good old college "cram". I really know that I was under-prepared and unready to talk to anyone about the 4.2 Mortar.... Let alone test a Mortar Platoon.
The test was a Hohenfels. I had never been there. My unit (155mm howitzers) always went to Grafenwoehr. The unfamiliarity of the location just made me feel that much more out of place.

I put on my Army stern inspector face and went to meet the first unit's Platoon Leader. You guessed it. It was Lieutenant Lenny Bay. I was much more relieved than him to see a familiar face. I explained my predicament that I knew nothing about the 4.2 Mortar and I was feeling very inadequate. We spent some time "catching up" and then got down to business. So, for the first hour, Lenny taught me about the 4.2 Mortar and what was important (and not important) to look for in 4.2 Mortar operations and testing. I then tested his platoon. It was definitely a learning experience for the platoon and the evaluator (me). Lenny and his platoon prepared me to be a "real" evaluator for all of the other Mortar Platoons.

I evaluated all of the 4.2 Mortar Platoons and as I recall, Lenny's platoon scored the highest and was named the Best Mortar Platoon in his Division. 8-)

Grip Hands, Steve Frushour (Company E-4, Class of 1968)

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