Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
It’s nice to be commended for the outstanding performance of one’s duty; it’s doubly so when the praise comes from someone who himself is an exemplar of high performance.
Major John Leroy Haynes, a retired military man and decorated war hero, felt it his duty to come before the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday evening, Aug. 3, and praise what he called the commemoratory performance of four public servants.
The four were Sheriff Mac McNeill, Fire Chief Derrick Burrus, and Captain Jared Parramore and firefighter/EMT Sean Evans of Fire Rescue.
Haynes, 93, related an incident during the Fourth of July holidays when he had found himself physically ailing and in need of medical attention. Unable to rise from his chair or walk, Haynes said he had phoned a federal agency with which he had worked in the past to ask for assistance.
“And I was told, no, this was the Fourth of July weekend, and they had no one whom they could send to help,” Haynes said. “Their advice to me was, you need to get to an emergency room, and my question to them was, how do I do that, if I can’t even get out of my chair and I can’t walk.”
Unbeknownst to him, Haynes said that his daughter, who lives not far away, had just arrived at his home and had overheard the latter part of the conversation.
“And without saying anything to me, she made a call to our county sheriff, Mac,” Haynes said. “Ten minutes later, I’m sitting in my chair, and I feel a big hand on my shoulder. I look up and there is Sheriff Mac. Mac said, ‘I understand that you need help.’ I said, ‘yes, I do.’ And within five
minutes, I was on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance on the way to the emergency room.”
Haynes said that upon arrival at the hospital, he observed the ambulance driver having an animated conversation with someone on the radio. About five minutes later, he said, “I had a beehive of people surrounding me and taking care of me. I spent two and a half weeks in the hospital and received outstanding care.”
Noteworthy to him, Haynes said, was that that first evening, the driver of the ambulance who had transported him showed up in his room to check on his welfare.
“That’s what I call above and beyond,” Haynes said, “that he had taken the time to come back to Tallahassee to check on me.”
Haynes said that as a resident of the county, he felt it incumbent upon him “to come before you gentlemen and make this report, so that you would know a little bit more about the kind of professionals that we have in this county serving the citizens.”
A Madison County native who enlisted in the U.S. Marines at age 15 in 1945, Haynes served 30 years in the U.S. Marines, during which time he saw action in North China (during the Chinese Civil War following World War II) and in Korea and Vietnam.
Among his many honors and commendations, he was awarded the Purple Heart and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Combat Medal, the Silver Star Medal for conspicuous gallantry in action, and the Governor’s Medal of Merit for decades of brave and selfless devotion to his country.