Answer: Mo Baker is a man who will be in Kennett next week to help celebrate a class reunion of the Kennett High School classes of 1949, 1950 and 1951.

His old friends will tell you that Clinnard Baker lived with his parents and siblings at 401 E. Washington Ave. He was popular in high school, and enjoyed the normal activities of most graduates of KHS.

At the reunion, will shake hands with his high school buddies, probably hug a few old girl friends, laugh, and have a drink or two, and savor the pleasant reminiscing of the good old days. But Mo Baker is not an ordinary guy.

It could hardly be considered incidental that Clinnard (Mo) Baker is an American hero of the highest order.

It so happened that on August 23, 1967, Major Clinnard (Mo) Baker was flying his F105 Thunderchief over North Vietnam. He took a hit from enemy ground fire, and watched his plane burst into flames. Mo ejected, and in the process broke a leg and sustained some cuts and bruises. When he landed on the ground, he was to begin a six year residence as a reluctant guest of the infamous Hanoi Hilton, the communist prison for captured Americans.

Mo was not a model prisoner. He improvised a radio, which was a definite violation of prison rules. This, among other misdemeanors, rankled officials, and was to cost Mo an inordinate amount of time in isolation. There he was only able to communicate with fellow prisoners by chance encounters, or by using the intricate signal systems the prisoners had devised secretly.

Then--euphorically--he acquired a room mate-- Captain Larry Carrigan from Tempe, Ariz.

Mo and Carrigan quickly became friends, and in the interminable hours they had to talk they learned virtually everything there was to know about their respective home towns: Every street, every girl friend, every good, or bad incident, and every touchdown they did, or didn't score.

Freed on March 14, 1973, Mo Baker was also free of bitterness, and wanted to further serve his country. He joined with other pilots who were flying arms and supplies to the Contras. But he managed to avoid the controversy surrounding the Iran-contra affair.

After that--still resisting a sedentary life--Mo began doing air reconnaissance flights over Colombian drug lairs. He was fired on by irate drug dealers, but this time managed to duck.

Mo Baker now lives in Burleson, Texas with his wife, Honey. His present status as a senior citizen has slowed down some of his adventurous proclivities, but the spirit still burns, even if the body is not quite willing.

Yes, Mo Baker will be in town next week, and his is an extraordinary story!

The Answer Man will appear on occasion in the Daily Dunklin Democrat, and will provide answers to various and sundry questions about local people, etc. Readers are invited to submit their queries to The Answer Man by e-mailing them to bhunt@dddnews.com.