Navy Veteran and Local Doctor Honored as Humboldt Heroes in Eureka

An atypical neurologic condition is stealing Cmdr. James Kim Bauriedel's balance and progressively taking his voice. The Veterans' Association has ruled the condition 100% service connected, and it may be tied to his contact with soldiers he treated who had been exposed to Agent Orange. On Friday, Eureka honored the retired Navy doctor and 1964 Eureka High School graduate as the March Humboldt Hero at the monthly Humboldt Heroes celebration.

The condition makes Bauriedel's balance mechanism unsteady, can cause him to fall, and carries other progressive symptoms beyond the loss of his voice. Yet he has no interest in second-guessing the decades of decisions that led him here.

"We all struggle with the decisions we make and the choices we take," he said. "We wonder if they are the best, the most correct, the most advantageous and, ultimately, make and take them all on faith. I have faith in my decisions, and I have no regrets."

That path started in Eureka and ran through some of California's most demanding institutions. After graduating from Eureka High School in 1964, Bauriedel enrolled at Stanford University as a chemistry and pre-med student, spending seven months at the Stanford-in-Austria program before returning stateside. He earned his Doctor of Medicine from the University of California, San Francisco Medical School in 1972 and completed his internship and first year of residency at UC Davis. His entry into military medicine fit a pattern common to his generation: roughly 90% of male doctors graduating between World War II and 1972 served in some branch of the armed forces during their early careers.

Friday's recognition was part of the monthly Humboldt Heroes program, which honors community members for their contributions to the region. In a separate recognition that marked a first for the program, Humboldt Heroes had also honored a father and son together, naming Clemente "Clem" Cantu and Roy Cantu for decades of combined service to the United States armed forces.

Roy Cantu was born in Italy in October 1950 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy on Veterans Day 1968. Over 21 years, he completed 13 patrols across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans aboard three nuclear ballistic missile submarines, working as a sonar and electronics technician. He later served as quality assurance supervisor for Submarine Squadron 7 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and as a master training specialist at the Fleet Submarine Warfare Center in San Diego before retiring as a Chief Petty Officer in 1990. He settled in Eureka in 1994, working as a photographer and web designer until retiring in 2012.

His father, Clem, was born in Casper, Wyoming, in February 1929, grew up in Alturas, California, and enlisted in the U.S. Army at 19. He served in Italy with the postwar occupational forces, playing trumpet in the Army band alongside his infantry duties, and married his wife, Maria, in Trieste in 1949. The couple returned to the United States in 1952 with their young son.

Roy put the family recognition simply: "We don't consider ourselves heroes. We're just happy that we did our job the best we could. That was instilled upon me by dad, of course, and the rest of our family as well.