Honor Our Veterans on This Day

 

John F. Baker

The John F. Baker Bridge

 The funeral 

 LBJ bestowed the Medal of Honor.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. En route to assist another unit that was engaged with the enemy, Company A came under intense enemy fire and the lead man was killed instantly. Sgt. Baker immediately moved to the head of the column and together with another soldier knocked out two enemy bunkers. When his comrade was mortally wounded, Sgt. Baker, spotting four Viet Cong snipers, killed all of them, evacuated the fallen soldier, and returned to lead repeated assaults against the enemy positions, killing several more Viet Cong. Moving to attack two additional enemy bunkers, he and another soldier drew intense enemy fire and Sgt. Baker was blown from his feet by an enemy grenade. He quickly recovered and singlehandedly destroyed one bunker before the other soldier was wounded. Seizing his fallen comrade's machine gun, Sgt. Baker charged through the deadly fusillade to silence the other bunker. 

He evacuated his comrade, replenished his ammunition, and returned to the forefront to brave the enemy fire and continue the fight. When the forward element was ordered to withdraw, he carried one wounded man to the rear. As he returned to evacuate another soldier, he was taken under fire by snipers, but raced beyond the friendly troops to attack and kill the snipers. After evacuating the wounded man, he returned to cover the deployment of the unit. 

His ammunition now exhausted, he dragged two more of his fallen comrades to the rear. Sgt. Baker's selfless heroism, indomitable fighting spirit, and extraordinary gallantry were directly responsible for saving the lives of several of his comrades, and inflicting serious damage on the enemy. 

His acts were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

 Defense Department

Retired Army Master Sgt. John F. Baker Jr. could have had a prominent gymnastics career, since he competed in high school and trained for the Olympics in his hometown of Moline, Illinois. But after graduation in 1966, he decided to pursue something entirely different: service in the Army and a tour of duty in Vietnam, which earned him the Medal of Honor.

Only a few short months after he began his Army training, Baker was shipped off to Vietnam with the 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division.  

A private first class at the time, 19-year-old Baker said he and his company went out in the jungles for weeks at a time on combat patrols. Often, since he was small guy – only 5 feet 2 inches tall weighing 105 pounds – he was tasked with crawling through Viet Cong tunnels filled with booby traps to try to lure the enemy out of their hiding spots. 

Baker had been in Vietnam for only two months, when, on Nov. 5, 1966, he and his company were called to help rescue another unit that had been surrounded by Viet Cong. On the way there they were ambushed, and the man at the front of Baker’s unit was killed instantly. An assistant machine-gun bearer at the time, Baker immediately moved to the head of the group, and, with another soldier, knocked out two enemy bunkers. 

Throughout the ordeal, Baker repeatedly assaulted the enemy and pulled wounded soldiers to safety. 

At one point, he was blown off his feet by a grenade, but he recovered and single-handedly took out another bunker, then another. 

When the battle was over, Baker had saved eight of his fellow soldiers, knocked out six Viet Cong machine gun bunkers, and killed 10 enemy soldiers, including several snipers. His courage and commitment under fire earned him the Medal of Honor in 1968, which he received from President Lyndon B. Johnson. 

Baker continued to serve in the Army until 1989, when he retired to Columbia, South Carolina. He and his wife regularly attended special events at nearby Fort Jackson, and he continued helping soldiers by working for the Veterans Administration until his death in January 2012. He was 66.

“Five-foot-two John Baker was a giant,” said Army Col. Drew Meyerowich at Baker’s funeral. “Once you got to know him, you realized he’s exactly the giant we expect to see on the battlefield. He was larger than life.” 

In August of this year, Baker was honored by U.S. Army Garrison Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, which named a street after him.

This article is part of a weekly series called "Medal of Honor Monday," in which we highlight one of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have earned the U.S. military's highest medal for valor.

Moline High School finally honored Baker - see the article here on Moline Memories.