Bayh twins will join military for officer training school

Maureen Groppe | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption Susan Bayh has a deadly kind of brain cancer Susan Bayh, an attorney and wife of former U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, was diagnosed with malignant glioblastoma, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer. It's the same cancer that Sen. John McCain is battling.

Former Sen. Evan Bayh's twin sons will be joining the military this month, taking their oath of office for officer training school in a ceremony at the Indiana War Memorial in Indianapolis.

Beau Bayh is enlisting in the Marines to be a combat infantry officer.

Nick Bayh is enlisting in the Army to be an intelligence officer.

"They both wish to serve their country," Evan Bayh said in a telephone interview from the hospital where Susan Bayh was finishing 74 days of radiation treatment for the malignant brain tumor discovered this spring when their sons were about to graduate from Harvard.

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Susan Bayh, who was unable to attend the graduation, hopes to watch them take their oaths Aug. 26. The oaths will be administered in the war memorial's Pershing Auditorium, in front of hundreds of friends and family.

"Their home station will be Indiana," Bayh said. "It's where they were born."

Bayh was Indiana's governor when the twins were born in 1995.

While Bayh's father and grandfather served in the Army, Bayh said it "never crossed my mind" that both of his sons would enlist.

Neither intends to make a career of the military.

After serving, Beau wants to go to law school.

Nick plans on earning an MBA.

Since Susan's diagnoses, the Bayhs have received hundreds of cards and letters.

Some say things like: "You may not remember me, but you touched my life."

Other notes and calls came from public officials whom Bayh has worked with — and sometimes against.

Republican Sen. Todd Young, who beat Bayh when Bayh tried to reclaim his Senate seat in 2016, has called.

Vice President Mike Pence had Bayh over for lunch.

Former Sen. Richard Lugar and former Gov. Mitch Daniels wrote, as did former Indiana GOP Chairman Rex Early — who ended his long note by saying he is hoping and praying for the Bayhs, "even if you are a Democrat."

"I read the cards to her over and over," Bayh said.

Susan, Bayh said, is focused on her treatment and feels lucky for the level of support her family has received.

She had surgery in May to remove the tumor, a malignant glioblastoma, which is the same type of cancer that former senator Ted Kennedy and Beau Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden, fought and that Sen. John McCain is battling.

The greatest support Bayh said he has gotten since Susan's diagnosis is from their sons.

"They have been so good with their mom," Bayh said. "I couldn't have gotten through this without them.'